ABAQUS products are driven by our vision of Unified FEA in which we deliver best-in-class solutions for a wide variety of simulations with a goal of one model and one analysis tool for diverse analyses. Companies at all levels in the supply chain recognize finite element analysis as a strategic technology. Virtual prototyping enables creation of better products and shortens time to market. In many companies engineering groups use more than one finite element analysis program. It is difficult to achieve real PLM integration and maximize benefits when different engineering teams use different tools and models. To leverage investments in virtual prototyping, companies are working to consolidate best practices, processes, and tools to create an integrated environment where engineers share methods, models, and results. ABAQUS calls this idea Unified FEA.
ABAQUS provides the tools required for a wide range of applications within a unified software system. ABAQUS allows smooth migration between workflows, enables easy sharing of models and results between engineering disciplines, and provides an environment to explore evolution of legacy methods to a more sophisticated, real-world approach. Some of the benefits of our Unified FEA strategy include reduction in a company's FEA toolset and modeling time, improved correlation between tests and analysis results, improved data transfer between simulations, reduced training expenses, and a more flexible workforce. For more information, visit the Unified FEA page of the ABAQUS web site at http://www.abaqus.com/unified.
Individual components of the ABAQUS finite element analysis program are described in this section.
ABAQUS/Standard: This module is the general-purpose finite element analysis product. It includes all analysis capabilities except nonlinear dynamic analysis using explicit time integration—provided in the ABAQUS/Explicit module—and the add-on analysis functionality described below.
ABAQUS/Explicit: This product provides nonlinear, transient, dynamic analysis of solids and structures using explicit time integration. Its powerful contact capabilities, reliability, and computational efficiency on large models also make it highly effective for quasi-static applications involving discontinuous nonlinear behavior.
ABAQUS/Aqua: This add-on analysis capability for ABAQUS/Standard provides wave loading, drag, and buoyancy calculation capabilities for modeling offshore piping and floating platform structures.
ABAQUS/Design: This add-on analysis capability for ABAQUS/Standard allows the user to perform design sensitivity analysis (DSA). The derivatives of output variables are calculated with respect to specified design parameters.
ABAQUS/AMS: This add-on analysis capability for ABAQUS/Standard allows the user to select the automatic multi-level substructuring (AMS) eigensolver when performing a natural frequency extraction.
ABAQUS/Foundation: This analysis option offers more efficient access to the linear static and dynamic analysis functionality in ABAQUS/Standard.
ABAQUS/CAE: This product is a Complete ABAQUS Environment that provides a simple, consistent interface for creating, submitting, monitoring, and evaluating results from ABAQUS simulations. ABAQUS/CAE is divided into modules, where each module defines a logical aspect of the modeling process; for example, defining the geometry, defining material properties, generating a mesh, submitting analysis jobs, and interpreting results.
ABAQUS/Viewer: This subset of ABAQUS/CAE contains only the postprocessing capabilities of the Visualization module. It uses the output database (.odb) to obtain results from the analysis products. The output database is a neutral binary file. Therefore, results from an ABAQUS analysis run on any platform can be viewed on any other platform supporting ABAQUS/Viewer. It provides deformed configuration, contour, vector, and X–Y plots, as well as animation of results.
ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW: This interface translates finite element model information from a MOLDFLOW analysis to an ABAQUS input file. For Version 6.6 the ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW supports MOLDFLOW Version MPI6 filled and unfilled three-dimensional simulations. For more information, see the ABAQUS Interface for MOLDFLOW User's Manual.
ABAQUS Interface for MSC.ADAMS: This interface 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. Specifically, flexibility data from ABAQUS superelements are translated to the modal neutral (.mnf) file format required by the ADAMS/Flex product. Although the ADAMS/Flex interface supports only linear flexibility data, the ABAQUS user may include an arbitrary number of preloading steps before the linear flexibility data are obtained. Multiple flexible components generated by ABAQUS can be included in an MSC.ADAMS model. Most ABAQUS structural elements are supported by the interface.
Additional programs are included with the release. They are all invoked through the ABAQUS execution procedure (the “driver”). The utilities and the commands to invoke these programs are described below:
abaqus append joins separate results files into a single file.
abaqus ascfil translates ABAQUS results files between ASCII and binary formats, which is useful for moving results files between different computer types.
abaqus doc accesses the HTML ABAQUS documentation collection using a web browser.
abaqus encrypt creates an encoded, password-protected version of an ABAQUS input file, while abaqus decrypt converts an encrypted file back into its original, unencoded format.
abaqus fetch extracts example input files from the libraries included with the release.
abaqus findkeyword provides a list of sample problems that use the specified ABAQUS options. This utility will help users find examples of features they may be using for the first time.
abaqus free converts all fixed format data in an input file to free format.
abaqus fromnastran translates a NASTRAN bulk data file to an ABAQUS input file.
abaqus licensing provides a summary of ABAQUS license usage reporting and the available FLEXlm licensing utilities.
abaqus make compiles and links user-written postprocessing programs for ABAQUS and creates user-defined libraries of ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit user subroutines.
abaqus odbjoin appends an output database file produced by a restart analysis of a model to the output database produced by the original analysis of that model.
abaqus odbreport creates organized reports of output database information in text, HTML, or CSV file formats.
abaqus python accesses the Python interpreter.
abaqus resume resumes an ABAQUS analysis job.
abaqus script initiates a Python scripting session.
abaqus substructurecombine combines the model and results data produced by two of a model's substructures into a single output database file.
abaqus suspend suspends an ABAQUS analysis job.
abaqus toOutput2 translates an ABAQUS output database file to the NASTRAN Output2 file format.
abaqus upgrade upgrades an input file or output database file from previous versions of ABAQUS to the current version.
The advanced search parameters in the ABAQUS HTML documentation are now available at the collection level as well as at the book level. You can use the advanced search parameters to limit your search procedures; for example, you can search for terms that are used as ABAQUS keywords or ABAQUS Scripting Interface objects. You can also search for terms that appear in titles or usage examples. The Using ABAQUS Online Documentation manual describes new features provided with the online documentation.
The PDF documentation collection now includes the Using ABAQUS Online Documentation manual.
The advanced tutorials in the appendices of the Getting Started with ABAQUS manual no longer appear in the printed manual. However, if you are already familiar with the ABAQUS solver products but would like to learn how to create, analyze, or postprocess your model in ABAQUS/CAE, the advanced tutorials are still available in the online and PDF versions of Getting Started with ABAQUS. See “Getting started with ABAQUS,” Section 1.2 of the Getting Started with ABAQUS manual, for more information.
A new manual, the ABAQUS User Subroutines Reference Manual, covers all of the requirements and interfaces for ABAQUS user subroutines and utility routines. This manual is available in the HTML and PDF versions of the documentation collection. All detailed information about individual user subroutines now appears in this manual instead of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual. Information about implementing user subroutines in an ABAQUS analysis appears in “User subroutines: overview,” Section 13.2.1 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.
To make them easier to locate and utilize, examples of the ABAQUS execution procedures now appear with the procedure descriptions in “Execution procedures,” Section 3.2 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.
The following product offerings have been added to the ABAQUS product suite since Version 6.5:
ABAQUS/AMS is available for the first time in the Version 6.6 release (“Addition of automatic multi-level substructuring (AMS) eigensolver for natural frequency extraction,” Section 6.14).
In Version 6.6 ABAQUS/Explicit supports co-simulation with the occupant simulation program MADYMO to solve crash safety simulations (“Crash safety simulations using the co-simulation technique,” Section 6.15). This co-simulation requires ABAQUS Version 6.6 and MADYMO Version 6.2 patch level 2.