A Parametric Cubic Element with Tension Properties (Q4243580)

The authors present the construction and study the properties of a new parametric cubic element having tension properties. The element is based on the Clough-Tocher split of a given triangle. Due to its tension properties the element can be used to obtain a local interpolation scheme for scattered data. The authors extend the idea of an earlier work of the second author [\textit{C. Manni}, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 69, No. 1, 143-157 (1996; Zbl 0858.65007)] to the bivariate case for scattered data. Considering the problem in the parametric setting, the required \(C^ 1\) interpolating function is constructed as a collection of triangular parametric patches. Assuming that positions and gradients are prescribed for each vertex of a given triangulation of the data set, the functional patch corresponding to a given triangle is represented as a composition of parametric surfaces, where each component is a Clough-Tocher macro-element which interpolates the corresponding component of the data.