Description: Previous versions of ABAQUS/CAE always created independent part instances. An independent part instance is a copy of the geometry of the original part and is independent of other part instances. You must mesh each independent part instance individually. In addition to meshing, you can perform most other operations on an independent instance; for example, you can add partitions and create virtual topology. The disadvantages of independent instances are that they consume more memory resources and the meshing operations can be time consuming. For example, if you create a 10 × 10 linear pattern of independent part instances, you must individually mesh each of the 100 instances.

The Assembly module in ABAQUS/CAE now allows you to create dependent part instances. A dependent instance is only a pointer to the original part. In effect, a dependent instance shares the geometry and the mesh of the original part. As a result, you can mesh the original part, but you cannot mesh a dependent instance. When you mesh the original part, ABAQUS/CAE associates the same mesh with all dependent instances of the part. Now you can create a 10 × 10 linear pattern of dependent part instances and mesh only the original part; ABAQUS/CAE associates the mesh with each of the 100 instances.

ABAQUS/CAE creates dependent instances by default. Unless your assembly contains only a few parts, it is recommended that you work with dependent instances because of the memory savings and the resulting performance gain. You cannot create both a dependent and an independent instance of the same part. As a result, if you create a dependent instance of a part, all subsequent instances must be dependent. The same argument applies to independent instances. Instances of orphan mesh parts are always dependent.

Figure 4–1 illustrates that as you move the cursor over an instance in the Model Tree, ABAQUS/CAE indicates whether the instance is dependent or independent.

Assembly module:
   InstanceCreate