Using Geometric Symmetries to Achieve Super-Smoothness for Cubic Powell–Sabin Splines

In this paper, we investigate \(C^{2}\) super-smoothness of the full \(C^{1}\) cubic spline space on a Powell–Sabin refined triangulation, for which a B-spline basis can be constructed. Blossoming is used to identify the \(C^{2}\) smoothness conditions between the functionals of the dual basis. Some of these conditions can be enforced without difficulty on general triangulations. Others are more involved but greatly simplify if the triangulation and its corresponding Powell–Sabin refinement possess certain symmetries. Furthermore, it is shown how the \(C^{2}\) smoothness constraints can be integrated into the spline representation by reducing the set of basis functions. As an application of the super-smooth basis functions, a reduced spline space is introduced that maintains the cubic precision of the full \(C^{1}\) spline space.