View cuts allow you to cut planar or deformable sections through a model to see the interior of the model. For example, Figure 46–1 shows how a planar view cut can be used to cut through a contour plot of a gearbox model.

Figure 46–1 Planar view cut through a contour plot of a gearbox model. Top, left to right: the model below the cut, on the cut, and above the cut; bottom: the entire model.

You can create view cuts based on the following shapes, illustrated in Figure 46–2:

• a plane,

• a cylinder,

• a sphere, or

• an isosurface corresponding to a constant value of a field variable.

For isosurface cuts the result values are computed as described in “Understanding how contour values are computed,” Section 40.1.1, for line- and banded-type contours. By default, Abaqus/CAE applies an averaging threshold of 100% for isosurface cuts to insure the continuous display of results at the cut location. You can apply an averaging threshold less than 100% by toggling off Override primary variable averaging when you create the isosurface cut. Abaqus/CAE then applies the averaging threshold specified in the Averaging options in the Result Options dialog box; for more information, see “Controlling result averaging,” Section 38.5.6. Cuts along the X-, Y-, and Z-planes are created by default.

Abaqus/CAE creates a view cut when you open a model containing an XFEM crack. The view cut displays the isosurface where the value of the signed distance function is zero, which corresponds with the surface of the XFEM crack.

To display the cut section of your model, you activate a cut and choose whether to display the model on the cut, above the cut, and/or below the cut, as illustrated in Figure 46–1. The cut itself is never visible. For planar cuts the portion of the model below the cut is defined as that part located on the negative side of the plane (relative to the orientation of the normal to the plane). For cylindrical and spherical cuts the portion of the model below the cut is defined as that part located at radii less than the radius of the cut shape. For an isosurface cut the portion of the model below the cut is defined as that part located at isovalues less than the specified isovalue. By default, Abaqus/CAE displays the model on and below the cut.

You can select different plot options for the portions of the model below the cut, on the cut, and above the cut; for example, in Figure 46–2 some portions of the model are displayed with translucency activated, while others are displayed with no translucency.

Only one cut can be active (used to display the model in the current viewport) at a time. You can activate view cuts on undeformed, deformed, contour (texture-mapped only), symbol, or material orientation plots. Labels, symbols, and material orientation triads are not projected onto the cut. However, for symbol and material orientation plots, Abaqus/CAE displays symbols and material orientation triads at all integration points for each element included in the view, even if the element is partially cut.

Plots with an active view cut can be animated; the view cut will be updated for each animation frame. View cuts cannot be activated on tessellated contour plots; swept, shrunk, or extruded plots; or highly refined plots (medium, fine, or extra fine).

By default, Abaqus/CAE caches the result values used to generate images of a cut model in memory to improve performance. However, you can disable results caching for cut fields to decrease memory usage if necessary; see “Controlling results caching,” Section 38.5.10, for more information.

For plots of the deformed model, you can choose to have the cut follow the deformation; i.e., the cut surface will be calculated relative to a reference frame, and the cut deformation will match the deformation of the model.

You can reposition cuts on your model: planar cuts can be rotated or translated, while the other cut shapes can only be translated.

For planar view cuts you can also display a free body cut that shows the resultant force and moment, and you can compute these values based on the entire model or based on the current display group. The example shown in Figure 46–3 includes a free body cut displayed for a view cut of a landing gear assembly.

You can display a free body cut on a view cut only for solid geometry, shell sections, or beam sections; and for shell sections and beam sections the output database must include section force (SF) and section moment (SM) output for free body cuts to be displayed. Free body cuts on view cuts are not supported for axisymmetric models or for continuum shells. You can display a free body cut for the active view cut even when one or more free body cuts—those created in the Free Body toolset—are displayed elsewhere in your model. Abaqus/CAE updates the free body vectors and summation point as you reposition the view cut or animate the model.

You can select a cut (either active or inactive) in the View Cut Manager to position, edit, copy, rename, or delete it. Selecting a cut in the manager is not the same as activating the cut. A cut can be both selected and active, unselected and active, or selected and inactive; and you can display or hide a free body cut for the currently displayed view cut if it is active. Figure 46–4 shows an example of the information displayed in the view cut manager.

Abaqus/CAE creates a view cut when you open a model containing a crack calculated by the extended finite element method (XFEM). The tools in the View Cut Manager operate as follows:

• The below cut check box displays the entire model, except for the XFEM crack.

• The on cut check box displays the isosurface where the value of the signed distance function is zero, which corresponds with the surface of an XFEM crack.

• The above cut check box is not used by an XFEM crack.