As a preliminary step to figure out the mechanical characteristics of complex geometric models, a method to compute the entire volume and the center of gravity of closed compartments is introduced.
Prompt and efficient calculation of those entities is crucial in controlling the autonomous underwater vehicles where th real-time positioning process is essential for stable maneuvering. In most commercial CAD systems, however, recalculation of such entities should be carried out in a sequential manner whenever the geometric characteristics of a model such as positions and shapes have changed. An automated recalculation process is strongly desired.
To solve the current drawback, the topological relations of models based on their positions are identified. the volume and the center of gravity are computed using various techniques such as surface representation and geometric operation functions. A user friendly interface that computes the geometric entities and visualizes the operating steps is implemented using the general-purposed graphic library and MFC functions.