Physical Validation of Simulation Tools for Slender Elastic Structures

This contribution validates different physics based software tools for the simulation of large spatial deformations of slender flexible structures. The considered simulation tools utilize discretized geometrically exact rod and shell models, with a considerable range of model properties tuned to a wider spectrum of engineering applications. We employ three benchmark tests on four simulation tools and compare the results with semi-analytic solutions from literature: The bending of a cantilever under gravity, the out of plane buckling of a predeformed beam due to coupling of bending and twist, and the lateral buckling bifurcation of a shell which is clamped such that the membrane width dimension corresponds to the direction of gravity. We examine both the reliability of the software and its behavior in these test examples. We indicate parameter ranges relevant for simulation of flexible round and flat cables, and we show that the numerical models perform well in these ranges even for coarse diszretisations.