LECTURE NOTES

Shooting Method for Solving Ordinary Differential Equations

After reading this lecture notes, you should be able to

1. Understand the underlying principle behind the shooting method and

2. Apply shooting method to solve boundary value problems.

What is the shooting method?

Ordinary differential equations are given either with initial conditions or with boundary
conditions. Look at the problem below.

Figure 1 A cantilevered uniformly loaded beam.

To find the deflection  as a function of location x , due to a uniform load q , the

ordinary differential equation that needs to be solved is
d 2
2

q
L  x 2 (1)
dx 2 EI
where
L is the length of the beam,
E is the Young’s modulus of the beam, and
I is the second moment of area of the cross-section of the beam.
Two conditions are needed to solve the problem, and those are
 0  0
d
0  0 (2a,b)
dx
as it is a cantilevered beam at x  0 . These conditions are initial conditions as they are given
at an initial point, x  0 , so that we can find the deflection along the length of the beam.

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Numerical Methods and Computation II MATH375

Now consider a similar beam problem, where the beam is simply supported on the
two ends
υ
q

Figure 2 A simply supported uniformly loaded beam.

To find the deflection  as a function of x due to the uniform load q , the ordinary
differential equation that needs to be solved is
d 2
2

qx
x  L  (3)
dx 2 EI
Two conditions are needed to solve the problem, and those are
 0  0
 L   0 (4a,b)
as it is a simply supported beam at x  0 and x  L . These conditions are boundary
conditions as they are given at the two boundaries, x  0 and x  L .

The shooting method

The shooting method uses the same methods that were used in solving initial value problems.
This is done by assuming initial values that would have been given if the ordinary differential
equation were an initial value problem. The boundary value obtained is then compared with
the actual boundary value. Using trial and error or some scientific approach, one tries to get
as close to the boundary value as possible. This method is best explained by an example.
Take the case of a pressure vessel that is being tested in the laboratory to check its
ability to withstand pressure. For a thick pressure vessel of inner radius a and outer radius
b , the differential equation for the radial displacement u of a point along the thickness is
given by
d 2 u 1 du u
  0
dr 2 r dr r 2 (5)
Assume that the inner radius a  5" and the outer radius b  8" , and the material of the
pressure vessel is ASTM36 steel. The yield strength of this type of steel is 36 ksi. Two strain
gages that are bonded tangentially at the inner and the outer radius measure the normal
tangential strain in the pressure vessel as
t / r a  0.00077462
t / r b  0.00038462 (6ab)

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Shooting Method MATH375

b
a

Figure 3 Cross-sectional geometry of a pressure vessel.

at the maximum needed pressure. Since the radial displacement and tangential strain are
related simply by
u
t  , (7)
r
then
u r a  0.00077462  5  0.0038731' '
u r b  0.00038462  8  0.0030770' ' (8)
Starting with the ordinary differential equation
d 2u 1 du u
   0, u 5  0.0038731, u 8  0.0030770
dr 2 r dr r 2
Let
du
w (9)
dr
Then
dw 1 u
 w 2  0 (10)
dr r r
giving us two first order differential equations as
 w, u 5  0.0038731"
du
dr
   2 , w5  not known
dw w u
(11a,b)
dr r r
Let us assume
w5 
du
5  u8  u5  0.00026538
dr 85
Set up the initial value problem.
 w  f1 r , u, w, u5  0.0038731"
du
dr
   2  f 2 r , u, w, w5  0.00026538
dw w u
(12a,b)
dr r r
Using Euler’s method,
ui 1  ui  f1 ri , ui , wi h

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Numerical Methods and Computation II MATH375

wi 1  wi  f 2 ri , ui , wi h (13a,b)
Let us consider 4 segments between the two boundaries, r  5" and r  8" , then
85
h  0.75"
4

i  0, r0  5, u0  0.0038731", w0  0.00026538
u1  u 0  f1 r0 , u0 , w0 h
 0.0038371  f1 5,0.0038371,0.00026538(0.75)
 0.0038371   0.00026538(0.75)
 0.0036741"
w1  w0  f 2 r0 , u0 , w0 h
 0.00026538  f 2 (5,0.0038731,0.00026538)0.75
  0.00026538 0.0038371 
 0.00026538     0.75
 5 52 
 0.00010938

i  1, r1  r0  h  5  0.75  5.75",
u1  0.0036741", w1  0.00010940
u 2  u1  f1 r1 , u1 , w1 h
 0.0036741  f1 5.75,0.0036741,0.000109380.75
 0.0036741   0.00010938(0.75)
 0.0035920 ″
w2  w1  f 2 r1 , u1 , w1 h
 0.00010938  f 2 5.75,0.0036741,0.000109380.75
 0.00010938  0.00013015(0.75)
 0.000011769

