Speed and accuracy improvements in standard algorithm for prismatic gravitational field

Abstract

SUMMARY By utilizing the addition theorems of the arctangent function and the logarithm, we developed a new expression of Bessel’s exact formula to compute the prismatic gravitational field using the triple difference of certain analytic functions. The use of the new expression is fast since the number of transcendental functions required is significantly reduced. The numerical experiments show that, in computing the gravitational potential, the gravity vector, and the gravity gradient tensor of a uniform rectangular parallelepiped, the new method runs 2.3, 2.3 and 3.7 times faster than Bessel’s method, respectively. Also, the new method achieves a slight increase in the computing precision. Therefore, the new method can be used in place of Bessel’s method in any situation. The same approach is applicable to the geomagnetic field computation.