Thanks everyone for your response.
Thanks especially JohnyGlueBug for the link to the paper. Very informative. Looks like Ansys are onto a good thing with the Solid shell element.
I did run my own model for the first round of analysis which were linear static. Here the contractor used...
I have been ask to evaluate an analysis done on a bifurcation. The analysis was done using solid-shell elements (SOLSH190 – Ansys – 8 node brick), with one element across the thickness. Apparently this element can handle bending quite well and give accurate answers
My FEA knowledge is about 5...