About - Overview

Cells and cell topology

In Shards cell refers to a d-dimensional polytope, d=1,2,3. A polytope is defined by a set of its vertices{V0,V1,...,Vv} and a base topology BT that defines how these verices are connected into k-dimensional, k < d facets (k-subcells) of that polytope. The base topology of any polytope can be extended by augmenting the set of its vertices by an additional set of points {P0,P1,...,Pp}. The extended topology ET is defined by specifying the connectivity of the set {V0,V1,...,Vv} + {P0,P1,...,Pp} relative to the subcells specified by its base topology BT. The vertices and the extra points are collectively referred to as nodes. Thus, a polytope with extended topology ET is defined by a set of nodes {N0,N1,...,Nn} where n = v + p, and a connectivity rule for these nodes.

Shards provides definitions for a standard set of base and extended cell topologies plus tools to construct custom, user defined cell topologies, such as arbitrary polyhedral cells. The nodes in all Shards topologies are ordered by listing the cell vertices first. For example, the nodes of Triangle<6>are ordered as {N0,N1,N2,N3,N4,N5} where {N0,N1,N2} are the three vertices and {N3,N4,N5} are the three edge midpoints. Every cell with an extended topology also has a base topology. The base topology of Triangle<6> is Triangle<3>, defined by its 3 vertices {V0,V1,V2}.

Remark. Shards provides only cell topologies, i.e., the connectivity rules for a cell and its lower-dimensional subcells. Shards does not specify what are the coordinates of the nodes forming a cell.

A list of all Shards cell topologies follows. Bold face numerals indicate the vertices of each cell topology.