A: whatever we use DM or Spaceclaim, it’s not possible yet to define tapered cross sections along the beam length. We need to keep a uniform cross section and use a command insert below the corresponding body in mechanical with the following commands (for instance): sectype,100,beam,rect ! define cross section at first end point secdata,1,1 sectype,101,beam,rect ! define cross section at far end secdata,5,5 sectype,matid,taper ! new Section ID for tapered beam analysis secdata,100,0.0,20,0 ! section 100 at location (0,20,0) secdata,101,0,40.0 ! section 101 at location (0,40,0)