1.2 Abaqus products

Individual components of the Abaqus suite are described in this section.


Analysis

Abaqus/Standard: This general-purpose analysis product can solve a wide range of linear and nonlinear problems involving the static, dynamic, thermal, electrical, and electromagnetic response of components. Abaqus/Standard includes all analysis capabilities except those provided in the Abaqus/Explicit and Abaqus/CFD programs and the add-on analysis functionality described below.

Abaqus/Explicit: This product provides nonlinear, transient, dynamic analysis of solids and structures using explicit time integration. Its powerful contact capabilities, reliability, and computational efficiency on large models also make it highly effective for quasi-static applications involving discontinuous nonlinear behavior.

Abaqus/CFD: This product is a computational fluid dynamics program with support for preprocessing, simulation, and postprocessing in Abaqus/CAE. Abaqus/CFD provides scalable parallel CFD simulation capabilities to address a number of nonlinear coupled fluid-thermal and fluid-structural problems.


Preprocessing and postprocessing

Abaqus/CAE: This product is a Complete Abaqus Environment that provides a simple, consistent interface for creating, submitting, monitoring, and evaluating results from Abaqus simulations. Abaqus/CAE is divided into modules, where each module defines a logical aspect of the modeling process; for example, defining the geometry, defining material properties, generating a mesh, submitting analysis jobs, and interpreting results.

Abaqus/Viewer: This subset of Abaqus/CAE contains only the postprocessing capabilities of the Visualization module. It uses the output database (.odb) to obtain results from the analysis products. The output database is a neutral binary file. Therefore, results from an Abaqus analysis run on any platform can be viewed on any other platform supporting Abaqus/Viewer. It provides deformed configuration, contour, vector, and X–Y plots, as well as animation of results.


Add-on analysis

Abaqus/Aqua: This add-on analysis capability for Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit provides a capability for calculating drag and buoyancy loads based on steady current, wave, and wind effects for modeling offshore piping and floating platform structures. Abaqus/Aqua is applicable for structures that can be idealized using line elements, including beam, pipe, and truss elements.

Abaqus/Design: This add-on analysis capability for Abaqus/Standard allows the user to perform design sensitivity analysis (DSA). The derivatives of output variables are calculated with respect to specified design parameters.

Optimization module: This capability is available in Abaqus/CAE to perform shape and topology optimization. This functionality requires an additional license to submit an optimization process for analysis.

Abaqus/Foundation: This analysis option offers more efficient access to the linear static and dynamic analysis functionality in Abaqus/Standard.

CZone for Abaqus: This add-on capability for Abaqus/Explicit provides access to a state-of-the-art methodology for crush simulation based on CZone technology from Engenuity, Ltd. Targeted toward the design of composite components and assemblies, CZone for Abaqus provides for inclusion of material crush behavior in simulations of composite structures subjected to impact.


Optional analysis functionality

Abaqus/AMS: This add-on analysis capability for Abaqus/Standard allows the user to select the automatic multi-level substructuring (AMS) eigensolver when performing a natural frequency extraction.

Co-simulation with MpCCI: This add-on analysis capability for Abaqus can be used to solve multiphysics problems by coupling Abaqus with any third-party analysis program that supports the MpCCI interface.


Associative interfaces and geometry translators

SIMULIA Associative Interface for Abaqus/CAE: This add-on capability for Abaqus/CAE creates a connection between a CATIA V6 session and an Abaqus/CAE session. This connection can be used to transfer model information from CATIA V6 to Abaqus/CAE. Subsequent modifications to the model in CATIA V6 can be propagated to the Abaqus/CAE model while retaining any analysis features (such as loads or boundary conditions) that were defined on the model in Abaqus/CAE. The CATIA V6 model in an assembly file (.eaf) format can also be imported directly into Abaqus/CAE.

CATIA V5 Associative Interface: This add-on capability for Abaqus/CAE creates a connection between a CATIA V5 session and an Abaqus/CAE session. This connection can be used to transfer model information from CATIA V5 to Abaqus/CAE. Subsequent modifications to the model in CATIA V5 can be propagated to the Abaqus/CAE model while retaining any analysis features (such as loads or boundary conditions) that were defined on the model in Abaqus/CAE. The geometry of CATIA V5-format Part (.CATPart) and Product (.CATProduct) files can also be imported directly into Abaqus/CAE.

SOLIDWORKS Associative Interface: This add-on capability for Abaqus/CAE creates a connection between a SOLIDWORKS session and an Abaqus/CAE session. This connection can be used to transfer model information from SOLIDWORKS to Abaqus/CAE. Subsequent modifications to the model in SOLIDWORKS can be propagated to the Abaqus/CAE model while retaining any analysis features (such as loads or boundary conditions) that were defined on the model in Abaqus/CAE.

Pro/ENGINEER Associative Interface: This add-on capability for Abaqus/CAE creates a connection between a Pro/ENGINEER session and an Abaqus/CAE session. This connection can be used to transfer model information between Pro/ENGINEER and Abaqus/CAE. Modifications to the model in Pro/ENGINEER can be propagated to the Abaqus/CAE model without affecting any analysis features (such as loads or boundary conditions) that were defined on the model in Abaqus/CAE, and certain geometric modifications can be made in Abaqus/CAE and propagated to the model in Pro/ENGINEER.

Abaqus/CAE Associative Interface for NX: This add-on capability for Abaqus/CAE creates a connection between an NX session and an Abaqus/CAE session. This connection can be used to transfer model data and to propagate design changes between NX and Abaqus/CAE. The Abaqus/CAE Associative Interface for NX can be purchased and downloaded from Elysium Inc. (www.elysiuminc.com).

Geometry Translator for CATIA V4: This add-on capability allows the user to import the geometry of CATIA V4-format parts and CATIA V4 assemblies (.model, .catdata, and .exp files) directly into Abaqus/CAE.

Geometry Translator for Parasolid: This add-on capability allows the user to import the geometry of Parasolid-format parts and Parasolid assemblies (.x_t, .x_b, and .xmt files) directly into Abaqus/CAE.


Translator utilities


Other utilities


Platform support

Analysis products (Abaqus/Standard, Abaqus/Explicit, and Abaqus/CFD) and interactive products (Abaqus/CAE and Abaqus/Viewer) are supported on the following platforms: