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Using shell mesh for thin parts

Using shell mesh for thin parts

Using shell mesh for thin parts

(OP)
I have a large bridge girder I'm planning to analyze for deflection/stresses.  The model is large and made up of generally thin pieces.  A normal solid mesh did not work -- I think the program ran out of memory.  Shell meshing is recommended to analyze thin parts, but I've never had to employ it.

So I start out with some practice with simple parts.  I made three 100x500x5(mm) plates and formed a wide-flange shape with it.  Then constrained the end of the wide-flange to a fourth plate to form a cantilever.  

After creating a shell study, I picked a surface on each of the plates to represent the structure, and entered 5mm for thickness.  Then I created bonded contact sets between all the touching faces of the plates.  Finally, I restrained the base plate and applied pressure on the web of the wide-flange.  The structure did mesh, but the analysis failed, which leads me to believe there's something wrong with the way I'm constraining/bonding the plates.

Thanks in advance for your help,

- HH

RE: Using shell mesh for thin parts

When you define your contact set I think you have to select the edge of the surface that you picked when defining the shell. You can not pick a surface that isn´t defined as a shell.  

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