Select Mesh
Edit from the main menu bar to convert a solid orphan mesh to a shell orphan mesh. The Convert solid to shell tool creates triangular or quadrilateral shell elements on the free element faces of the part; that is, the element faces that do not share all of their nodes with another face. If your part contains joined faces with elements of different element shapes or with elements of a different geometric order, Abaqus/CAE creates shell elements on both sides of the interface. Likewise, if your solid mesh part contains neighboring element faces that reference different coincident nodes (like the nodes that represent cracks), Abaqus/CAE creates shell elements on both sides of the interface.
To convert a solid orphan mesh to a shell orphan mesh:
Enter the Mesh module.
From the Object field in the context bar, select Part and select a part from the list. This tool is available only for working on orphan mesh elements.
From the main menu bar, select MeshEdit.
Abaqus/CAE displays the Edit Mesh dialog box.
Tip:
You can also display the Edit Mesh dialog box using the 
tool, located at the bottom of the Mesh module toolbox.
From the Category field, choose Mesh.
From the Method list, select Convert solid to shell.
From the buttons that appear in the prompt area, click Yes.
Abaqus/CAE converts the solid mesh to a shell mesh.
Tip: You can recover the solid mesh in its state just before the conversion by clicking Undo in the Edit Mesh dialog box.
After editing an orphan mesh, you should always verify node-, element-, and surface-based features such as section assignments, loads, and interactions to ensure that they are correctly applied to the modified mesh.
