Modeling deck planks?

Question

Hey all, 
 I'm an undergrad doing a bridge design using STAAD (fairly new to the program). 
 I'm modeling a bridge with wooden deck planks. The bridge is a short span composed of 3 longitudinal beams. Resting on the beams are deck plans spanning the width of the bridge. The planks are regularly spaced. 
 I know all the geometry, I know the plank length, width, thickness. But how do I actually model them? Do I use a surface? Also, could deflection in these planks be specifically analyzed in the post processing?

Sye · Answer

Since you are interested in finding out the deflections in the planks, you need to model these using a mesh of Plate Elements ( do not use surface elements). The supporting beam elements could be modeled using beam elements and would have to be subdivided into small segments by the plate nodes as that would establish connectivity between the plates and beams. To find out the deflection at any location in the plank, you can go to the Post processing mode and look at the displacement of the plate node which is nearest to the point of interest.