Load Distribution on plates

[roldy]

I'm trying to run a structural study and I am a little confused this being my first time doing this. There are 4 identical scaffolds made with A36 steel. The bottom scaffold supports the top three as well as a volume of water having a weight of 15689.59 lbs. I need to figure out the maximum loading a scaffold can support. I calculated what the weight of 3 scaffolds are and added this to the water weight. This is my total loading. I applied a force to all the plate faces using the total option button for the force value. Is the setup for this simulation correct? I'm running the simulation and I am getting high values for the total loading possible. I'm not sure if I set up the study correctly. Attached is the SolidWorks file of the model. I know that I could of modeled a quarter of the entire model to take advantage of symmetry but decided not to. It would be greatly appreciated if someone could take a look at the setup. I am using SolidWorks 2015.

each scaffold weighs = 300.25 lbs
3 scaffolds weigh = 900.75 lbs

water volume weight = 15689.59 lbs

Total weight that bottom scaffold must hold = 900.75 + 15689.59 = 16590.34 lbs

 

[mmar2087]

I'm not sure if I understand your description.
But one obvious thing when looking at your file is that the loading looks unrealistic.
You put the load directly on the 4 plates which bends the plate's outer edges.
In reality if you put a weight on your structure the stiffness of the weight will prevent this local bending from happening.
You could try to add the weight as a remote mass instead to get a more realistic deformation.

This kind of geometry is also better modeled with beams since one dimension is much larger than the 2 other ones.

 

[roldy]

I will try the remote mass. My first attempt was using beams but ran into an error, I can't remember what it was. For the remote load/mass is the load cumulative? The total loading value that I calculated, is that applied to each of the four faces I select or is it cumulative?

 

[mmar2087]

If you use a remote load and connect it to the 4 plates, the loading will be spread evenly on them (that is if the center of load/mass is in the center of the 4 plates)

 

[roldy]

I would still have to add in gravity correct? I guess I would need gravitational loading of the scaffold itself while applying a remote load/mass to the 4 plates. Am I understanding this correctly? I have attached an updated version of the scaffold if you or anyone else is interested in this problem.

 

[roldy]

I actually have another scaffold design that I need to test. I posted as another topic.