On the Analysis of Geodetic Networks for the Determination of the Incremental Strain Tensor

A method is developed for the determination of the incremental strain tensor from repeated geodetic measurements. In principle, the method is based on the changes of the co-ordinates of a geodetic network placed in a homogeneous strain field. It provides for the incorporation of all types of geodetic measurements. The inner co-ordinates and the inner precision of the common points at both epochs are used for the least squares estimation of the increlnental strain tensor. A statistical test is designed to test for the significance of homogeneous incremental strain.