Conde López, Eduardo RobertoSalete Casino, EduardoFlores Escribano, JesúsVargas Ureña, Antonio Manuel2024-11-042024-11-042023-03-21Conde López, E.; Salete Casino, E.; Flores Escribano, J.; Vargas Ureña, A. Application of Finite Element Method to Create a Digital Elevation Model. Mathematics 2023, 11, 1522. https://doi.org/10.3390/math110615222227-7390https://doi.org/10.3390/math11061522https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14468/24235The registered version of this article, first published in Mathematics, is available online at the publisher's website: MDPI, https://doi.org/10.3390/math11061522La versión registrada de este artículo, publicado por primera vez en Mathematics, está disponible en línea en el sitio web del editor: MDPI, https://doi.org/10.3390/math11061522The generation of a topographical surface or digital elevation model for a given set of points in space is a known problem in civil engineering and topography. In this article, we propose a simple and efficient way to obtain the terrain surface by using a structural shell finite element model, giving advice on how to implement it. The proposed methodology does not need a large number of points to define the terrain, so it is especially suitable to be used with data provided by manual topographical tools. Several examples are developed to demonstrate the easiness and accuracy of the methodology. The digital terrain model of a real landscape is modeled by using different numbers of points (from 49 to 400) using a regular mesh or a randomly generated cloud of points. The results are compared, showing how the proposed methodology creates a sufficiently accurate model, even with a low number of points (compared with the thousands of points handled in a LiDAR representation). A real case application is also shown. As an appendix, the sample code to generate the examples is provided.eninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess33 Ciencias Tecnológicas::3305 Tecnología de la construcciónartículodigital elevation modelfinite element modelcivil engineeringtopography