Cosserat nets

Cosserat nets are networks of elastic rods that are linked by elastic joints. They allow to represent a large variety of objects such as elastic rings, coarse nets, or truss structures. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to model and dynamically simulate such Cosserat nets. We first derive the static equilibrium of the elastic rod model that supports both bending and twisting deformation modes. We further propose a dynamic model that allows for the efficient simulation of elastic rods. We then focus on the simulation of the Cosserat nets by extending the elastic rod deformation model to branched and looped topologies. To round out the discussion, we evaluate our deformation model. By comparing our deformation model to a reference model, we illustrate both the physical plausibility and the conceptual advantages of the proposed approach.