Hi.

I made 3 static studies on a ladder shaped part. One with beam elements, one with surfaces and one with solids.

The surface and solid version gives similar displacement results.

The one with beam elements gives a larger deformation.

The "ladder" is made with VKR tubes 50x30x3,2 mm (steel 210Gpa)

Length 5000 mm

Width 500 mm

2 simple fixtures ("fixed" and "on flat surface" and 1 load of 750N

Bonded contact between the parts.

Done in SW2012 SP2.0

The resulting deflection (UY):

Beam: -106 mm

Surface: - 79 mm

Solid: -76 mm

Pictures on beam and solid versions are attached.

What did I do wrong with the beams setup?