To define a distributed load to one (or more)bars:
- Select the relevant bars.
- Click on
.
The following dialogue appears:
- Specify if you want a load according to the global
or local 
coordinate system.
The representation of the global components rotates with this coordinate system. Each colour refers to an axis of the global coordinate system displayed in the bottom right of the model window.
The arrow of the load indicates the direction of a positive load. - For loads according to the global coordinate system, you need to indicate whether the value is a real value per meter of bar length (
) or a projected value per meter of the horizontal length (
). If you select the second option, the value per meter of the bar length will be inversely proportional to the bar inclination. - Enter the value of the load.
You can enter a value for multiple directions at the same time.
If you modify the value from the first field (start), the same value will automatically appear in the second one (end value). You can therefore obtain a uniform load. If you also modify the value in the second field, the value from the first field will stay the same and you will obtain a trapezium load. - Specify the position of the load with respect to bar ends.
By default, the start point of the bar is the point with the smallest X-coordinate.
When both ends have the same X-coordinate, it’s the point with the smallest Y-coordinate.
When both end have the same Y-coordinate, the point with the smallest Z-coordinate is the start point.
The same criteria are applied to set the orientation of the bar, the start and the end of a bar can also be deducted from the orientation of its local axes. - Once the desired direction is indicated, you can specify the beginning and the end for the distributed load. When the button
is active, you specify an absolute distance. By clicking once on the button , it changes to 
. Now you can enter a relative distance using a percentage. 0% corresponds to the beginning of the beam, with 25% of L/4 from the beginning point, 50%, with L/2 from the start point (= the middle of the line), etc. - Specify whether this load should be linked to a physical member.
