I am working with a shell element simulation to determine weld size. I only have SW premium so I am trying to do this the old fashioned way. I used slit faces to make edges/vertices where I want them and to force compatible meshing. See pictures.

I run the simulation and go to list resultant forces. See pictures. Here's my question: Why is the vertex load so small but the edge load so large?

I thought the procedure called for getting the loads at the node (vertex) and dividing by the length that the node would cover. Should I just use the loads from the edge and divide by its length to finish up the rest of the calculation?

Thanks for you help.