A half-explicit Runge-Kutta method of order 5 for solving constrained mechanical systems (Q1195951)

The paper presents a new half-explicit Runge-Kutta method for the numerical integration of differential-algebraic systems of index 2. The idea is to seek a fifth order method together with an embedded formula for step size control. The number of stages is eight. For obtaining a unique solution from the order conditions systems, the author introduces some sufficient condition. The construction of the coefficients is made by solving some nonlinear systems. The free parameters are choosen so that some truncation error terms for the embedded formula are small. The stability region is analyzed. The method is particularly efficient for the solution of the equations of motion of constrained mechanical systems. Numerical experiments and comparisons with other codes demonstrate the efficiency of the new method. The fifth order method gives the best results for low and middle tolerances.