If you have already meshed a part, a part instance, or a region, Abaqus/CAE allows you to change the element order without having to recreate the entire mesh. If you change between linear and quadratic elements, Abaqus/CAE simply adds or removes the midside nodes as required.

If the part or part instance contains orphan elements, you can change the order of all the elements or you can change the order of only selected elements. Orphan elements contain no underlying geometry information; therefore, you should take care when changing the order of the elements. If you change orphan elements from quadratic to linear, all information on the location of the midside nodes is lost. As a result, if you subsequently decide to change back from linear to quadratic elements, you will not be able to return to the original mesh. For more information, see “What kinds of files can be imported and exported from Abaqus/CAE?,” Section 10.1.1.