In some cases, it may be necessary to only load parts of a surface. For this, the "Free Rectangular Load" option is available in RFEM 6.
Usage in RFEM
Under the Loads area, you can find the "Free Rectangular Load" dialog box.
In the "Load Case" list, select the load case to which you want to assign the load.
In the "Assigned to Surfaces" dialog section, you can control the effect of the rectangular load. There are several options available in the list:
- "Empty": The load does not act on any surfaces.
- All: The load is applied to all surfaces that are cut perpendicular to the projection plane, starting from the load locations.
- "Number": The load acts only on the surfaces of the specified numbers.
In the "Load distribution" list, you can control whether the load is uniform or linear.
- Uniform: The rectangular load acts with a constant magnitude.
- Linear in X / Y / Z: The load has a linearly variable magnitude in the direction of a global axis.
- Varying in Z: The load acts with a magnitude that is variable in the Z-direction, which you can freely describe in the "Varying in Z-direction" tab in a table.
- Varying Along Perimeter: The load acts with a variable magnitude along the perimeter, which you can freely describe in the "Varying Along Perimeter" tab in a table.
- Varying in Z and Perimeter: The load acts along the perimeter with a magnitude varying in the Z-direction, which you can freely describe in the "Varying in Z-Direction" and "Varying Along Perimeter" tabs.
Under "Parameters," you can determine the load values of the free rectangular load.
Under "Load Location," there are two options for defining the dimensions of the rectangular load:
Defining "Rectangle corner points"
Specifying "Center and sides of rectangle"
If necessary, you can provoke a "Rotation of rectangle about Z." A positive angle α rotates the rectangular load clockwise about the positive axis.