An additional boundary condition is created to impose a vertical displacement along the top surface of the plate.
The plate is loaded using displacements because it results in a more gradual failure process than a similar loading using applied forces. When a simple structure, such as this composite plate, begins to fail under the action of applied forces, the structure fails rapidly because the load continues to increase as the load carrying capacity of the structure decreases. With displacement controlled loading, the load carried by the structure decreases as the structure fails which allows for a slower rate of failure.
An equation constraint is applied allowing for simple determination of the total reaction force during post-processing.
Tip: To quickly select these nodes, enable "by angle" selection and select all nodes on the face, then switch back to "individually" selection mode and deselect the Load_Node by clicking it while holding down the Ctrl button.