The classification of bi-quintic parametric polynomial minimal surfaces

Abstract

Parametric polynomial surface is a fundamental element in CAD systems. Since the most of the classic minimal surfaces are represented by non-parametric polynomial, it is interesting to study the minimal surfaces represented in parametric polynomial form. Recently, Ganchev presented the canonical principal parameters for minimal surfaces. The normal curvature of a minimal surface expressed in these parameters determines completely the surface up to a position in the space. Based on this result, in this paper, we study the bi-quintic isothermal minimal surfaces. According to the condition that any minimal isothermal surface is harmonic, we can acquire the relationship of some control points must satisfy. Follow up, we obtain two holomorphic functions f(z) and g(z) which give the Weierstrass representation of the minimal surface. Under the constrains that the minimal surface is bi-quintic, f(z) and g(z) can be divided into two cases. One case is that f(z) is a constant and g(z) is a quadratic polynomial, and another case is that the degree of f(z) and g(z) are 2 and 1 respectively. For these two cases, we transfer the isothermal parameter to canonical principal parameter, and then compute their normal curvatures and analyze the properties of the corresponding minimal surfaces. Moreover, we study some geometric properties of the bi-quintic harmonic surfaces based on the Bezier representation. Finally, some numerical examples are demonstrated to verify our results.