Lastdiagrammen

Lastdiagrammen is a term used in German-language engineering to refer to diagrams that depict the loads applied to a structural element or system. In this context, a Lastdiagramm represents the magnitudes, directions, and distributions of forces along a member or across a structure. The plural form Lastdiagramme is common in nominative usage, while Lastdiagrammen appears as the dative plural in sentences.

These diagrams are used across civil, mechanical, and aerospace engineering to summarize applied loads before performing structural analysis. They support calculations of reactions, shear forces, bending moments, and deflections, and they inform safety checks and design decisions. Lastdiagrammen can illustrate static loads, such as dead and live loads, as well as dynamic or environmental loads like wind, snow, or pulsating forces. They may be schematic or scale-accurate and can be drawn along the length of a beam, across a floor plan, or as part of a component’s geometry.

Typical representations distinguish point loads, distributed loads (uniform or varying intensity), and line loads, often shown with arrows indicating direction and magnitude. Some diagrams also show load distributions over time to illustrate varying conditions; such time-dependent diagrams feed into load cases and load combinations used in design codes.

Lastdiagrammen are a standardized concept in engineering practice. In European contexts, codes and standards describe how loads are defined and combined, and designers convert these diagrams into equivalent nodal forces or distributed loads for analytical methods and finite element models. Software tools can generate and manipulate load diagrams from geometry, weather data, and usage scenarios.