Abaqus Unified FEA

Today, product simulation is often being performed by engineering groups using niche simulation tools from different vendors to simulate various design attributes. The use of multiple vendor software products creates inefficiencies and increases costs. SIMULIA delivers a scalable suite of unified analysis products that allow all users, regardless of their simulation expertise or domain focus, to collaborate and seamlessly share simulation data and approved methods without loss of information fidelity.

The Abaqus Unified FEA product suite offers powerful and complete solutions for both routine and sophisticated engineering problems covering a vast spectrum of industrial applications. In the automotive industry engineering work groups are able to consider full vehicle loads, dynamic vibration, multibody systems, impact/crash, nonlinear static, thermal coupling, and acoustic-structural coupling using a common model data structure and integrated solver technology. Best-in-class companies are taking advantage of Abaqus Unified FEA to consolidate their processes and tools, reduce costs and inefficiencies, and gain a competitive advantage.


Abaqus Unified FEA Product Suite

Abaqus/Standard

Abaqus/Standard employs solution technology ideal for static and low-speed dynamic events where highly accurate stress solutions are critically important. Examples include sealing pressure in a gasket joint, steady-state rolling of a tire, or crack propagation in a composite airplane fuselage. Within a single simulation, it is possible to analyze a model both in the time and frequency domain. For example, one may start by performing a nonlinear engine cover mounting analysis including sophisticated gasket mechanics. Following the mounting analysis, the pre-stressed natural frequencies of the cover can be extracted, or the frequency domain mechanical and acoustic response of the pre-stressed cover to engine induced vibrations can be examined. Abaqus/Standard is supported within the Abaqus/CAE modeling environment for all common pre- and postprocessing needs.

The results at any point within an Abaqus/Standard run can be used as the starting conditions for continuation in Abaqus/Explicit. Similarly, an analysis that starts in Abaqus/Explicit can be continued in Abaqus/Standard. The flexibility provided by this integration allows Abaqus/Standard to be applied to those portions of the analysis that are well-suited to an implicit solution technique, such as static, low-speed dynamic, or steady-state transport analyses; while Abaqus/Explicit may be applied to those portions of the analysis where high-speed, nonlinear, transient response dominates the solution.


Abaqus/Explicit


Abaqus/Explicit is a finite element analysis product that is particularly well-suited to simulate brief transient dynamic events such as consumer electronics drop testing, automotive crashworthiness, and ballistic impact. The ability of Abaqus/Explicit to effectively handle severely nonlinear behavior such as contact makes it very attractive for the simulation of many quasi-static events, such as rolling of hot metal and slow crushing of energy absorbing devices. Abaqus/Explicit is designed for production environments, so ease of use, reliability, and efficiency are key ingredients in its architecture. Abaqus/Explicit is supported within the Abaqus/CAE modeling environment for all common pre- and postprocessing needs.

The results at any point within an Abaqus/Explicit run can be used as the starting conditions for continuation in Abaqus/Standard. Similarly, an analysis that starts in Abaqus/Standard can be continued in Abaqus/Explicit. The flexibility provided by this integration allows Abaqus/Explicit to be applied to those portions of the analysis where high-speed, nonlinear, transient response dominates the solution; while Abaqus/Standard can be applied to those portions of the analysis that are well-suited to an implicit solution technique, such as static, low-speed dynamic, or steady-state transport analyses.

Abaqus/CFD

Abaqus/CFD provides advanced computational fluid dynamics capabilities with extensive support for preprocessing and postprocessing provided in Abaqus/CAE. These scalable parallel CFD simulation capabilities address a broad range of nonlinear coupled fluid-thermal and fluid-structural problems.

Abaqus/CFD can solve the following types of incompressible flow problems:

  • Laminar and turbulent: Internal or external flows that are steady-state or transient, span a broad Reynolds number range, and involve complex geometry may be simulated with Abaqus/CFD. This includes flow problems induced by spatially varying distributed body forces.
  • Thermal convective: Problems that involve heat transfer and require an energy equation and that may involve buoyancy-driven flows (i.e., natural convection) can also be solved with Abaqus/CFD. This type of problem includes turbulent heat transfer for a broad range of Prandtl numbers.
  • Deforming-mesh ALE: Abaqus/CFD includes the ability to perform deforming-mesh analyses using an arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE) description of the equations of motion, heat transfer, and turbulent transport. Deforming-mesh problems may include prescribed boundary motion that induces fluid flow or FSI problems where the boundary motion is relatively independent of the fluid flow.

Abaqus/CAE

Complete solution for Abaqus finite element modeling, visualization, and process automation

With Abaqus/CAE you can quickly and efficiently create, edit, monitor, diagnose, and visualize advanced Abaqus analyses. The intuitive interface integrates modeling, analysis, job management, and results visualization in a consistent, easy-to-use environment that is simple to learn for new users, yet highly productive for experienced users. Abaqus/CAE supports familiar interactive computer-aided engineering concepts such as feature-based, parametric modeling, interactive and scripted operation, and GUI customization.

Users can create geometry, import CAD models for meshing, or integrate geometry-based meshes that do not have associated CAD geometry. Associative Interfaces for CATIA V5, SolidWorks, and Pro/ENGINEER enable synchronization of CAD and CAE assemblies and enable rapid model updates with no loss of user-defined analysis features.

The open customization toolset of Abaqus/CAE provides a powerful process automation solution, enabling specialists to deploy proven workflows across the engineering enterprise. Abaqus/CAE also offers comprehensive visualization options, which enable users to interpret and communicate the results of any Abaqus analysis.


Multiphysics


The Abaqus Unified FEA product suite has significant capabilities that are used to solve multiphysics problems. These capabilities, developed over many years and fully integrated as core Abaqus functionality, have been used extensively for many engineering applications on products and engineering projects in use today.

Multiphysics technology has been a part of Abaqus from the beginning. Starting with Abaqus V2 (in 1979), Abaqus/Aqua simulates hydrodynamic wave loading on flexible structures for offshore pipelines. Through the years additional multiphysics capabilities have been added, such as fluid, thermal, and electrical couplings, to name a few.

The advantage of Abaqus Multiphysics is the ease with which Multiphysics problems can be solved by the Abaqus structural FEA user. From the same model, same element library, same material data, and same load history, an Abaqus structural FEA model can easily be extended to include additional physics interaction. No additional tools, interfaces, or simulation methodology are needed.

 

Abaqus Add-ons

The Abaqus Unified FEA Suite enables users to develop custom applications and integrate solutions from Alliance Partners or their own in-house applications. SIMULIA offers supported Analysis Interfaces for Moldflow, MSC.ADAMS, and MADYMO. A family of crash dummy models from FTSS is available for use in crash and occupant safety simulations. A variety of customizable Extensions for Abaqus, developed by our regional offices offer efficiencies for specific industry simulation needs such as printed wiring board (PWB) modeling, composite filament winding or sheet metal forming. SIMULIA also provides fe-safe, from Safe Technology for accurate fatigue and failure predictions.