ABAQUS Keywords Reference Manual  

*SOLID SECTION
Specify element properties for solid, infinite, acoustic, and truss elements.

This option is used to define properties of solid (continuum) elements, infinite elements, acoustic finite and infinite elements, and truss elements.

Products: ABAQUS/Standard  ABAQUS/Explicit  

Type: Model data

Level: Part  Part Instance  

References:

Required parameters:

COMPOSITE

This parameter applies only to ABAQUS/Standard analyses.

This parameter can be used only with three-dimensional brick solid elements that have only displacement degrees of freedom. Include this parameter if the solid is made up of several layers of material.

The COMPOSITE and MATERIAL parameters are mutually exclusive.

ELSET

Set this parameter equal to the name of the element set containing the elements for which the material behavior is being defined.

MATERIAL

Set this parameter equal to the name of the material to be used with these elements.

The COMPOSITE and MATERIAL parameters are mutually exclusive.

REF NODE

This parameter is required only for generalized plane strain elements and will be ignored for all other element types.

Set this parameter equal to either the node number of the generalized plane strain element reference node or the name of a node set containing the generalized plane strain element reference node. If the name of a node set is chosen, the node set must contain exactly one node.

Required parameter for anisotropic materials; optional parameter for isotropic materials: 

ORIENTATION

Set this parameter equal to the name given for the *ORIENTATION option (“Orientations,” Section 2.2.5 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual) to be used to define a local coordinate system for material calculations in the elements in this set. This parameter is required when the material is anisotropic.

For a composite solid this orientation, together with the orientation angle specified on the layer data lines, can also be used to define the material orientations in the individual layers. Alternatively, a material orientation can be specified by referencing an orientation definition on each layer data line. In this case the reference given on the ORIENTATION parameter is ignored. Any layer definition line that does not have an orientation reference or an angle specified will use the section orientation defined on the keyword line.

Optional parameters:

CONTROLS

In an ABAQUS/Explicit analysis, set this parameter equal to the name of a section controls definition (see “Section controls,” Section 13.1.4 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual) to be used to specify a nondefault hourglass control formulation option or scale factor. The *SECTION CONTROLS option can be used to select the hourglass control and order of accuracy of the formulation for two- and three-dimensional solid elements and to select the kinematic formulation for 8-node brick elements.

In an ABAQUS/Standard analysis, set this parameter equal to the name of a section controls definition (see “Section controls,” Section 13.1.4 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual) to be used to specify the enhanced hourglass control formulation or to be used in a subsequent ABAQUS/Explicit import analysis.

STACK DIRECTION

This parameter applies only to ABAQUS/Standard analyses.

This parameter can be used only with composite elements. It defines the stacking direction with respect to a pair of element faces. Set this parameter equal to 1, 2, or 3. The default is STACK DIRECTION=3.

ORDER

This parameter can be used only with acoustic infinite elements in ABAQUS/Explicit. It defines the number of ninth-order polynomials that will be used to resolve the variation of the acoustic field in the infinite direction. Set this parameter equal to to indicate that the first members of the set of ninth-order polynomials are to be used. The default is ORDER=10, which is the value always used in ABAQUS/Standard.

Data line to define homogeneous solid elements, infinite elements, acoustic elements, or truss elements: 

First (and only) line:

  1. Enter any attribute values required. The default for the first attribute is 1.0. See the description in Part V, “Elements,” of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual of the element type being used for a definition of the data required.

Data lines to define a composite solid: 

First line:

  1. Layer thickness. The layer thickness will be adjusted such that the sum of the layer thicknesses corresponds to the element length in the stack direction.

  2. Number of integration points to be used through the layer. This number must be an odd number. The default is one integration point.

  3. Name of the material forming this layer.

  4. Name of the orientation to be used with this layer or the orientation angle, , (in degrees), where measured positive counterclockwise relative to the local direction, which must be defined on the *ORIENTATION definition.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary to define the properties for each layer of the composite solid.