If you are completely new to ABAQUS, we recommend that you follow each of the self-paced tutorials in this manual. There are 13 chapters in this guide, each of which introduces one or more topics relevant to using ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit. Throughout the manual the term ABAQUS is used to refer collectively to both ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit; the individual product names are used when information applies to only one product. Most chapters contain a short discussion of the topic or topics being considered and one or two tutorial examples. You should work through the examples carefully since they contain a great deal of practical advice on using ABAQUS.

The capabilities of ABAQUS/CAE are introduced gradually in these examples. It is assumed that you will use ABAQUS/CAE to create the models used in the examples. If you do not have access to ABAQUS/CAE or another preprocessor, you can use the companion volumes, Getting Started with ABAQUS/Standard: Keywords Version and Getting Started with ABAQUS/Explicit: Keywords Version, to create the input files needed for most of the examples manually. Python scripts are provided for each example in Appendix A, “Example Files.”

This chapter is a short introduction to ABAQUS and this guide. Chapter 2, “ABAQUS Basics,” which is centered around a simple example, covers the basics of using ABAQUS. By the end of Chapter 2, “ABAQUS Basics,” you will know the fundamentals of how to prepare a model for an ABAQUS simulation, check the data, run the analysis job, and view the results.

Chapter 3, “Finite Elements and Rigid Bodies,” presents an overview of the main element families available in ABAQUS. The use of continuum (solid) elements, shell elements, and beam elements is discussed in Chapter 4, “Using Continuum Elements”; Chapter 5, “Using Shell Elements”; and Chapter 6, “Using Beam Elements”; respectively.

Linear dynamic analyses are discussed in Chapter 7, “Linear Dynamics.” Chapter 8, “Nonlinearity,” introduces the concept of nonlinearity in general, and geometric nonlinearity in particular, and contains the first nonlinear ABAQUS simulation. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are discussed in Chapter 9, “Nonlinear Explicit Dynamics,” and material nonlinearity is introduced in Chapter 10, “Materials.” Chapter 11, “Multiple Step Analysis,” introduces the concept of multi-step simulations, and Chapter 12, “Contact,” discusses the many issues that arise in contact analyses. Using ABAQUS/Explicit to solve quasi-static problems is presented in Chapter 13, “Quasi-Static Analysis with ABAQUS/Explicit.” The illustrative example is a sheet metal forming simulation, which requires importing between ABAQUS/Explicit and ABAQUS/Standard to perform the forming and springback analyses efficiently.

Three appendices are provided to introduce users familiar with the ABAQUS solver products to the ABAQUS/CAE interface. In Appendix B, “Creating and Analyzing a Simple Model in ABAQUS/CAE,” you create a simple model, analyze it, and then view the results. The second tutorial, Appendix C, “Using Additional Techniques to Create and Analyze a Model in ABAQUS/CAE,” is more complex and illustrates how parts, sketches, datum geometry, and partitions work together and how you assemble part instances. Appendix D, “Viewing the Output from Your Analysis,” demonstrates how you can use the Visualization module (also licensed separately as ABAQUS/Viewer) to display your results in a variety of formats and how you can customize the display.

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