I primarily have used solids for beam simulation but decided to try treating as a beam.
Problem: Four 50' beams supporting a load of 220lb/ft. Right and left side are separated by 18". Each side consists of a pair of beams which are to be bolted together using welded on end plates with bolt holes. See default configuration.
Setup: Since I'm only concerned about beam selection at the moment, I will consider the two halves on a side as one 100' beam which by symmetry takes 110lbs/ft = 9.166 lbs/in load. With a F.O.S of 1.5 my load becomes 13.75lbs/in. Both ends are fixed. I'm also choosing a beam were it's deflection is based on span/360 = 100'/360 = 0.2777' = 3.333". Is my setup correct for treating as a beam with the fixtures I have?
Beam Deflection.SLDPRT- (191.43 KiB) Downloaded 8 times