Guidelines for Force and Moment Loads
In working with force or moment loads, bear the following in mind:
• For solid models, you can apply force loads to points, vertices, curves, edges, or surfaces. You must not apply a moment load to a surface in a solid model unless there is a shell associated with that surface. You must not apply moments to edges or curves on solid models unless there is a beam on that edge or curve.
You must not apply a moment load to edges or surfaces of 2D plates or 2D solids.
Note that applying forces or moments to points can also result in stress concentrations.
• For shell models, you can apply forces and moments to points, vertices, curves, or surfaces. You should avoid defining a moment that is normal to the midsurface. Also, bear in mind that applying forces or moments to points can result in stress concentrations.
• Do not apply a moment load to a point on a solid, 2D solid, or 2D plate.
• You can combine forces and moments in one load.
• You define forces and moments relative to the current coordinate system. If you do not designate a current coordinate system, the load is relative to the WCS.
• If the Z axis of a reference cylindrical or spherical coordinate system touches an entity that you want to load, you may not be able to successfully specify a force or load value for one or more of the directional components. A message may be displayed, informing you of the problem. For FEM mode, you will see the message at run time.
To work around this problem, you can change the coordinate system to a Cartesian coordinate system or re-orient the coordinate system so the Z axis no longer touches the entity you want to load.
• When you apply a force or moment, Creo Simulate displays a load icon on the appropriate entities. The icon includes a vector that indicates the direction of the load. If the vector direction does not agree with what you specified, review the load.