1.1 The ABAQUS products

ABAQUS consists of two main analysis products—ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit. There are also three special-purpose add-on analysis products for ABAQUS/Standard—ABAQUS/Aqua, ABAQUS/Design, and ABAQUS/Foundation. In addition, the ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW and the ABAQUS Interface for MSC.ADAMS are interfaces to MOLDFLOW and ADAMS/Flex, respectively. ABAQUS also provides translators that convert entities from third-party preprocessors to input for ABAQUS analyses and that convert output from ABAQUS analyses to entities for third-party postprocessors. ABAQUS/CAE is the complete ABAQUS environment that includes capabilities for creating ABAQUS models, interactively submitting and monitoring ABAQUS jobs, and evaluating results. ABAQUS/Viewer is a subset of ABAQUS/CAE that includes just the postprocessing functionality. The relationship between these products is shown in Figure 1–1.

Figure 1–1 ABAQUS products.

ABAQUS/Standard

ABAQUS/Standard is a general-purpose analysis product that can solve a wide range of linear and nonlinear problems involving the static, dynamic, thermal, and electrical response of components. This product is the main subject of this guide.

ABAQUS/Explicit

ABAQUS/Explicit is a special-purpose analysis product that uses an explicit dynamic finite element formulation. It is suitable for short, transient dynamic events, such as impact and blast problems, and is also very efficient for highly nonlinear problems involving changing contact conditions, such as forming simulations. ABAQUS/Explicit is not specifically covered in this guide but is described in the companion publication Getting Started with ABAQUS/Explicit: Keywords Version. The basic format of the input file is the same for both analysis products. In addition, the output is similar for the two products, and ABAQUS/Viewer can be used to postprocess the results from either product.

ABAQUS/CAE

ABAQUS/CAE (Complete ABAQUS Environment) is an interactive, graphical environment for ABAQUS. It allows models to be created quickly and easily by producing or importing the geometry of the structure to be analyzed and decomposing the geometry into meshable regions. Physical and material properties can be assigned to the geometry, together with loads and boundary conditions. ABAQUS/CAE contains very powerful options to mesh the geometry and to verify the resulting analysis model. Once the model is complete, ABAQUS/CAE can submit, monitor, and control the analysis jobs. The Visualization module can then be used to interpret the results.

Only the Visualization module of ABAQUS/CAE (ABAQUS/Viewer) is covered in this guide. If you want to learn how to use other aspects of ABAQUS/CAE but are unable to attend a seminar, you can obtain a copy of the ABAQUS/CAE training material.

ABAQUS/Viewer

ABAQUS/Viewer is the Visualization module of ABAQUS/CAE; it is an interactive, graphical postprocessor that supports all of the capabilities in the ABAQUS analysis products and provides a wide range of options for interpreting the results. ABAQUS/Viewer is discussed in this guide.

ABAQUS/Aqua

ABAQUS/Aqua is a set of optional capabilities that can be added to ABAQUS/Standard. It is intended for the simulation of offshore structures, such as oil platforms. Some of the optional capabilities include the effects of wave and wind loading and buoyancy. ABAQUS/Aqua is not discussed in this guide.

ABAQUS/Design

ABAQUS/Design is a set of optional capabilities that can be added to ABAQUS/Standard to perform design sensitivity calculations. ABAQUS/Design is not discussed in this guide.

ABAQUS/Foundation

ABAQUS/Foundation offers more efficient access to the linear static and dynamic analysis functionality in ABAQUS/Standard. ABAQUS/Foundation is not discussed in this guide.

ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW

The ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW translates finite element model information from a MOLDFLOW analysis to write a partial ABAQUS input file. The ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW is not discussed in this guide.

ABAQUS Interface for MSC.ADAMS

The ABAQUS Interface for MSC.ADAMS allows ABAQUS finite element models to be included as flexible components within the MSC.ADAMS family of products. The interface is based on the component mode synthesis formulation of ADAMS/Flex. The ABAQUS Interface for MSC.ADAMS is not discussed in this guide.

ABAQUS translators

ABAQUS provides the following translators:

  • abaqus fromnastran translates a NASTRAN bulk data file to an ABAQUS input file.

  • abaqus frompamcrash translates a PAM-CRASH input file to a partial ABAQUS input file.

  • abaqus toOutput2 translates an ABAQUS output database file to the NASTRAN Output2 file format.

  • abaqus tozaero enables you to exchange aeroelastic data between the ABAQUS and ZAERO analysis products.

ABAQUS translators are not discussed in this guide.