After you’ve finished modelling your structure, you will want to apply loads to it. To do so, select the appropriate load types from the left side menu (under the Loads heading) and fill out the required fields. To allow users to get started quickly, S3D preloads every new model with the LG load group. If you want to get quick results, you can simply add all of your loads under the LG load group and hit the solve button at the top of the screen.
Special Load Types
Two load types have automatic and reserved names in S3D: Self-weight and Notional Loads. When these load types are activated, an associated load group is created and automatically named with a prefix, SW for Self-Weight and NL for Notional Loads, and a numeral increment (i.e. SW1, SW2, SW3…, NL1, NL2, NL3…). For this reason, the name of your load groups cannot start with “SW” or “NL”.
Managing Load Groups
When creating or editing an existing load, you can create a new load group by editing the Load Group field in the left side menu, as illustrated below. If you want to attribute the load to another existing load group, you can type in the name or select it from the dropdown menu in the Load Group field. To edit the name of a load group, select Groups & Cases from the left side menu and head over to the second tab labelled “Load Groups”.
You can also add new load groups in this table by pressing the Add Load Group button. New Load Groups will be automatically named using the Load Case symbol and a number increment when assigned to Load Cases. This name can be overwritten to something more descriptive.
Manually creating load combinations
If you have more than a single Load Group, you can manually create load combinations. To do so, select Load Combos in the left side menu, enter the coefficients for each Load Group and hit apply to submit the load combination.
Display Settings for Load Groups
To easily distinguish between different load groups using visibility settings on the right menu. You can color code or toggle the visibility for different load groups.
