Distributed load on steel grating 1

[smalik7]

I have distributed load of 200 kg-m2 which i have to applied on steel grating in ansys mechanical. I am not sure how to apply the load on steel grating. The steel grating is 975mmx2375mm in area. I can use pressure in ansys to apply distibuted load on grating. But is there any other way to apply distributed loads as grating has a lot of open pattern.

 

[Stick.]

I've marked this to be moved to the FEA forum as that's more appropriate than the Steel and Stainless Engineering one.

You could also look at using a distributed mass (combined with a gravity acceleration) to apply the load, depending on which one is more appropriate for what you're actually analyzing. I believe you can specify a total mass for the distributed mass in Ansys, which may be easier for your scenario. If you use a pressure, you'll have to calculate an equivalent pressure that takes into account that the loading isn't applied to the open area and gives you the same net force as if it was. No matter what you do, you'll need to check your results carefully to make sure that the loading was applied properly and the open area issue doesn't accidentally cause a significantly different load to actually be applied (checking reaction forces against a hand calculation may be enough for that).

Taking a step back for a moment though, are you modeling and subsequently meshing the actual grating geometry? It sounds like you might be (given the open area issue/question), and I would question if that's truly necessary. That would be extremely computationally expensive (maybe only very expensive if you can make shell elements work), and I'm not sure what you'd gain from it, as most of the time grating comes with load ratings/capacities anyways.