HELP! Need help analyze HSS steel frame

[LostinENG]

Hi, I modeled a frame in solid work made of 3" square HSS tube steel.

The structure is a rectangular shape with two steel plates welded to the ends of it.

How do I go about analyzing this? Do I use solid mesh or beam mesh? I am kinda confused.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[josephv]

Hi LostinENG,

Generally you use beam elements for extruded structural components, shell elements for sheet metal and solid elements for everything else; however, in this case you have some steel plates mixed with structural steel. If you are interested in analyzing the tube steel and the plates together you might want to create an assembly with the tube steel as a weldment part and the plates as separate parts, then you can use a mixed mesh with beam elements for the the tube steel and a solid mesh for the two steel plates. Another option would be to use beam elements for the tube steel and for the steel plates (in theory this should work since they are both extruded profiles; however how the plates are connected might be an issue).

Hope these ideas help.

Cheers,

Joseph