Hello,

   I am designing a table intended to store several large aluminium beams, so naturally I would like to run some simulations to find my stresses/displacements, etc.  I ran a simulation on my part file, containing only the table, by using the split line feature to sketch out the footprint of the beams and applying a force to that area equal to the weights of the beam.  I was able to run this simulation no problem. 

    Now I am trying to get more comfortable with the simulation package, so I thought it would be interesting to see how modeling the actual beams and simulating them on the table in an assembly would compare to my original simulation.  I set up the assembly as pictured below, but I am running into a few issues.

I tried running the simulation as is, but it was unsuccessful.  I set up a no penetration contact set between the top surface of the table and the bottom surfaces of the beams, yet this was my result.       

What am I doing wrong?  Am I not applying the proper fixtures to the beams? Currently the only fixed geometry are the bottom surfaces of the table legs.  I get better results by turning the beams into distributed masses, but I am not sure if that is the most appropriate way to simulate the beams since I think (please correct me if I have this wrong) that the distributed mass assumes the two surfaces are bonded.   I know there is the remote mass feature, but I am not sure how to correctly use it.   

Basically my question boils down to this:  What is the best way to simulate an otherwise unconstrained (no clamps, bolts, etc.) load on a flat surface? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

-Grant