Principle of defoliation

The principle of defoliation was formulated in the 1960s by the Austrian geodesist and geophysicist Karl Ledersteger .

It concerns the theory of hydrostatic equilibrium figures and states that one can take off layer by layer to calculate homogeneous ellipsoids ( MacLaurin ellipsoids ) without disturbing the equilibrium of the rest of the body.

The reason is to be looked for in potential theory : in a Maclaurin ellipsoid the inner level surfaces are concentric and similar ( homothetic ) ellipsoids, so that every homogeneous shell does not exert any attraction on its interior , see homeoid .

See also

• Boundary value problem
• Gravity field
• Shell construction

literature

• Karl Ledersteger, Volume V (JEK), Astronomical and Physical Geodesy , 871 p., Verlag JBMetzler, Stuttgart 1969.