Force load on curvature

Yes, certainly

- create a cylindrical system with z axis is axis of the cylindrical face (Analysis>system)

- on panel force, switch 'global system' to 'local system', pick the cylindrical system and select force direction as 'y' (means 't')

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

Thank you very much for your reply.

I had done it (it's always good to know that your thoughts are on the right track!) however, since my part didn't comprise from a single curvature (as seen on the picture I attached), when I did what you suggested, some of the forces were tangential to the surface and others... well, they were not. I guess, creating more than one cylindrical coordinate systems to 'describe' my surface will do the job. I'll have a look.

Since you got into the trouble to answer this, I would like your opinion on the following: I am doing all this, because the part I would like model has a tangential load in various sections described as units force per units length (say N/mm). I thought that the best way to model this is to measure the length of the curve and then apply on my model a force of magnitude = (force/length) x (length measured). Is this OK in your opinion? Is there a better way to assign a distributed load (force/length) in hypermesh that I am currently missing?

Thank you for your support.      

By the way, does anyone remember how to assign a distributed load (which card for force/length) in optistruct or RADIOSS bulk?

Thank you. 

Yes, your approach is OK i think

there is PLOAD1 card to describe force/length for 1D elems and perpendicular to 1D axis

If your work is time consuming, try looking for some Tcl scripts may help you do faster

or write your own. Just select a nodelist, count total length, divide force to this length then apply this value to force on nodes

Thank you.