Distributed Loading

Altair Forum User

I been trying to figure out how Optistruct performs distributed loading on an object.  To do so, I made a 2D rectangle and applied a force at each node on the top of the object and a constraint on each of the bottom corners.  I would expect there would be material everywhere a force was applied (along the entire top of the object).  However, that is not the case.  I only get contact surface at a single point.  Is this correct and am I applying a distributed load correctly (selecting all the nodes and applying a vector force)?  A jpeg of my resutls are attached.

 

Thanks ahead of time,

-Dave

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

tinh

Hi

Perhaps you need to exclude contact area from the design space

Altair Forum User

So I made a few models with a non-design 'skin' and applied the force to that - is that what you mean?

tinh

Yes, but it does not need to be 'skin', it's just your pre-design, it can be solid

You can read in help about 'topology optimization of control arm' to create a such non-design space

Altair Forum User

No, I'm tracking.  Thanks for the help.