Determination and (re)parametrization of rational developable surfaces

Abstract: The developable surface is an important surface in computer aided design, geometric modeling and industrial manufactory. It is often given in the stan- dard parametric form, but it can also be in the implicit form which is commonly used in algebraic geometry. Not all algebraic developable surfaces have rational parametrizations. In this paper, we focus on the rational developable surfaces. For a given algebraic surface, we first determine whether it is developable by geometric inspection, and we give a rational proper parametrization for the af- firmative case. For a rational parametric surface, we can also determine the developability and give a proper reparametrization for the developable surface.