13.7.2 Manipulating features in the Assembly module

Along with datum geometry and partitions, the following are considered to be features of the assembly and appear in the list of features in the Model Tree:

Part instances

You can suppress, resume, and delete part instances. You can partition a part instance, but you cannot edit its shape or its features. To modify a part instance, you must edit the original part in the Part module; ABAQUS/CAE automatically regenerates instances of a modified part when you return to the Assembly module.

You can make a part instance invisible while still retaining it in the assembly by selecting ViewAssembly Display OptionsInstance from the main menu bar. For more information, see “Controlling instance visibility,” Section 50.10. This technique is not the same as suppressing a part instance; a suppressed part instance is removed from the assembly until you resume it. You can also use display groups to make part instances invisible; for more information, see Chapter 52, “Using display groups to display subsets of your model.”

Position constraints

You can edit, suppress, resume, and delete position constraints. You can modify the following parameters of a position constraint:

The direction of the arrow normal to the selected face or along the selected edge of the movable part instance.

The clearance between the selected face or edge of the movable part instance and the selected face or edge of the fixed part instance. The clearance parameter applies only to face-to-face, edge-to-edge, and contact constraints.

Translations and rotations are not stored as features and cannot be edited, suppressed, resumed, or deleted.

You can use the Feature Manipulation toolset to modify features of the assembly. When you are prompted to select a feature to modify, you can select a visible feature such as a part instance, a datum, or a partition from the viewport. However, to select a position constraint, you must select it from the Model Tree.

The following feature manipulation tools are available from the Feature Manipulation toolset:

Edit

When you edit a feature, ABAQUS/CAE displays the Edit Feature dialog box and you can modify the feature's parameters or the sketch that defined the feature. You cannot edit part instances; you must return to the Part module to modify the original part.

Regenerate

When you modify features in a complex assembly, it may be convenient to postpone regeneration until you make all your changes, since regeneration can be time consuming. Select FeatureRegenerate when you are ready to regenerate the assembly.

Rename

Rename a feature.

Suppress

Suppressing a feature temporarily removes it from the definition of the assembly. A suppressed feature is invisible, cannot be meshed, and is not included in the analysis of the model. Suppressing a parent feature will suppress all of its child features.

Resume

Resuming a feature restores a suppressed feature to the assembly. You can choose to resume all features, the set of features most recently suppressed, or just a selected feature.

Delete

Deleting a feature removes it from the assembly; you cannot restore a deleted feature.

Query

When you query a feature, ABAQUS/CAE displays information in the message area and writes the same information to the replay file (abaqus.rpy) in the form of comments.

Options

The Feature Options dialog box allows you to tune the regeneration performance of the current model.

For a more detailed explanation of the Feature Manipulation toolset, see Chapter 42, “The Feature Manipulation toolset.”

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