57.3 Selecting an amplitude type to define

Select ToolsAmplitudeCreate from the main menu bar to create an amplitude. For detailed information on amplitudes, see “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide, and “Specifying a spectrum” in “Response spectrum analysis,” Section 6.3.10 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.

To define an amplitude curve:

From the main menu bar, select ToolsAmplitudeCreate.
Tip: You can also create an amplitude by clicking mouse button 3 on the Amplitudes container in the Model Tree or by clicking Create in the Amplitude Manager.
The Create Amplitude dialog box appears.
In the Name field, enter a name for the amplitude. For information on naming objects, see “Using basic dialog box components,” Section 3.2.1.
Choose the Type of amplitude that you want to create:
- Choose Tabular to define the amplitude curve as a table of values at convenient points on the time scale. Abaqus interpolates linearly between these values, as needed. For more information, see “Defining tabular data” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Equally spaced to give a list of amplitude values at fixed time intervals beginning at a specified value of time. Abaqus interpolates linearly between each time interval. For more information, see “Defining equally spaced data” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Periodic to define the amplitude, a, as a Fourier series:
  where , N, , , , and , , are user-defined constants. For more information, see “Defining periodic data” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Modulated to define the amplitude, a, as
  where , A, , , and are user-defined constants. For more information, see “Defining modulated data” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Decay to define the amplitude, a, as
  where , A, , and are user-defined constants. For more information, see “Defining exponential decay” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Solution dependent to calculate amplitude values based on a solution-dependent variable. For more information, see “Defining a solution-dependent amplitude for superplastic forming analysis” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Smooth step to define the amplitude, a, between two consecutive data points and as
  where . For more information, see “Defining smooth step data” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose Actuator to import the current value of an actuator amplitude at any given time from a co-simulation with a logical modeling program. For more information, see “Defining an actuator amplitude via co-simulation” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide. No additional data is required to define the amplitude curve.
- Choose Spectrum to define a spectrum to be used in a response spectrum analysis. For more information, see “Specifying a spectrum” in “Response spectrum analysis,” Section 6.3.10 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose User to define the amplitude curve in user subroutine UAMP (Abaqus/Standard) or VUAMP (Abaqus/Explicit). For more information, see “Defining an amplitude via a user subroutine” in “Amplitude curves,” Section 34.1.2 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
- Choose PSD definition to define a frequency function that defines the frequency dependence of the random loading in a random response analysis step. This amplitude curve represents the power spectral density function for the random noise source. The PSD amplitude can be referenced in the correlation definition of a base motion boundary condition in a random response step. For more information, see “Defining the frequency functions” in “Random response analysis,” Section 6.3.11 of the Abaqus Analysis User's Guide.
Click Continue.
The Edit Amplitude dialog box appears in which you can enter all of the data necessary to define the amplitude curve. See the following sections for detailed instructions:

For information on related topics, click any of the following items: