Hello everyone,

I am working on a simulation in ABAQUS of a continuous beam with an interior column and additional supports, including a top support to resist uplift. After running the analysis, I compared the reaction forces at three key locations—

the interior column, the left support, and the top support—with experimental testing results. However, the simulated reaction forces at all these locations are noticeably higher than those observed in the experiment.

Here’s what I’ve done so far:

Mesh Quality: The mesh is sufficiently refined, and quality checks show no issues.

Interaction Definitions: I carefully reviewed contact and interaction properties (especially at interfaces), and they seem appropriately defined.

Material Properties: I tested different values for Young’s modulus of the top support, but the changes had only a minor effect on the resulting reaction forces.

I am now questioning whether the issue lies in the boundary conditions, contact behavior (e.g., frictionless vs. hard contact), or load application methods.

Despite all this, the simulated reactions remain significantly lower than the experimental values, and I’m unsure where the discrepancy might be coming from.

I have attached the CAE file for reference and would greatly appreciate any feedback, especially if someone has faced a similar issue or can suggest other areas I should investigate.

Thank you in advance!