4.2 Midsurface modeling

Product: Abaqus/CAE

Benefits: You can now create a midsurface model of shell elements to replace thin solids. The midsurface model may reduce expense and improve results compared to analyzing thin sections modeled with solid elements.

Description: The midsurface model is a shell model that you create to represent the solid model. Starting from the solid model, you select solid cells that you would like to replace with a midsurface model. Abaqus/CAE creates a reference representation to replace the solid geometry. You can use the reference representation to help create the shell faces for the midsurface model. You can use the shell feature tools and the tools in the Geometry Edit toolset to create the shell faces. The new Assign Thickness and Offset tool allows you to define the thicknesses on shell geometry. You can then choose whether Abaqus uses shell thicknesses from the geometry or from the section assignment to display and analyze the model.

A solid model and the meshed midsurface shell model created from it are shown in Figure 4–2.

Figure 4–2 A solid model and the shell mesh of the resulting midsurface model.

Abaqus/CAE Usage:

Part module:
    ToolsMidsurfaceAssign
    ToolsMidsurfaceAssign Thickness and Offset

References:

Abaqus/CAE User's Manual