The ‘deflection’ is taken as the maximum distance between the straight line joining the end nodes of a bar, and the deformed shape of the bar, without taking into account the displacement of the end nodes if these have moved. This distance is measured perpendicularly to the bar

The ‘absolute deflection’ is the value in millimetres of the deflection in the direction in question.

The ‘relative deflection’ is established as the span between intersecting points of the deformed shape with the bar, divided by a value to be defined by the user. There may be an intermediate point or points, as well as the end nodes of the bars with no displacements, depending on the deformed shape of the bar.

The ‘active deflection’ is the maximum absolute difference between the maximum deflection and the minimum deflection of all the combinations defined for the displacements state: