In a Stress analysis, a load, or force, can be applied to the part, and the resulting deflections are measured. Volume loading can be used to simulate the effects of gravity in a Stress analysis.
Volume loading
You can apply a uniform load to selected elements in the model, expressed as a volume load (
or 
). You need to specify the magnitude of the volume load and the direction in which it acts (only global directions supported).
The volume load, 
, is given by the following equation:
where
-
is the material density. -
is the gravitational constant.
Density, in units of 
, multiplied by the gravitational constant in units of 
, gives the volume load in units of , as is required by this function.
For example: A material with a density of 
would experience a volume load of 
due to the effect of gravity (
).