Hi
If from load plan I have total load (kN) over an area and area (m2) known and if I convert the loading into area loding (kN/m2) then how do I take care of centre of gravity (cog)? Area loading will give cog in the middle of are while load plan cog can be off centre. How to take care of this discrepancy. I would like to apply the loading as UDL to the beams while modelling rigid arms (as someone suggested earlier) will require huge number of nodes!!!
Please suggest.
Thanks.
If you are trying to model the global behavior of the structure then you can add a load condition that is simply a force-couple to align the calculated COG with the reported COG from your load plan (See image below). This will ensure that the supporting structure will have the correct COG without adding any additional loading to the total load. You can create a unit load force-couple and then use a load factor in your load combination to match the desired COG.
Local design of the individual members in the structure is a bit more complicated since you only have one reported concentrated load. You would need to get more information about the local loading conditions to try and match the COG.