🧱Shell

A shell load is a distributed load applied over the area of 2D elements such as slabs, walls, and plates. In Alpaca4d this is implemented by the Mesh Load (Alpaca4d) component, which creates an Alpaca4d.Loads.MeshLoad object.

Inputs

• ShellElement (optional): A shell element (IShell) to which the load is applied. If left empty, the load is applied to all shell elements in the assembled model.

• Force: Rhino Vector with load intensity components ([px, py, pz]) in global coordinates, in units of ([Force/Length²]). This represents a uniform surface pressure over the shell area.

Output

• Load: A generic surface Load object that can be connected to a load pattern and then to the Assemble component.

Usage notes

• Typical uses include floor live loads, roof snow loads, wind pressure on façades, and soil pressure on retaining walls.

• The sign and direction of the vector define if the pressure acts “upwards” or “downwards” with respect to the global axes.

• If several shell regions require different intensities, assign separate Mesh Load components and target the corresponding shell elements.