Terminology and Classification of Deformation Models in Engineering Surveys

The deformation of an object is the result of a process. According to the current trends in engineering surveying, the analysis of deformations intends to figure out the dynamics of this process. Apart from the geometrical changes observed, the basis of the investigations is to incorporate the causative forces and the physical properties of the body. In its entirety, the body, the influencing forces and the resulting deformations are considered a dynamical system. Thus in our days „Geodetic Deformation Analysis“ means „Geodetic Analysis of Dynamic Processes“. The tools to do so, are made available by neighbouring disciplines like the sciences of mechanics, filter and control engineering and systems theory. Especially systems theory provides the terminology and classification of models for an up-to-date deformation analysis in the above sense. The essence of the paper is the description of the deformation models in accordance with systems theory.