Products: ABAQUS/Standard ABAQUS/Explicit
Benefits: A modified algorithm for computing averaged nodal normals for beam and shell elements has been introduced. This algorithm removes an element order dependence that existed in the previous algorithm. Differences in results due to the modified algorithm should be very small.
Description: If the nodal normal is not defined as part of the node definition, element normal directions at the node are calculated by ABAQUS during input file preprocessing for all shell and beam elements for which user-specified normals are not defined. For shell elements the normal direction is orthogonal to the shell midsurface, as described in “Shell elements: overview,” Section 23.6.1 in the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual. For beam elements the normal direction is the second cross-section direction, as described in “Beam element cross-section orientation,” Section 23.3.4 in the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.
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