Jkate:
You would do well to post your attachment/sketches as PDF’s, we can see them and print them much easier in that format. The same applies to your flat plate problem (Struct. forum, thread507-379753), which is far from a flat plate in your latest iteration. You hadn’t addressed the flat plate problem correctly either, before it so radically changed. Maybe you should be asking these questions of your boss, so he knows what you know and what you don’t know, and he can help guide you and keep you out of trouble. That would be good for you and the company. E-Tips is a wonderful place to come for help and discussion on engineering problems, but it shouldn’t be a substitute for material you should have covered in your earlier engineering course work. Dig out you text books and class notes, and do a little self study.