I have been asked to do a buckling analysis on a model of part of a large ship.  The model has been generated using surfaces with the intent of doing a shell mesh.

The model meshes as shells and runs as a static analysis.

However I am not able to run the model as a buckling analysis.

I keep getting a range of errors as I have tried different options. (Status code 2:Preconditioner fails to factor, Stop 5 Singular maxtrix, degenerated surface: see output file...)

The model has 3000 surfaces. I am using SW2010 with the latest service pack. With a 250mm element size it takes 2.15hrs to mesh. With a 200mm element size it takes 45mins to mesh.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to why it will run as a static analysis, but not as a buckling one?

I can't find any information from the failed analyses, to identify what has gone wrong.

Thanks for any help.