Hi,
I have created dummy beams connected to a slab at the nodes so I can apply a moving load along those beams and analyse the effect of this load on the slab. I have created these beams with a new material with zero density and all other parameters similar to those of concrete. When running the analysis, I can see that the beams are indeed taking negligible moments as desired; however, they are still taking significant shear forces. I have noticed that no matter the changes I make to the dummy material, the shear forces do not change.
This makes me uncertain that the results for the slab in terms of shear stresses are accurate. Can you please advise whether my approach is correct or not and if not what I might do to ensure that stresses on the slab are displayed correctly.
Thank you.
If the dummy beam represents the only load path for the loads to get to other nodes, then local shear forces between the nodes must exist.