- Slovak University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry, Bratislava, Slovakia (m.macak@gmail.com)
The poster discusses the solution of the Poisson equation for the gravitational potential of irregularly shaped bodies by the finite element method (FEM) in ANSYS software. The aim of this research is to study whether the FEM can overcome the limitations of the spherical-harmonic-based approaches, namely their divergence in the vicinity of the gravitating body. The objects of investigation are three asteroids: 433 Eros, 25143 Itokawa and 101955 Bennu. The computational domain is a sphere with a radius 10 times larger than the average radius of the selected asteroid, at the origin of which the given asteroid is located. The input to the computation is the density of the asteroids, while outside the asteroid zero density is considered. The output is the gravitational potential and gravitational acceleration in the vicinity of the asteroids. The results of the computations are compared with the solutions by the spherical and spheroidal harmonic-based approaches.
How to cite: Macák, M. and Minarechová, Z.: Application of the finite element method to the modelling of the gravitational field of asteroids, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-4830, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-4830, 2025.
