Live load deflection 1

[Mohamed Zied]

Hi guys;

I have 4 steps in my model. the first is of course for boundary conditions, the second for self-weight. the third for the dead load (deck, railing, pavement ...), and the last is for the live load.
I intend to increase the live load to reach the allowed deflection by standards. Therefore, I need to extract the deflection due to the live load whenever it increases.

What is the best way to do it? knowing that the location (node) of maximum deflection changes when the live load increases according to the first tries.
Thank you in advance.

 

[FEA way]

Do you want to automate this ? If so then you would have to use Python scripting. Otherwise, utilize min/max value labels that show extreme values of any output variable along with their locations.

 

[Mohamed Zied]

This is what I am doing. But, that deflection is the total deflection, what I need is the live load deflection for the node with maximum deflection.
Is there any way to determine the deflection for each step?
Thank you in advance.

 

[FEA way]

You can use the following method to substitute the deflection caused by dead load from the one caused by live load: go to Tools —> Field Output —> Create From Fields, then switch to live load step, select U, select minus operator, switch to dead load step and again select U. Confirm, go to Result —> Step/Frame and pick the Session Step.

 

[Mohamed Zied]

Great, that's exactly what I wanted. Thank you so much.