Chapter 1 Overview of ABAQUS

ABAQUS is a suite of finite element analysis modules. The heart of ABAQUS are the analysis
modules, ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit, which are complementary and integrated
analysis tools.

ABAQUS/Standard is a general-purpose, finite element module.

ABAQUS/Explicit is an explicit dynamics finite element module.
ABAQUS/CAE incorporates the analysis modules into a Complete ABAQUS
Environment for modeling, managing, and monitoring ABAQUS analysis and visualizing
results.

The finite element program we use in the FEA room is ABAQUS/CAE, which is an intuitive and
consistent user interface throughout the system. Figure 1 shows the main user interface when
entering ABAQUS/CAE.

Figure 1: ABAQUS/CAE Main User Interface

Chapter 2 Launch and Exit ABAQUS

2.1 Steps to launch ABAQUS
1) Click Start - All programs ABAQUS - ABAQUS 6.6.1 - ABAQUS Command in
Windows System. An ABAQUS Command window appears in DOS environment (see
figure 2 & 3).
2) Use general commands in DOS system to move to your directory on the hard disk. For
example, if you have created a file in catalogue C:\Temp named ABAQUS WORK and
you want all your ABAQUS results be saved in this file, you can type command CD
C:\Temp\ABAQUS WORK.
3) Run command ABAQUS CAE to enter ABAQUS/CAE user interface as figure 1 shows.

Figure 2 & 3: Steps to Start ABAQUS/CAE

2.2 Starting a job in ABAQUS

After entering main interface of ABAQUS/CAE, you have several paths to start a job.
Create Model Database allows you to begin a new analysis.
Open Database allows you to open a previously saved model or output database file.
Run Script allows you to run a file containing ABAQUS/CAE commands.
Start Tutorial allows you to begin an introductory tutorial from the online documentation

2.3 Exiting ABAQUS

When you have done some work in the middle of an ABAQUS job and want to exit, you can save
your finished work as a Model Database file (*.cae).

Click File Save and input a file name (see Figure 4). Normally in this step the file filter
is default to be Model Database (*.cae).

Click File Exit to exit the main interface of ABAQUS/CAE.

Next time you run ABAQUS, you can just open the saved file and continue with the job.

Figure 4: Save a File in ABAQUS

2.4 ABAQUS Etiquette

1)

It is a courtesy that you should be aware of the limited hard disk space of the computers in
FEA room. Therefore, you should always free the disk space by doing the following things.
z

You must delete all unnecessary files immediately after an ABAQUS analysis, such
as *.stt, *.mdl, *.res, *.sta, *.msg. If you have already processed your results, you
should delete *.fil, *.odb.

Please always check your catalogue on the disk and keep deleting all unnecessary files as the
system clogs up very quickly. Once the hard disk is full, nobody can do ABAQUS analysis.
2)

Avoid running multiple jobs simultaneously as this uses up multiple licenses. Instead, run
multiple jobs consecutively. It will take the save time.

3)

Do not leave computers locked to other users for extended periods.

Chapter 3 Example: Compressive Response on a Steel Circular Hollow

Tube
In this example you will assess the response of a steel circular hollow tube subjected to a
compressive load. The purpose of this example is to determine the response of the circular hollow
section and see how it changes as the compressive load increases. We also aim to investigate the
buckling load and yield load of the structure.

3.1 Create a model

Use ABAQUS/CAE to create a three-dimensional model of the circular hollow tube
section (CHS). The circular tube is constructed of 5 mm thick steel and is 400 mm diameter. The
length of the tube could be 1200 mm for analysis.

3.1.1 Defining the model geometry

1) Start ABAQUS/CAE, and enter the Part module by clicking Part Create. A dialog box
of Create Part appears as Figure 5 shows.

Figure 5: Create Part

2) In the dialog box, create a 3D, deformable part with an extruded shell base feature to
represent the CHS (See Figure 5). Use an approximate part size of 1000, and name the
part CHS.
3) Click the button Create Circle: Center and Perimeter tool to sketch a circle with 400
mm diameter.

