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The gravitational attraction of any polygonally shaped vertical prism with inclined top and bottom faces

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Abstract.

 A closed formula for computing the gravitational attraction of a general vertical prism with N+2 faces (N faces are vertical planes, the other two are the inclined top and bottom planes) in Cartesian coordinates is presented. In addition, the special case of a triangular prism is discussed. Algebraic differences and overlooked singularity conditions of a previously published formula of this computation (which was only for the triangular special case) were identified and are also presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/National Geodetic Survey, N/NGS5, 1315 East–West Highway, SSMC3, Room 9316, Silver Spring MD 20910, USA e-mail: dru@ngs.noaa.gov; Tel.: +1 301 713 3202; Fax: +1 301 713 4172, , , , , , US

    D. A. Smith

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  1. D. A. Smith
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Received: 22 March 1999 / Accepted: 2 February 2000

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Smith, D. The gravitational attraction of any polygonally shaped vertical prism with inclined top and bottom faces. Journal of Geodesy 74, 414–420 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001900000102

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001900000102

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