A grid based particle method for evolution of open curves and surfaces

We propose a new numerical method for modeling motion of open curves in two dimensions and open surfaces in three dimensions. Following the grid based particle method we proposed in IS. Leung, H.K. Zhao, A grid based particle method for moving interface problems. J. Comput. Phys. 228 (2009) 2993-3024], we represent the open curve or the open surface by meshless Lagrangian particles sampled according to an underlying fixed Eulerian mesh. The underlying grid is used to provide a quasi-uniform sampling and neighboring information for meshless particles. The key idea in the current paper is to represent and to track end-points of the open curve and boundary-points of the open surface explicitly and consistently with interior particles. We apply our algorithms to several applications including spiral crystal growth modeling and image segmentation using active contours. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved