Summary: Based on more than three decades of rod finite element theory, this publication combines the successful contributions found in the literature and eradicates the arising drawbacks like loss of objectivity, locking, path-dependence and redundant coordinates. Specifically, the idea of interpolating the nodal orientations using relative rotation vectors, proposed by M. A. Crisfield and G. Jelenić [Proc. R. Soc. Lond., Ser. A, Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 455, No. 1983, 1125–1147 (1999; Zbl 0926.74062)], is extended to the interpolation of nodal Euclidean transformation matrices with the aid of relative twists; a strategy that arises from the \(SE(3)\)-structure of the Cosserat rod kinematics. Applying a Petrov-Galerkin projection method, we propose a rod finite element formulation where the virtual displacements and rotations as well as the translational and angular velocities are interpolated instead of using the consistent variations and time-derivatives of the introduced interpolation formula. Properties such as the intrinsic absence of locking, preservation of objectivity after discretization and parameterization in terms of a minimal number of nodal unknowns are demonstrated by representative numerical examples in both statics and dynamics.
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