A reference mesh (initial metric) can now be specified for membrane elements. This capability is typically useful in finite element airbag simulations to model the wrinkles that arise from the airbag folding process. The initial stresses and strains are calculated based on the deformation from the reference configuration to the initial configuration. If a reference mesh is specified for an element, any initial stress or strain conditions specified for the same element will be ignored.

Heat energy flow can now be defined to model the heat loss from conduction through fabric between a fluid cavity and its environment. It can also be defined to model the heat exchange between two cavities.

ABAQUS/Explicit can now account for blockage of flow out of a cavity due to an obstruction caused by contacting surfaces. You can define a contact blockage for any kind of fluid exchange property. However, a surface must be defined on the boundary of the fluid cavity to be checked for contact obstruction. ABAQUS/Explicit will calculate the area fraction of the surface not blocked by contacting surfaces and apply this fraction to the mass or energy flow rate out of the cavity.

For convenience, the molar fraction of the species can now be used to define a gas mixture for both a fluid cavity and a fluid inflator. By default, the mass fraction of the species is used in the gas mixture.

If the mass flow rate is prescribed directly in the inflator property definition, you can now modify it by specifying an amplitude definition during a step.

The fluid cavity can now be split across parallel domains to allow for improved parallel performance.