Problem description

When applying load factors according to the design approaches in PLAXIS 2D AE, we do not always see the applied LoadFactorLabel for the design approach in either the Selection explorer, or Model explorer, or both.

Solution

This issue is now solved since PLAXIS 2D 2015.00

As mentioned above, this behaviour may be confusing in PLAXIS 2D AE, as such we will explain below how to use the command line to inspect the actual settings in the project. In this example the aforementioned confusing behaviour is shown using PLAXIS 2D AE's Tutorial Lesson 8, and focus on Phase_9:

As can be seen in the image above, inside the Selection explorer the LoadFactorLabel, and design values for the load components (q_x,design and q_y,design) are not displayed for the selected load. In the image above these parameters are shown in the Model Explorer. However, it could be that this is also hidden in the Model Explorer.

Inspect applied load factors

To inspect if and when a Design approach LoadFactor has been assigned to the line load, we can use the command line to access this information:

• to access the assigned LoadFactorLabel, use
    echo LineLoad_1_1.LoadFactorLabel
• to access the horizontal design load value (normal load * load factor) q_x,start,design:
    echo LineLoad_1_1.qx_start_design
• and the vertical design load value q_y,start,design:
    echo LineLoad_1_1.qy_start_design

Change load factor label

To change the load factor label via the command line, we need get the following information:

• the LineLoad name (LineLoad_1_1)
• the internal name of the design approach load factor label (LoadFactorLabel_3). To retreive this, use the command to echo the Design Approach: echo DesignApproach_1
• and the phase (Phase_9)

We can then set the design approach label using the following command:

set Lineload_1_1.LoadFactorLabel Phase_9 LoadFactorLabel_3

Then we can check the changes via these commands:

  echo LineLoad_1_1.LoadFactorLabel
  echo LineLoad_1_1.qx_start_design
  echo LineLoad_1_1.qy_start_design

---

The above mentioned process has been animated, see below:

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

Note: This issue is now solved since PLAXIS 2D 2015.00