Abaqus Glossary  


M

main window

The GUI with which you interact with Abaqus/CAE. The main window contains a menu bar, prompt area, toolbars, and a variety of other components that allow you to perform the tasks necessary for creating and analyzing a model and viewing analysis results. Certain aspects of the main window, such as the menu bar and the toolbars, can change as you work through the modeling process.

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maintenance delivery

A software update following a general release that addresses issues identified in status reports but does not include enhancements or new functionality. Maintenance deliveries are designated by the product name and release number followed by 2, 3, etc., such as Abaqus 6.12-2 and Abaqus 6.12-3. See also general release.

manager

material orientation triad

An Abaqus/CAE viewport annotation that indicates the material directions of elements in your model at the element integration points in the Visualization module.

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membrane sections

Thin surfaces in space that offer strength in the plane of the surface but have no bending stiffness.

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mesh

An arrangement of finite elements defined on an FEA model. You can define a mesh on a part or on the assembly.

Meshing is the activity of discretizing geometry into a finite element representation.

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mesh-geometry association

Abaqus/CAE techniques used to associate a mesh with geometry for the proper transfer of loads and boundary conditions from geometric entities. Top-down meshing techniques automatically associate the mesh with the geometry that was used to create it. If you use bottom-up meshing techniques or edit the association of a top-down mesh, you may need to check the association.

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Mesh module

An Abaqus/CAE module that contains tools used to generate meshes on parts and assemblies created in or imported into Abaqus/CAE. In addition, the Mesh module contains query functions that provide information about existing meshes.

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mesh surface

A named collection of element faces or edges selected from either native or orphan meshes in an assembly that can be used to request output or add loads to specific areas of the model.

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message area

A section of the main window in Abaqus/CAE used to display information and warnings.

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message (.msg) file

midsurface model

A shell model with thickness and offset definitions, used in place of a solid model in an analysis. The midsurface model is intended to provide a simplified model that reduces the expense of an analysis without compromising the results.

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mixed-interface substructure dynamic modes

Substructure dynamic modes in which only some of the retained degrees of freedom have been constrained, while others have not been constrained.

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model

A collection of the data that are needed to conduct an analysis; also refers to the physical object being analyzed.

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model data

A portion of an Abaqus/Standard, Abaqus/Explicit, or Abaqus/CFD input file that defines a finite element model: the elements, nodes, element properties, material definitions, and so on—any data that specify the model itself. Model data include all data in an Abaqus input file that appear before the *STEP option.

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model database

A database used by Abaqus/CAE to store your models and analysis jobs. While you may have multiple model databases stored on your computer or network, Abaqus/CAE can work on only one at any time. The model database in use is known as the current model database, and Abaqus/CAE displays its name across the top of the main window.

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model definition

modeling space

The space a part inhabits. A part can inhabit three-dimensional, two-dimensional, or axisymmetric modeling space.

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module

A functional unit of Abaqus/CAE. Each module defines a logical aspect of the modeling process, such as defining the geometry, defining material properties, and generating a mesh, and contains only those tools that are relevant to a specific portion of the modeling task.

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monitor

movable part instance

The part instance whose position can change during the application of an assembly constraint in Abaqus/CAE.

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MPI (message passing interface)

A software library defined by the MPI standard that is used to parallelize software. MPI is typically used to enable execution on compute clusters or networks of workstations but provides effective parallelization on SMP (shared memory parallel) machines as well. See also MPI-based parallel and SMP.

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MPI-based parallel

DMP processing supported by Abaqus on multiprocessor workstations or compute clusters using MPI libraries.

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multiphysics

A coupled approach in the numerical solution of multiple interacting physical domains. Abaqus provides built-in fully coupled procedures, sequential coupling, and co-simulation as solution techniques for multiphysics simulation. See also the Products page at www.simulia.com.

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multi-point constraint

A constraint that allows you to constrain the degrees of freedom of the slave nodes of a region to the degrees of freedom of a single point or multiple points.

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