Double Pendulum

This is a double rigid-bar pendulum. The bars are of equal length and mass (1 m and 1 kg). Set the initial angles (θ1 and θ2) then release the pendulum. Total energy is supposed to be conserved (without damping), but numerical truncation causes the total energy to deviate. There are three integration schemes to try - Euler, Symplectic (Leapfrog), and 4th-order Runge-Kutta. Set the GRAPH option to TRACE to observe the path traced by the bars. Note the chaotic motion under some conditions - a combination of actual chaotic behavior combined with numerical error. If the total energy exceeds 3X the initial total energy, the simulation will stop - try a smaller time step.

θ1 (deg)
θ2 (deg)
Damping Coefficient
Time Step (s)
Graph
Model

Output 1
Output 2
Output 3