Abaqus Keywords Reference Guide  
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*TRACER PARTICLE
Define tracer particles for tracking the location of and results at material points during a step.

This option is used to define tracer particles and assign them to tracer sets for tracking the location of and results at material points during a step. The tracer set name is used in conjunction with the *ELEMENT OUTPUT and/or the *NODE OUTPUT options to request output for the tracer particles associated with the tracer set name.

Product: Abaqus/Explicit  

Type: History data

Level: Step

References:

Required parameter:

TRACER SET

Set this parameter equal to the name of the tracer set to which these tracer particles will be assigned.

Optional parameter:

PARTICLE BIRTH STAGES

Set this parameter equal to the number of tracer particle births within the step. If this parameter is omitted, a single particle birth will occur at the beginning of the step. If this parameter has a value n greater than one, tracer particles will leave their parent nodes n times during the step at equally spaced intervals in time.

Data lines to define the tracer particles associated with the tracer set: 

First line:

  1. List of nodes or node set labels to be assigned as tracer particles corresponding to this tracer set.

Repeat this data line as often as necessary. Up to 16 entries are allowed per line.