4) Pick center point at (0, 0) and perimeter point at (0,200) or (200, 0) to define the circle
geometry. The section sketch is shown in Figure 6.
5) When finish sketching the section, end the Create Circle: Center and Perimeter tool by
clicking that button once again, and there appears a hint Sketch the section for the shell
extrusion. Click Done. Set the depth 1200 mm. After that, the sketch is extruded to a
depth of 1200 mm and a circular tube is therefore created. The final part is shown in
Figure 7.

Figure 6: Section Sketch

Figure 7: The Final Part of CHS

3.1.2 Defining the material properties
In the Module selection, select and click Property to define the material and section properties.
Assume that the CHS is made of steel, with a Youngs modulus of 210 GPa, a Poissons ratio of
0.3. At this stage we do not know whether there will be any plastic deformation, but we know the
value of the yield stress and the details of the post-yield behavior for this steel. We will include
this information in the material definition. The plasticity data and stress-strain curve are shown in
Figure 8.
Material properties
Elastic properties:

E = 200 109 Pa, = 0.3

Plastic properties:

True Stress (MPa)

400
400
460
500

True Strain
0.00
0.03
0.05
0.08

Figure 8: Plasticity Data and Stress-strain Curve

Yield Stress (MPa)

400
400
460
500

Plastic Strain
0.00
0.03
0.05
0.08

Figure 9: The Yield Stress and Plastic Strain Data Input in ABAQUS
3.1.2.1 Create material
To define an elastic-plastic material:
1) Click the button Create Material. The Edit Material dialog box turns up. Name the
material Steel.
2) In the Edit Material dialog box, select Mechanical Elasticity Elastic to define the
elastic material properties. Enter 200E9 Pa as the value for Youngs modulus and 0.3 as
the value for Poissons ratio.
3) Select Mechanical Plasticity Plastic to define the plastic material properties. Enter
the yield stress and plastic strain data shown in Figure 9.
You can click Material Manager to check if the properties are correctly entered as Figure 10
shows.

Figure 10: Material Manager

You should note that ABAQUS is numerical and hence it does not have default units. You need
therefore to be consistent in using units when defining geometry, loads and material properties. In

this example, we used mm as the unit of dimension in defining the geometry and presume the unit
of load to be N, then the unit of stress and Youngs modulus should be MPa.
3.1.2.2 Creating and assigning section properties
To create homogeneous shell section properties and refer to the steel material definition and shell
thickness:
1) Click Create Section. The Create Section dialog box appears. Name the shell section
property SteelSection, select Shell Homogeneous and continue.
2) In the Edit Section dialog box, select Steel as the material, and specify 5 mm as the value
for the Shell thickness. Then press OK.
You can click Section Manager to check or modify the section properties in the dialog box as
Figure 11 shows.

Figure 11: Section Manager

To assign the SteelSection definition to the regions of the steel circular tube:
1) Click Assign Section.
2) Click the entire circular tube as the regions to be assigned a section, and press DONE.
3) Press Ok in the Edit Section Assignment dialog box.
You can click Section Assignment Manager to check or modify the section assignment in the
dialog box as Figure 12 shows.

Figure 12: Section Assignment Manager

3.1.3 Creating an assembly
1) Enter the Assembly module, and click Instance Part.
2) As shown in Figure 13, select CHS as the part, and use the default coordinate system.

Figure 13: Creating Assembly

It is simple to create an assembly for an integrated structure such as this example. However, some
models may be complicated if they are composed of several small parts which have different
material properties. You should define the material properties for each part in the previous steps
and assemble them in this step.
3.1.4 Creating the mesh
1) Enter the Mesh module to seed the part instance.
2) Select Seed Edge By Number and specify that 60 elements be created along the
perimeter of the circular section. To do so, click the perimeter as the region to be assigned
local seeds and press DONE. Then enter 60 as the number of elements along the edge.
3) Select Mesh Controls, and use the default element shape and press OK.
4) Select Mesh Element Type, and use the default quadrilateral shell elements (S4R) as
the element type to be applied in this case.
5) Select Mesh Part, and press OK to mesh the part.

