Select a point or node. Abaqus/CAE displays the X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates of the point.

Select two points or nodes. In the Part, Property, and Mesh modules you can select points, edges, or faces. Abaqus/CAE displays the following:

• The X-, Y-, and Z-coordinates of each entity.

• The absolute distance between the entities.

• The X-, Y-, and Z-components of the vector between the two entities.

Select two edges or two faces or select an edge and a face. Abaqus/CAE displays one of the following, depending on your selection:

• The angle between the two edges.

• The angle between the normals to the face.

• The angle between the edge and the normal to the face.

Click mouse button 3 on a feature in the Model Tree, and select Query from the menu that appears. Abaqus/CAE displays the following information about the selected feature:

• Name and description; for example, solid extrude.

• Status, if the feature is suppressed or if it failed to regenerate.

• The name of its parent, if any.

• The names of its children, if any.

• The value of any parameters that define the feature.

• For parts with shell regions, Abaqus/CAE displays the part or assembly using the shaded render style. The side of the shell where the surface normal coincides with the shell normal (top face) is colored brown; the opposite side (bottom face) is colored purple.

• For axisymmetric parts with wire regions, Abaqus/CAE displays cyan arrows indicating the directions of the normals.

You can use the Assign menu in the Property module or the MeshOrientationNormal menu in the Mesh module to reverse the normal directions. For more information, see “Assigning shell/membrane normal directions,” Section 12.15.5.

Abaqus/CAE displays cyan arrows indicating the directions of the beam tangents.

You can use the Assign menu in the Property module or the MeshOrientationNormal menu in the Mesh module to reverse the tangent directions. For more information, see “Assigning beam/truss tangent directions,” Section 12.15.6.

You can use this tool to query only hexahedral, wedge, and quadrilateral elements because these are the only elements that can be stacked to form a continuum shell, cohesive, cylindrical, or gasket mesh. For hexahedral and wedge elements, Abaqus/CAE colors the top face brown and the bottom face purple. Similarly, arrows indicate the orientation of quadrilateral elements. In addition, Abaqus/CAE highlights any element faces and edges that have inconsistent orientation. For more information, see “Creating a model with cohesive elements using geometry and mesh tools,” Section 21.3; Chapter 25, “Continuum shells”; “Swept meshing of cylindrical solids,” Section 17.9.4; and Chapter 32, “Gaskets.”

If the region is a native Abaqus mesh, you can change the mesh stack orientation by changing the direction of the sweep path. For solid regions, you can assign a new mesh stack orientation independent of the sweep path. If the region is an orphan mesh, you can use the Edit Mesh toolset to change the mesh stack orientation. For more information, see “Specifying the sweep path,” Section 17.18.6; “Applying a mesh stack orientation,” Section 17.18.8; and “Orienting the stack direction,” Section 64.6.4, respectively.

For an assembly, part or part instance, geometric region, or element, Abaqus/CAE displays the following:

• The total number of nodes and elements in the selected area

• The number of elements for each element shape

• Element label

• Element topology; for example, linear hexahedron

• Abaqus element name; for example, C3D8I

• Nodal connectivity.

Select the mesh parts or part instances, and enter the maximum distance between a node and an element face. Abaqus/CAE highlights element edges that intersect the boundary faces and element edges that are closer than the specified distance to boundary faces.

This query displays information about the surface area, area centroid, volume, volume centroid, mass, center of mass, and moments of inertia about the center of mass or about a specified point for your selection. For more information, see “Querying mass properties,” Section 71.2.3.

• Invalid, imprecise, or small geometry

• Topology