Plate Attributes: Point Force

Description

Assigns point forces to selected plate elements using three orthogonal components and a coordinate system.

The force is positioned using either the selected coordinate system and coordinates, or using the local u-v system on the plate.

Point force attributes are load case dependent.

Dialog

Force X / Y / Z

Three orthogonal components of force vector.

Assigns an ID to the attribute.

By using different IDs, multiple forces can be applied to the same element for the same load case.

IDs are positive integers between 1 and 192.

Position

The position of the force.

Local u / v

Position of the force in the plate's local u-v axes. The validity range of u and v depends on the shape of the element. See Plate Elements: Local Axes.
UCS X / Y / Z

Position of the force in the selected coordinate system. The force is not applied if the position does not lie on any of the selected plates. Therefore, generally, only one element (or none) will be assigned the force attribute when using this position option.

Apply multiple loads

Opens the Plate Point Force dialog to define multiple point forces at once in a grid. See Attribute Apply Multiple Point Loads.

Coordinate System

The coordinate system (UCS) in which the components of the force and its position are defined.

The UCS is used only to define the global Cartesian components of the force. Subsequent changes to the UCS do not affect the direction or magnitude of the force.

Common Controls

Units

Force (e.g., N, lb).