Dynamics of highly elastic mechanisms using the generalized multiple shooting method: Simulations and experiments

We present the generalized multiple shooting method (GMSM) to analyze the dynamics of elastic mechanisms. The GMSM solves a boundary value problem by treating it as an initial value problem. Its accuracy depends on the order of space marching schemes rather than size of discretization. Dynamic equations with joint boundary conditions are derived by using Hamilton’s principle to be systematically solved by the GMSM. Comparing with existing solutions and experiments, the GMSM is shown to be efficient yet it captures deflection precisely. We expect it to serve as a good alternative to existing methods.