Figure 14: Meshed CHS

The resulting mesh is shown in Figure 14. This relatively coarse mesh provides moderate accuracy
while keeping the solution time to minimum. You can create finer mesh to get more accurate
solution which however takes longer when running the job.
You should carefully consider what type of element should be used before meshing a model.
Different element types may make significant difference. Check more details in relevant
ABAQUS manuals.

3.1.5 Defining steps

1) Enter the Step module.
2) Select Step Create, and name a new step as Buckle after the initial one. As for the
procedure type, select Linear perturbation Buckle.
3) In the Edit Step dialog box, specify the following step description: Buckle. Enter 5 as the
number of eigenvalues requested. Enter 10 as the vectors used per iteration, and enter
1000 as the maximum number of iterations. Press OK.
You can click Step Manager to check or modify the steps in the dialog box as Figure 15 shows.

Figure 15: Step Management

3.1.6 Prescribing boundary conditions and loads
1) Enter the Load module to define the boundary conditions used in this analysis.
2) Select Tool Set Create, and create a set named Fixed, select the perimeter edge of one
end of the CHS as the geometry of the set, and press DONE. Similarly, create another set
named Moving by selecting the other end of the CHS. Then, create a set named
Displacement, and click one node point of the moving end as the geometry. Enter Set
Manager to check the three sets, as shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16: Set Manager

3) Select BC Create, and create a boundary condition in the Initial step named Fixed Edge.
Select Mechanical Displacement/Rotation to be the type of step. Apply the boundary
condition to the set of Fixed by clicking Set in the right corner and selecting Fixed. In the
Edit Boundary Condition dialog box, tick U1, U2, U3, UR1, UR2, UR3 to fully constrain
the set (U1 = U2 = U3 = UR1 = UR2 = UR3 = 0). Press OK. See Figure 17.

Figure 17: Create Fixed Edge

4) Select BC Create, and create another boundary condition in the Buckle step named
Moving edge. Select Mechanical Displacement/Rotation to be the type of step. Apply
the boundary condition to the set of Moving by clicking Set in the right corner and
selecting Moving. In the Edit Boundary Condition dialog box, keep the default settings
and tick U1, U2, U3, UR1, UR2, UR3 and specify U3 as -2 (U1 = U2 = UR1 = UR2 =
UR3 = 0, U3 = -2). Press OK. See Figure 18.

Figure 18: Create Moving Edge

The boundary conditions applied is shown in Figure 19.

Figure 19: Boundary Conditions

3.2 Analysis - Estimating buckling stress

In this example, eigenvalue buckling analysis was generally used to estimate the critical bucking
loads of the CHS. An incremental loading pattern was defined in *BUCKLE step (Fixed edge: U1
= U2 = U3 = UR1 = UR2 = UR3 = 0; Moving edge: U1 = U2 = UR1 = UR2 = UR3 = 0, U3 = -2).
A general eigenvalue buckling analysis can provide useful estimates of collapse mode shapes and
calculate the buckling stress as well.

3.2.1 Defining and submitting a job

1) Enter the Job module, create a job named Buckle. Specify the following job description:
Buckle.
2) Save your model in a model database file, and submit the job for analysis. Monitor the
solution progress; correct any modeling errors that are detected, and investigate the cause
of any warning messages.

3.2.2 Postprocessing
3.2.2.1 Visualization of results
Enter the Visualization module, and open the .odb file created by this job (Buckle.odb).
You can view the following shapes or plots by clicking corresponding tool buttons:
Undeformed shape;
Deformed shape;
Animation of results;
Contour plots;
Eigenvalue.
Figure 20 shows the contour plot of spatial displacement at nodes.

Figure 20: Contour Plot of Spatial Displacement at Nodes in Eigenvalue Analysis

3.2.2.2 Calculation of buckling stress

The equation for calculation of buckling stress can be written as follows:

cr = E = E

l
l

where E is the material Youngs modulus,

is the eigenvalue obtained from the results of FEA,

l is the initial displacement at the movable end input in the boundary conditions (U3 = -2) in
ABAQUS, l is the length of the column.

