To create a shell-to-solid coupling constraint:

From the main menu bar, select ConstraintCreate.

Tip:  You can also create a shell-to-solid coupling constraint using the tool in the Interaction module toolbox.

In the Create Constraint dialog box that appears, do the following:

Name the constraint. For more information about naming objects, see “Using basic dialog box components,” Section 3.2.1.

From the Type list, select Shell-to-solid coupling, and then click Continue.

Use one of the following methods to select the shell edge surface:

Use an existing surface to define the region. On the right side of the prompt area, click Surfaces. Select an existing surface from the Region Selection dialog box that appears, and click Continue.

Note:  The default selection method is based on the selection method you most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click Select in Viewport or Surfaces on the right side of the prompt area.

Use the mouse to select a region in the viewport. (For more information, see “Selecting objects within the current viewport,” Section 6.2.) Click mouse button 2 to indicate that you have finished selecting.

If the model contains a combination of orphan mesh instances and native geometric part instances, click one of the following from the prompt area:

• Click Geometry if you want to select the surface from a native geometric part instance.

• Click Mesh if you want to select the surface from an orphan mesh instance.

You can use the angle method to select a group of faces or edges from a native geometric part instance or a group of element faces from an orphan mesh part instance. For more information, see “Using the angle method to select multiple objects,” Section 6.2.3.

The shell edge surface that you select becomes highlighted in red in the viewport.

Select the solid face region.

In the prompt area, click the arrow next to the text field and select one of the following:

Select Surface if you want to select a surface.

Select Node Region if you want to select a region from which to create a node-based surface.

Use one of the same methods described in the previous step to select the solid face region.

The solid face region that you select becomes highlighted in magenta in the viewport, and the constraint editor appears.

From the editor, choose one of the following Position Tolerance methods:

Use computed default. ABAQUS determines the nodes on the shell edge surface to be coupled with the solid face region using the default position tolerance. For more information, see “Shell-to-solid coupling,” Section 28.3.3 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.

Specify distance. You can specify an absolute distance from the solid face region within which all shell nodes to be included in the coupling must lie.

From the editor, choose one of the following Influence Distance methods:

Use analysis default. ABAQUS determines the nodes on the solid face region to be coupled with the shell edge surface using the default influence distance. For more information, see “Shell-to-solid coupling,” Section 28.3.3 of the ABAQUS Analysis User's Manual.

Specify value. You can specify a distance from the shell edge surface within which all solid nodes to be included in the coupling must lie.

Click OK to save your constraint definition and to close the editor.