0 Density Material or 0 thickness plate. 1

[Mohamed Zied]

Hi,

I want to assess the load sharing contribution of the deck and secondary members (bracings, diaphragms...) in a non-composite steel girder bridge.
I conducted the assessment for the 1st case (deck without secondary members).
Now, I want to assess the contribution of secondary members but I want to make sure that the same load is applied to girders in both cases.
Is it possible to introduce a plate with 0 density material or 0 thickness just to distribute load among girders in the same way as the first case shown in the attached document?
I hope my question and intentions are clear.
Thank you in advance.

 

[FEA way]

You can model the plate as nearly rigid by applying material with very large Young’s modulus to it.

 

[Mohamed Zied]

What about the density or the thickness, can it be 0 to avoid any additional load to the structure?

 

[FEA way]

You can define zero density if you want to have massless body when gravitational load is included in the analysis.

However, you can’t define 0 thickness for shell elements. Only surface elements may have zero thickness.