= 9.0471. Apply E = 200 109 Pa, L = 2mm, L = 1200mm in the

equation, and therefore the buckling stress can be calculated. As a result, cr = 3.02GPa .
The results show that

3.3 Analysis - Compressive response on CHS

The objective of this analysis is to study the deformation of the CHS and the stress-strain response
in various parts of the structure when it is subjected to a compressive load.

3.3.1 Modify model

1) Enter the Step module.
2) Replace step Buckle with Geneal Static, Riks.
3) In the Edit Step dialog box, specify the following step description: Analysis. Turn
Nlgeom On. In the Incrementation box, specify Arc length increment as followings:
Initial = 0.01, Minimum = 1e-20, Maximum = 1. Press OK.

3.3.2 Defining and submitting a job

1)
2)

Enter the Job module, create a job named Analysis. Specify the following job description:
Analysis.
Save your model in a model database file, and submit the job for analysis.

3.3.3 Running and monitoring job process

The objective of this analysis is to observe the stress-strain response of the CHS under
compression. In the process of the job, you can monitor the solution progress by clicking Results
in the dialog box of Job Manager and see the changing of stress allocation during the whole
analysis. For this example, once the maximum stress of CHS reaches ultimate, which means some
part of the CHS has yielded, you can terminate the analysis by clicking Kill in the dialog box. The
job will therefore be aborted, however, all the response before the termination can be observed.

3.3.4 Postprocessing
3.3.4.1 Visualization of results
Enter the Visualization module, and open the .odb file created by this job (Analysis.odb).
You can view the following shapes or plots by clicking corresponding tool buttons:
Undeformed shape;
Deformed shape;
Animation of results;
Contour plots.
Figure 21 shows the deformed shape of CHS in the analysis.

Figure 21: Deformed Shape of CHS

3.3.4.2 Data processing

This section mainly introduces how to obtain a data plot of load-displacement in the movable end
of CHS. The principle is to collect the data of reaction force in the fixed end of CHS and the data
of the displacement of the movable end. Both of them are in the z-coordinate direction.
1)
2)

3)

4)
5)
6)

7)

Select Tool XY Data Manager Create OBD field output, there appears a dialog
box.
Collect the data of reaction forces. In the catalogue of Variables, select Position as Unique
Nodal. Then select RF3 (Reaction force in the direction of z-coordinate). In catalogue of
Elements/Nodes, click Node sets Fixed. Then press Save OK.
Collect the data of displacement. In the catalogue of Variables, select Position as Unique
Nodal. Then select U3 (Displacement in the direction of z-coordinate). In catalogue of
Elements/Nodes, click Node sets Displacement. Click Save OK. Close the dialog box.
Select Tool XY Data Manager Create Operate on XY data, there appears a dialog
box.
Row down the operation functions column on the right side, and click sum((A, A,)).
Multi-select all the RF3 data and click Add to Expression. Save as RF3.
Click Clear Expression. Row down the operation column to click combine (X, X). Select
U3 to Add to Expression and then RF3 (which was saved in the above procedure) to add to
expression. Give a negative sign to U3, as the displacement is in the negative direction of
z-coordinate while we hope the see the plot which displacement is positive. Save as plot.
Click Plot Expression, the Load-Displacement diagram is shown as Figure 22.

Figure 22: Plot of Load-displacement Response

Alternatively, you can do the following to save all the data of the plot as an Ms-Excel file.
1) Click Report XY.
2) In the catalogue of XY Data, click plot.
3) In the catalogue of Setup, name a file xxx.xls and save in the hard drive.
4) Click OK.
Note: You must save it as an Excel file, otherwise it cannot be read.
Check this file and you would find all the detailed data are included in. You can also make
diagrams using these data. See Figure 23.

Figure 23: X-Y Data Saved as a MS-Excel File

For further guidance, look up ABAQUS 6.4 online documentation http://129.78.142.16:2080/v6.4/