10.3.2 Framework Representations

To create a framework representation, do the following:

• Group individual representations into a set.
• Describe the topological relationships between the individual representations by their contact representations.

These contact representations (in the UML diagram, contact representation parts) can be non-sealed or sealed. If you group only sealed contacts then the surface framework representation is itself sealed. Because a volume framework representation is a boundary representation (BREP), it must be sealed.

Each contact patch is a 1D patch containing count and a patch index, which can be reused to associate other patches together (example use case: “flower faults”). The patch contains a subset of topological elements of an existing supporting representation (identified by its representation index). The topological elements are given by an ordered list of nodes of this supporting representation (integer values).