Abstract
Large deformation analyses of rods, which are flexible structures, encounter numerical difficulties such as instability or bifurcation. In this work, an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) finite element method is applied to elastic rod for the purpose of overcoming such difficulties. The proposed procedure is based on the geometrically exact rod theory. By this procedure, the initial shape can be changed during the large deformation analysis and the solution for the initial shape without imperfection can be calculated from the solution for the imperfect initial shape in the buckling problem.