i  2, r2  r1  h  5.75  0.75  6.5"

u 2  0.0035920", w2  0.000011785
u3  u 2  f1 r2 , u 2 , w2 h
 0.0035920  f1 6.5,0.0035920,0.0000117690.75
 0.0035920   0.000011769(0.75)
 0.0035832"
w3  w2  f 2 r2 , u2 , w2 h
 0.000011769  f 2 6.5,0.0035920  0.000011769(0.75)
 0.000011769  0.000086829(0.75)
 0.000053352

i  3, r3  r2  h  6.50  0.75  7.25"

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Shooting Method MATH375

u3  0.0035832", w3  0.000053352
u4  u3  f1 r3 , u3 , w3 h
 0.0035832  f1 7.25,0.0035832,0.000053352(0.75)
 0.0035832  0.000053352(0.75)
 0.0036232"
w4  w3  f 2 r3 , u3 , w3 h
 0.000011785  f 2 7.25,0.0035832,0.000053352(0.75)
 0.000053352  0.000060811(0.75)
 0.000098961
At
r  r4  r3  h  7.25  0.75  8"
we have
u4  u8  0.0036232"

While the given value of this boundary condition is

u4  u8  0.003070"

Let us assume a new value for

du
5 . Based on the first assumed value, maybe using twice
dr
the value of initial guess.
u8  u5
w5  2 5  2  2 0.00026538  0.00053076
du
dr 85

Using h  0.75 , and Euler’s method, we get

u4  u8  0.0029665"
While the given value of this boundary condition is
u4  u8  0.0030770"

Can we use the results obtained from the two previous iterations to get a better estimate of
the assumed initial condition of
du
5 ? One method is to use linear interpolation on the
dr
obtained data for the two assumed values of
du
5 .
dr
With
du
5  0.00026538,
dr
we obtained
u8  0.0036232" , and
with
du
5  0.00053076,
dr
we obtained

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Numerical Methods and Computation II MATH375

u8  0.0029665"

so a better starting value of

du
5 knowing that the actual value at
dr
u8  0.00030770" ,
we get
du
5   0.00053076   0.00026538 0.0030770  0.0036232   0.00026538
dr 0.0029645  0.0036232
 0.00048611
Using h  0.75" , and repeating the Euler’s method with
w5  0.00048611 ,
we get
u4  u8  0.0030769"
while the actual given value of this boundary condition is
u8  0.0030770" .
In this case, this value coincides with the actual value of u 8 . If that were not the case, one
would continue to use linear interpolation to refine the value of u 4 till one gets close to the
actual value of u 8 . Note that the step size and the numerical method used would influence
the accuracy for the obtained values. For the last case, the values are as follows
u0  u5  0.0038731"
u1  u5.75  0.0035085"
u2  u6.50  0.0032858"
u3  u7.25  0.0031518"
u4  u8.00  0.0030770"
See Figure 4 for the comparison of the results with different initial guesses of the slope.

Using h  0.75 ″ and Runge-Kutta 4th order method,

u1  u5  0.0038731"
u2  u5.75  0.0035554"
u3  u6.50  0.0033341"
u4  u7.25  0.00317923"
u5  u8  0.0030723"

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4.0E-03

du/dr = -0.00026538

3.8E-03
Radial Displacement, u (in)

3.6E-03

Exact
3.4E-03

du/d r= -0.00048611

3.2E-03
du/dr = -0.00053076

3.0E-03
5 6 7 8
Radial Location, r (in)

Figure 4 Comparison of results with different initial guesses of slope

Table 1 shows the comparison of the results obtained using Euler’s, Runge-Kutta and exact
methods.

Table 1 Comparison of Euler and Runge-Kutta results with exact results.

r Exact Euler  t (%) Runge-Kutta  t (%)
(in) (in) (in) (in)
5 3.8731×10-3 3.8731×10-3 0.0000 3.8731×10-3 0.0000
5.75 3.5567×10-3 3.5085×10-3 1.3731 3.5554×10-3 3.5824×10-2
6.5 3.3366×10-3 3.2858×10-3 1.5482 3.3341×10-3 7.4037×10-2
7.25 3.1829×10-3 3.1518×10-3 9.8967×10-1 3.1792×10-3 1.1612×10-1
8 3.0770×10-3 3.0770×10-3 1.9500×10-3 3.0723×10-3 1.5168×10-1