
7
Numerical methods of calculus of variations
In the last chapter we focused on analytical solutions. Application problems
in engineering practice, however, may not be easily solved by such techniques,
if solvable at all. Hence, before we embark on applications, it seems prudent to
discuss solution techniques that are amenable for practical problems. These
methods produce approximate solutions and are, as such, called numerical
methods.
It was mentioned in the introduction that the solution of the Euler-Lagrange
differential equation resulting from a certain variational problem may not be
easy. This gave rise to the idea of directly solving the variational ...