Boolean-Based Surface Procedure for the External Heat Transfer Analysis of Dams during Construction

Algorithm 2

Recognition of the external surfaces.

(1)   for   𝑖=1,2,…,𝑛𝑢𝑚_𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠   do    // Searching all the elements

(2)      Request the element type and the count of faces in one element is stored as 𝑆.

(3)       for   𝑗=1,2,…,𝑆   do     // Searching all the faces

(4)           Obtain the minimum node number of the face nodes, labeled as 𝑁𝑜𝑑𝑒_𝑖,𝑗.

(5)       end  loop   𝑗

(6)   end  loop   𝑖

(7)  Search for the faces with the same value of 𝑁𝑜𝑑𝑒_𝑖,𝑗.

(8)  Compare the topology of the faces. If two faces have the same nodes list, note them as internal faces.

(9)  All the faces that have not been noted can be stored as the external surfaces.