ABAQUS – Advanced use

• Element and Node Sets

• Shear Locking in solid elements
• Reduced Integration and Zero Energy Modes
• Sign Convention
• Integration Schemes
• Shell Elements – pitfalls to avoid
• Beam Elements
• General Suggestions
 ABAQUS CAE - Modules
• PART Create part using Sketcher
• SKETCH sketcher
• ASSEMBLY Creation of instances and assembly.
• PROPERTY Define Material, SECTION Properties and
ASSIGNS it.
• STEP Analysis Steps
• INTERACTION Interaction Properties, Constraints.
Contact between 2 surfaces,
• LOAD Loads, Boundary Conditions and Fields.
• MESH Choice of element
• JOB Creates Job, associates job with a MODEL
• VISUALIZATION Post processing
 Sign Convention
• Displacements and point loads are positive
in the direction of the positive axes.
• Normal Stresses – Tensile stress is +ve.
• Shear stress – anticlockwise about
element centre is +ve.
• Direct strains – Tensile stress is +ve
• Soils consolidation s’ = s + u
 Stress Discontinuities

• Stresses are calculated accurately at

Gauss (Integration) points.
• Displacements are continuous across
element boundaries.
• Stresses jump across element
boundaries.
 Shell Element - Normal

• The direction of the +ve normal is defined

by the nodal sequence and the Right hand
rule.
• The section points are numbered in the
direction of the +ve normal. The section
points identify the sections.