I don't know much about geometric algorithms, but I just wanted to know if given a mesh, is there an algorithm that outputs a boolean which is true when the mesh is actually a hollow cylinder (like a straight pipe) or else, it will be false. Any reference to the algorithm if it exists would be helpful.
EDIT: I am relatively sure that the body has a surface mesh, basically the only the surfaces of the object is meshed and it uses triangles for meshing.
A key problem is to find the axis of the cylindre. If it is known, you are done. If it is unknown but the cylindre is known to be without holes and delimited by two perpendicular bases, the main axis of inertia can be used. Otherwise, it should be constructible from the coordinates of five points (A Cylinder of Revolution on Five Points http://www.cim.mcgill.ca/~paul/12ICGG6Aw.pdf).
When you know the axis, it suffices to check that the distance of every point to the axis is constant. In case the mesh describes a solid (i.e. a surface with thickness), make sure to pick the points on the outer surface, for example using the orientation of the normals. There will be two distances and the lateral faces must be ignored.