2D Body Loads

The most common form of body loads are gravity loads. The general expression for body loads is given by

$$\mathbf{r}_{b} = \int_{b}^{}{\mathbf{h}^{T}\mathbf{f}_{b}dV}$$

where integration is over the volume of the element. Using Gaussian integration this can be expressed as

$$\mathbf{r}_{b} = \sum_{i}^{}\alpha_{i}{\mathbf{h}_{i}}^{T}\mathbf{f}_{b,i}\det J_{i}$$

Where $\alpha$ are the Gaussian weights and $\det J$ is the determinant of the Jacobian.

Note: In GSA, loads can be applied to a list of members or elements. Any loads applied onto members will be automatically expanded into the appropriate elements loads in the solver in order to analyse the model.