This paper on "Use of the FEM for the Design of Flexible Parts" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on Effective Engineering Analysis - 25-28 April 1999, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Abstract

The equilibrium shapes of a flexible cable of arbitrary cross-section subjected to prescribed end positions and orientations are computed based on an incremental T.L. formulation with controlled co-rotational updating. The solution is obtained with a direct gradient method by performing an exact line search at each iteration.