A Discrete Mechanics Approach to the Cosserat Rod Theory—Part II: Geometric Insights About Static Equilibria on Vertex and Staggered Grids

We apply the discrete mechanics approach to the discretisation of geometrically exact Cosserat rods. We consider discrete Cosserat rods defined on a vertex (or nodal) grid, as well as on a staggered grid, and provide a review and update of the results already obtained in Part I for the nodal model variant and, for the first time, present a detailed version for the staggered variant. Several numerical examples underline the validity of the presented theory.