I am having trouble getting believable results from simulate while analyzing a simple spreader beam.
I am new to simulate, so I don't know if I am constraining and/or loading it correctly. Any advise would be appreciated.
The beam is very simple. It is just a piece of 1" thick plate 147" long by 12" wide with 1-3/8" holes spaced 6" apart along both long edges for rigging.
2 pieces of 2" x 4" x 1/4" rectangular tubing will be welded to the sides for torsional support. See attached picture for a visual.
For the worst case scenario, the beam is to be picked at the top center hole with the load hung from the two outer most bottom holes.
It needs to hold 25,000 lbs, but so far my results have shown that it will not. Not even close. I don't believe these results because the man who suggested the design has been rigging for decades and would build this thing and use it without a second thought. I've been messing with constraints and loads - what kind to use, how to apply them, etc. Half of my attempts fail with "not enough constraints", and the ones that succeed show outlandish stresses over very small areas around the circumference of the holes. Pin constraints and bearing loads make the most sense to me for this, but I'm just not getting results. How do you do this?
And yes, all of my material properties are in good order.
Thanks, Luke