ABAQUS Lecture

Part II
AE4131

Overview

What is ABAQUS CAE?

Why learn ABAQUS CAE?
Online Tutorials
Sample problem
Some helpful hints

What is ABAQUS CAE?

ABAQUS CAE provides a complete
modeling and visualization environment for
ABAQUS analysis products. With direct
access to CAD models, advanced meshing
and visualization, and with an exclusive view
towards ABAQUS analysis products,
ABAQUS/CAE is the modeling environment
of choice for many ABAQUS users.
(From www.abaqus.com)

Why learn ABAQUS CAE?

Building input files by hand for large or
complex models are too difficult.
Build most models very quickly
Gives you a method to import models
created by other software packages.
Allows for Python scripting.

ABAQUS CAE files

ABAQUS CAE creates a binary file with
a .cae file extension.
When viewing your results it uses the
.odb and .fil files
CAE created an input file to run the
analysis.
You can import an input file to CAE to
manipulate the model.

ABAQUS CAE structure

In CAE you make parts, then assemble
those parts into a model which is then
analyzed.
To work through these step you will work
with individual modules in CAE.

CAE layout
Title bar

Toolbox
area

Menu bar

Canvas
and
drawing
area

Toolbar

Viewport

Context bar

Prompt
area

Message
area or
command
line
interface

ABAQUS CAE modules

Part Create individual parts
Property Create and assign material properties
Assembly Create and place all parts instances
Step Define all analysis steps and the results you want
Interaction Define any contact information
Load- Define and place all loads and boundary
conditions
Mesh Define your nodes and elements
Job Submit your job for analysis
Visualization- View your results

Online tutorials
ABAQUS CAE has three very good tutorials
1. Simple 3D cantilever beam
2. Two hinges/ rigid pin assembly
3. Viewing and working with your output

Starting ABAQUS CAE

You can start ABAQUS CAE from the
START menu or with a command line by
typing abaqus cae in a Command
window.
TIP: You should open a Command Window, navigate to
the directory you want to use, and finally, start ABAQUS
CAE via command line. This way all your results files will
end up in this directory (where you want them!).

Plane stress problem

To start learning ABAQUS CAE we will
work through building a cantilevered beam
that is subjected to a pressure load on the
top of the beam of 0.5 MPa.
This will be a plane stress problem so it
will have unit thickness. The length of the
beam is 200 mm, height is 25 mm.

Part Module
Create a new part as
2-D planar
Type : Deformable
Basic feature: shell
Approximate size:

Your plane stress part

Property Module
We will add the material Steel and give it
values of 209 103 MPa and Poisson's
ratio of 0.3.
We will create a section called
BeamSection and give it a category of
solid, type Homogeneous.
We then assign this material to this
section.

Assembly Module
We will create one instance of this beam.

Step Module
We will add a step after the system
created Initial step called Load Step.
The procedure type is General and the
type is Static.
For the output we want stresses, strains,
displacements, forces/reaction.

Load Module
We want to fully constrain (encastre) the left
end of the beam. Fixed boundary conditions
must be placed in the system created Initial
step. We will call this boundary condition
Fixed.
The pressure load must be added in the step we
created earlier called Load Step. Call this
load Pressure and it has a value of 0.5 and is
applied to the top of the beam.

Beam with BCs and loading

Mesh Module
First we need to decide on the Mesh controls. In
this case we will use quadrilateral.
Next we choose element type. Under Family
you will see Plane stress highlighted. If we
choose linear with reduced integration we will be
using the following element.

CPS4R: A 4-node bilinear plane stress

quadrilateral, reduced integration, hourglass

control.

Mesh Module (cont.)

We need to define how course/fine the
mesh will be by the use of seeds.
The system will suggest a seed value. To
make the mesh finer enter a smaller
number. Larger numbers will make the
mesh more course.
The system suggested 20 so well choose
15.

Mesh Module (cont.)

When we mesh this instance we get the
following.

Job Module
We will create a job called
2DPlaneStressBeam
Once this has been created just submit the
job.
The analysis should only take a couple of
minutes.

Visualization Module
Once your analysis is complete we want to
see the results.
If we look at Von Mises stress distribution
we see

Stress distribution

Additional Results
To see additional results choose Field
Output and you can choose the type of
output you would like to see. It will only
show you what you initially choose in the
Step Module.
All of the results files are in the directory you
started CAE in. For any errors, warning or
other system data on how the analysis ran
look at those files.

Some additional tips

If you want to capture an image for later
placement in a paper you need bring up
the view you want to capture, then print to
a file. If you are using Word then use the
TIFF format. If you use Latex use the eps
format.