Products: ABAQUS/Standard ABAQUS/Explicit ABAQUS/CAE
| M3D3 | 3-node triangle |
| M3D4 | 4-node quadrilateral |
| M3D4R | 4-node quadrilateral, reduced integration, hourglass control |
| M3D6(S) | 6-node triangle |
| M3D8(S) | 8-node quadrilateral |
| M3D8R(S) | 8-node quadrilateral, reduced integration |
| M3D9(S) | 9-node quadrilateral |
| M3D9R(S) | 9-node quadrilateral, reduced integration, hourglass control |
| Input File Usage: | *MEMBRANE SECTION |
In addition, use the following option for variable thickness membranes:*NODAL THICKNESS |
| ABAQUS/CAE Usage: | Property module: Create Section: select Shell as the section Category and Membrane as the section Type |
You cannot define variable thickness membranes in ABAQUS/CAE. |
Distributed loads are specified as described in “Distributed loads,” Section 19.4.3.
Load ID (*DLOAD): BX
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Body force
Units: FL–3
Description: Body force in the global 
-direction.
Load ID (*DLOAD): BY
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Body force
Units: FL–3
Description: Body force in the global 
-direction.
Load ID (*DLOAD): BZ
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Body force
Units: FL–3
Description: Body force in the global 
-direction.
Load ID (*DLOAD): BXNU
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Body force
Units: FL–3
Description: Nonuniform body force in the global -direction with magnitude supplied via user subroutine DLOAD in ABAQUS/Standard (“DLOAD,” Section 25.2.5) and VDLOAD in ABAQUS/Explicit (“VDLOAD,” Section 25.3.1).
Load ID (*DLOAD): BYNU
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Body force
Units: FL–3
Description: Nonuniform body force in the global -direction with magnitude supplied via user subroutine DLOAD in ABAQUS/Standard (“DLOAD,” Section 25.2.5) and VDLOAD in ABAQUS/Explicit (“VDLOAD,” Section 25.3.1).
Load ID (*DLOAD): BZNU
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Body force
Units: FL–3
Description: Nonuniform body force in the global -direction with magnitude supplied via user subroutine DLOAD in ABAQUS/Standard (“DLOAD,” Section 25.2.5) and VDLOAD in ABAQUS/Explicit (“VDLOAD,” Section 25.3.1).
Load ID (*DLOAD): CENT(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–4 (ML–3T–2)
Description: Centrifugal load (magnitude is input as 
, where 
is the mass density per unit volume, 
is the angular velocity).
Load ID (*DLOAD): CENTRIF(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Rotational body force
Units: T–2
Description: Centrifugal load (magnitude is input as 
, where is the angular velocity).
Load ID (*DLOAD): CORIO(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–4T (ML–3T–1)
Description: Coriolis force (magnitude is input as 
, where is the mass density per unit volume, is the angular velocity). The load stiffness due to Coriolis loading is not accounted for in direct steady-state dynamic analysis.
Load ID (*DLOAD): GRAV
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Gravity
Units: LT–2
Description: Gravity loading in a specified direction (magnitude is input as acceleration).
Load ID (*DLOAD): HP(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Hydrostatic pressure applied to the element reference surface and linear in global . The pressure is positive in the direction of the positive element normal.
Load ID (*DLOAD): P
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Pressure applied to the element reference surface. The pressure is positive in the direction of the positive element normal.
Load ID (*DLOAD): PNU
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Nonuniform pressure applied to the element reference surface with magnitude supplied via user subroutine DLOAD in ABAQUS/Standard (“DLOAD,” Section 25.2.5) and VDLOAD in ABAQUS/Explicit (“VDLOAD,” Section 25.3.1). The pressure is positive in the direction of the positive element normal.
Load ID (*DLOAD): ROTA(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Rotational body force
Units: T–2
Description: Rotary acceleration load (magnitude is input as 
, where is the rotary acceleration).
Load ID (*DLOAD): TRSHR
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Shear traction on the element reference surface.
Load ID (*DLOAD): TRSHRNU(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Nonuniform shear traction on the element reference surface with magnitude and direction supplied via user subroutine UTRACLOAD (“UTRACLOAD,” Section 25.2.41).
Load ID (*DLOAD): TRVEC
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: General traction on the element reference surface.
Load ID (*DLOAD): TRVECNU(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Nonuniform general traction on the element reference surface with magnitude and direction supplied via user subroutine UTRACLOAD (“UTRACLOAD,” Section 25.2.41).
Load ID (*DLOAD): VP(E)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–3T
Description: Viscous surface pressure applied to the element reference surface. The pressure is proportional to the velocity normal to the element face and opposing the motion.
Foundations are available only in ABAQUS/Standard and are specified as described in “Element foundations,” Section 2.2.2.
Load ID (*FOUNDATION): F(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Elastic foundation
Units: FL–3
Description: Elastic foundation.
Surface-based distributed loads are specified as described in “Distributed loads,” Section 19.4.3.
Load ID (*DSLOAD): HP(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Pressure
Units: FL–2
Description: Hydrostatic pressure on the element reference surface and linear in global . The pressure is positive in the direction opposite to the surface normal.
Load ID (*DSLOAD): P
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Pressure
Units: FL–2
Description: Pressure on the element reference surface. The pressure is positive in the direction opposite to the surface normal.
Load ID (*DSLOAD): PNU
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Pressure
Units: FL–2
Description: Nonuniform pressure on the element reference surface with magnitude supplied via user subroutine DLOAD in ABAQUS/Standard (“DLOAD,” Section 25.2.5) and VDLOAD in ABAQUS/Explicit (“VDLOAD,” Section 25.3.1). The pressure is positive in the direction opposite to the surface normal.
Load ID (*DSLOAD): TRSHR
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Surface traction
Units: FL–2
Description: Shear traction on the element reference surface.
Load ID (*DSLOAD): TRSHRNU(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Nonuniform shear traction on the element reference surface with magnitude and direction supplied via user subroutine UTRACLOAD (“UTRACLOAD,” Section 25.2.41).
Load ID (*DSLOAD): TRVEC
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Pressure
Units: FL–2
Description: General traction on the element reference surface.
Load ID (*DSLOAD): TRVECNU(S)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–2
Description: Nonuniform general traction on the element reference surface with magnitude and direction supplied via user subroutine UTRACLOAD (“UTRACLOAD,” Section 25.2.41).
Load ID (*DSLOAD): VP(E)
ABAQUS/CAE Load/Interaction: Not supported
Units: FL–3T
Description: Viscous surface pressure applied to the element reference surface. The pressure is proportional to the velocity normal to the element surface and opposing the motion.
Surface-based incident wave loads are available. They are specified as described in “Acoustic loads,” Section 19.4.5. If the incident wave field includes a reflection off a plane outside the boundaries of the mesh, this effect can be included.
If a local orientation (“Orientations,” Section 2.2.5) is not used with the element, the stress/strain components are in the default directions on the surface defined by the convention given in “Conventions,” Section 1.2.2. If a local orientation is used with the element, the stress/strain components are in the surface directions defined by the orientation. In large-displacement problems the local directions defined in the reference configuration are rotated into the current configuration by the average material rotation. See “State storage,” Section 1.5.4 of the ABAQUS Theory Manual, for details.
Stress and other tensors (including strain tensors) are available for elements with displacement degrees of freedom. All tensors have the same components. For example, the stress components are as follows:
S11 | Local 11 direct stress. |
S22 | Local 22 direct stress. |
S12 | Local 12 shear stress. |
