Analysis of Beam (Point load & UDL) using ANSYS APDL

A: Governing principle: beam elements can over-stiffen in bending when shear locking is active on slender geometries. Here the reactions balance and the mode shape looks right, but displacement is uniformly low, which is classic BEAM188/189 behavior if shear effects aren’t reduced. Option B traps people who know units matter, but a unit error would blow the result by orders of magnitude, not a clean factor of four.

A: Governing principle: elastic beam deflection under UDL scales as wL⁴/(8EI). Plugging rough values puts the answer near 10⁻³ m, which is the right smell check before trusting FEA contours. Option A catches engineers who remember steel is stiff but forget the L⁴ term dominates even modest spans.

A: Governing principle: design codes are written around section forces and stresses, not numerical artifacts. Eurocode bending checks assume σ = M·y/I, which aligns with beam section results, not equivalent stress clouds. Option A tempts engineers who know partial factors exist, but those act on actions and resistances, not post-processed von Mises.

A: Governing principle: stress-based safety factors don’t address stability failures. A beam can sit comfortably below yield yet still buckle when axial compression is present or introduced by constraints. Option A traps people who equate deflection with stress margin, but those are related, not equivalent.