When you use the ABAQUS/CAE graphical user interface (GUI) to create a model and to visualize the results, commands are issued internally by ABAQUS/CAE after every operation. These commands reflect the geometry you created along with the options and settings you selected from each dialog box. The GUI generates commands in an object-oriented programming language called Python. The commands issued by the GUI are sent to the ABAQUS/CAE kernel. The kernel interprets the commands and uses the options and settings to create an internal representation of your model. The kernel is the brains behind ABAQUS/CAE. The GUI is the interface between the user and the kernel.
The ABAQUS Scripting Interface allows you to bypass the ABAQUS/CAE GUI and communicate directly with the kernel. A file containing ABAQUS Scripting Interface commands is called a script. You can use scripts to do the following:
To automate repetitive tasks. For example, you can create a script that executes when a user starts an ABAQUS/CAE session. Such a script might be used to generate a library of standard materials. As a result, when the user enters the Property module, these materials will be available. Similarly, the script might be used to create remote queues for running analysis jobs, and these queues will be available in the Job module.
To perform a parametric study. For example, you can create a script that incrementally modifies the geometry of a part and analyzes the resulting model. The same script can read the resulting output databases, display the results, and generate annotated hard copies from each analysis.
Create and modify the model databases and models that are created interactively when you work with ABAQUS/CAE. The ABAQUS Scripting Interface is an application programming interface (API) to your model databases and models. For a discussion of model databases and models, see “What is an ABAQUS/CAE model database?,” Section 9.1 of the ABAQUS/CAE User's Manual, and “What is an ABAQUS/CAE model?,” Section 9.2 of the ABAQUS/CAE User's Manual.
Access the data in an output database. For example, you may wish to do your own postprocessing of analysis results. You can write your own data to an output database and use the Visualization module of ABAQUS/CAE to view its contents.
The ABAQUS Scripting Interface is an extension of the popular object-oriented language called Python. Any discussion of the ABAQUS Scripting Interface applies equally to Python in general, and the ABAQUS Scripting Interface uses the syntax and operators required by Python.