dpadler 1
What I meant is this :
If you apply a point load to a plate at the center of the overhung edge, the edges of the plate do not deflect as much as the center. The wider the plate is, the greater the effect will be. If it is very wide (say with a 100:1 aspect ratio), the majority of the plate will deflect hardly at all and all the deformation will be in a small region close to the load. The simple beam calculation assumes a line load evenly distributed along the edge, so from the principle of virtual work, it follows that the deflection predicted by a hand calculation should be exceeded at the point of application of the load by both the true deflection and the FEA prediction. Now it is possible that this may not remain true for a plate of about 1:1 aspect ratio, so I might have to take my statement back, although intuitively it would seem to me that it would still be true. I wish I had access to an FEA program (which at this moment I don't).