Beam deflection theory vs simulation

Project Support
1

Hi, I am new to simscale and I want to check if I can obtain the correct deflection value for a cantilever beam with end load with the help of static simulation.

The formular is : deflection d = F*L^3/(3EI), for a quadratic stell beam 50x50 mm of length 1 m, using
E = 210000 N/mm² and I = 520833 mm⁴ I obtain d = 30.47 mm at x = 1 m. I checked this value with various online calculators.

Using FEM in my project https://www.simscale.com/workbench/?pid=4944329858485961214&rru=d2e923f4-6b4f-4443-ad4d-f547d3509cbc&ci=a4f634c9-9988-4d0f-9398-ad0f39236418&ct=SOLUTION_FIELD&mt=SIMULATION_RESULT

I obtain d = 25.06 mm.
Can anybody help me to understand what’s wrong with my setup ?

Thanks
Peter

2

Hi @iid001 ,

The main issue here is the mesh, in particular the type of elements. Please check this article, which contains more details on the topic.

image
image998×440 13.9 KB

Cheers

3

Indeed , activating 2nd order elements in the Mesh setup solved the problem, the simulation result now corresponds to the closed-form solution.

Thank for your help
Peter