Dear Goest,
This makes an interesting reading. For the time being I will take it with a pinch of salt.
In your post the crucial line, IMO, is
"... increasing preload above that needed to keep the joint together..."
How do you define that?
Thanks and cheers.. r.m
This is an interesting problem.
The answer is strongly dependent on the physics of the problem. It is important to know what happens to the force as the beam deflects. If the direction remains invariant globally then they are best applied as point loads. If they act like follower forces they...