Bending analysis of a single leaf flexure using higher-order beam theory

We apply higher-order beam theory to analyze the deflections and stresses of a cantilevered single leaf flexure in bending. Our equations include shear deformation and the warping effect in bending. The results are compared with Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theory, and are verified by finite element analysis (FEA). The results show that the higher-order beam theory is in a good agreement with the FEA results, with errors of less than 10%. These results indicate that the analysis of the deflections and stresses of a single leaf flexure should consider the shear and warping effects in bending to ensure high precision mechanism design.