Thanks for the post xerf but I still don't think that solves the problem. The cantilever beam problem has been benchmarked in the verification manual, but only for a point load not a uniformly distributed load. Colleagues of mine have mentioned that FE programs tend to lump distributed loads...
Of the main 3D beam elements available there appears to be the relatively simple B31, B32 and B33 elements. Abaqus claims that they respectively use linear, quadratic and cubic interpolation. Can anyone please tell me what it is that they are interpolating to this order though? I am assuming...
