Distributed Loads Overview

In RS2 you can apply distributed loads to Excavation, External, Material or Stage boundaries. Distributed loads cannot be applied to Joint or Structural boundaries. In a multi-stage model, distributed loads can be staged.

NOTE: distributed loads cannot be applied until the finite element mesh has been generated.

The following options are available for applying distributed loads in RS2.

Uniform Load

Uniform distributed loads can be applied to boundaries with the Add Uniform Load option.

Triangular Load

A linearly varying (triangular or trapezoidal) distributed load can be defined with the Add Triangular Load option.

Note about Distributed Load Units

A distributed load represents a surface load or pressure (force) / (unit area) when considering the out-of-plane dimension of the model (i.e. the dimension perpendicular to the viewing or analysis plane).

For a Plane Strain model, a distributed load represents an infinite strip load on each boundary segment to which it is applied.