An error estimate for an energy conserving spectral scheme approximating the dynamic elastica with free ends

An energy conserving spectral scheme is presented for approximating the smooth solution of the dynamic elastica with free ends. The spatial discretization of the elastica is done on the basis of Galerkin spectral methods with a Legendre grid. It is established that the scheme has the unique solution and enjoys a spectral accuracy with respect to the size of the spatial grid. Moreover, some results of a numerical simulation are given to verify that the implemented scheme preserves the discrete energy.