I used shell element for floor to span in between steel beams. However, I found that only the superimposed loads are transferred onto the beam, not the self-weight. Did anyone ever see that? I checked by displacing loads on the beams.
Based on material and section property, SAP2000 will distribute shell selfweight load at meshed joint location. Make sure one of the load patterns such as DEAD case includes a selfweight multiplier of 1
Thanks. I guess it means that I have to mesh the elements along the length of a beam so that I have multiple meshed joint locations on a beam to simulate the line load.
You might also try to assign area load>load to frame. If that doesn't work, do as you suggest and mesh elements along the length of the beam to transfer load.