This option defines the uniform load acting on a user-defined area of a plate or shell. Open this dialog idalog by clicking 
on the Surface tab of the Load Definition dialog.
This type of load acts on planar elements. It can also be distributed on bars, if it is applied to a cladding. If so, the load is distributed according to the trapezoidal and triangular method only.
The dialog has the following 3 parts:
- Load Parameters
- Direction of contour projection
- Contour definition.
The dialog has options that let you define variable loads p, applied to a user-defined contour. To define this load, specify the following:
- The load component values acting along the axes X, Y, or Z of the coordinate system. A load can be defined in the global coordinate or local coordinate system of an object.
- The direction of the contour projection. This is the direction along which the defined contour (to which the load is applied) is projected onto the surface of the plate or shell. Several methods of projection are available: perpendicular to the surface of the defined contour, along the X, Y, or Z axis of the global coordinate system, and along a defined vector.
The defined contour does not need to lie in the plane of the plate or shell. The projection direction must be selected in such a way that the projected contour displays on the surface of the plate or shell.
- If the Automatic panel selection in the contour plane option is selected, the following occurs:
- The Direction of contour projection button is no longer available.
- The program automatically detects the panels that lie in the plane of the defined contour and the load is applied to them.
- The contour to which a load is applied. This can be done using the dialog or graphically in the drawing area.
This part of the dialog also lets you open the Contour dialog by clicking
. - If the load is projected, it refers only to definitions in the global coordinate system.
- Optionally, you can specify geometrical limits for the load you are defining.
Planar loads are normally applied to the surface of an entire panel. To facilitate a load definition for curved panels (such as, a cylinder created using the Extrude option), you can select a certain set of finite elements (geometrical limits) for this type of load.
At the bottom of the dialog, the Geometrical limits button is accompanied by a selection option:
- If the option is cleared, the Geometrical limits button is not available and no limitations are influencing the load.
- When the option is selected, the Geometrical limits button becomes available, which lets you define geometrical limits related to the selected load type.