About Load Cases

A load case is a group of loads and restraints that you use to define a particular loading condition.

See Also
Feature Manager

A design may undergo multiple different loading conditions during its useful life. Grouping loads and restraints (boundary conditions) into a load case ensures that only those loads and restraints required for the current analysis setup are applied.

Select Load Cases from the Topology Optimization assistant to access the Load Case Manager. You can enable and disable selected loads and restraints from a load case and change the scale factor of a load. The scale factor for each load appears as a numerical value in the column for each load case. For example, the image below shows two load cases. The direction of the force (highlighted row) is reversed by applying a scale factor of -1 in the second load case (right column).

You can create a new load case or duplicate, rename, deactivate, or delete an existing load case by using the icons and context menus in the manager. Deactivating a load case excludes it from use in simulations. To edit a load or restraint, double-click it in the manager.

You can filter by features, types, or load cases. Filtering reduces the total number of objects you are viewing. For example, if you filter to show only a single load case, only the loads and restraints included in that case are shown in the manager.

Loads and restraints are created as resources that you include in one or more load cases. If you create a load or restraint that you want to always include in all load cases, select it and choose Make Mandatory in all from the context menu. In the image above, Clamp.1 is mandatory; the check boxes in the load case columns are a lighter color, indicating that you cannot disable the feature. To return to the optional mode, select Make Optional in all from the context menu. You can also use the context menu to hide columns and to add a Definition column that contains basic information about the loads and restraints, such as the magnitude of the loads.

When you use a load case with a frequency optimization target or a frequency constraint, only the restraints defined in the load case are applied; loads are ignored.