Figure. Select the desired imported load cases to see the supported/loaded surfaces.
In ProTOp the original imported load cases are used as a basis to define optimization load cases which are then actually used in the optimization process. This makes possible to define many various load cases from a limited set of imported load cases.
Imported load cases have to be identified by names and by supported/loaded surfaces. To see the supported/loaded surfaces of a particular imported load case, select its corresponding data row in the Original imported load cases data grid.
Figure. Select the desired imported load cases to see the supported/loaded surfaces.
When rendering the supported/loaded surfaces, a full triangle is displayed if any vertex of the triangle is either supported or loaded. A supported/loaded vertex is rendered in blue/red color. A vertex that is neither supported or loaded is rendered in white color.
Figure. Imported load cases: supported surfaces are drawn in BLUE; loaded surfaces are drawn in RED.
An optimization load case is computed as a linear combination of imported load cases, each of them scaled by its corresponding scale factor. This procedure is applied to both, displacement and force (loads) boundary conditions.
Currently, up to a maximum of 48 imported load cases can be combined into a single optimization load case.
An optimization load case data row is flagged by an error status in the following situations: