ABAQUS Users Conference 2004

Transcription

1 ABAQUS Users Conference 2004 ABAQUS Version 6.4 An Overview Process Automation Portal ABAQUS for CATIA V5

2 In this issue: 1-2 Methods Evolution... ABAQUS INSIGHTS is published by 2 ABAQUS Users Conference ABAQUS Version 6.4 An Overview Software Performance Mechanics Technology Engineering Productivity 6 Engineering Services 7 Process Automation Portal 8 In The News 1080 Main Street Pawtucket, RI Tel Fax info@abaqus.com Copyright 2004 ABAQUS, Inc. All rights reserved ABAQUS for CATIA V5 10 Web Seminars ABAQUS is a trademark of ABAQUS, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Methods Evolution... Welcome to the new edition of ABAQUS Insights. I hope that all our readers enjoyed a peaceful and relaxing holiday and are ready to start the New Year brimming with energy and enthusiasm! Here at ABAQUS we re looking forward to 2004 with a tangible degree of excitement. During the past few months I ve been told many times by both customers and by other software vendors that ABAQUS appears to be on the ascendant and they also ask me why this is. The answer is very simple we have made clear, conscious decisions to adopt a consistent philosophy in our approach to our customers and to the finite element market in general. This philosophy is founded on some basic beliefs:- Finite Element Analysis is not a commodity. There is almost unlimited scope for new mechanics, better functionality, and improved performance within FEA. Even today, there is far more testing of hardware prototypes than simulation using virtual prototypes. I believe that the right FEA technology can make a difference to the way engineers get things done and will play an increasing role in the future. Those who think that FEA is a fully mature technology with no real impact on product design are just plain wrong. FEA is not a commodity and will not be any time soon. Methods need to evolve. We re proud of our heritage, and we will continue to invest in fundamental research and technologies to realize new methods and applications. Even today, many of the FEA methods being used in engineering are based on linear assumptions that were made 10 or 20 years ago, mostly due to lack of powerful computing, but also due to FEA software immaturity. I sincerely believe that we are on the cusp of a significant evolution in these methods, brought about by the availability of affordable and powerful parallel computing, new materials and manufacturing techniques, and by the intense competition of the current economic climate. Our job at ABAQUS is to make sure we have the technology our customers need to develop and deploy these new methods. 1

3 Methods Evolution... (continued) FEA users want to rationalize and unify their software environment. Multiple FEA tools in the design process are bad news. Multiple tools mean multiple workflows, redundant training and skills, and worst, of all, multiple finite element models. Managing this information, knowledge, and data is a nightmare, as many of you know. Our role here is to develop ABAQUS functionality to do more than we have traditionally been expected to do; in this way ABAQUS can be used for more disciplines and can do the job for multiple applications from essentially a single model. Over the past few releases, we ve made significant advances in linear dynamics, acoustics, and mechanisms simulation. We intend to continue broadening the scope of our application so that our users can do more without leaving the ABAQUS environment. There is a common thread that binds these beliefs and indeed makes them real and worth pursuing our customers. ABAQUS users are the single most important factor in our success so far and will be in future. We get our ideas from users driving ABAQUS software to extremes and by customers proposing new technology and better ways of doing things. We appreciate this, and that s why we re committed to providing local, experienced engineers to support our users. It s also why we re trying hard to provide better support and communication systems, like the on-line support system, the enhancement request tool, and the Process Automation Portal. In 2004, I hope we ll be able to improve our ability to understand the needs of you, our users, with an aim to deliver even better and more robust technology in ABAQUS Version 6.5. We believe our momentum is significant and building. As old methods evolve and new technology emerges, we ll do everything we can to make sure ABAQUS stays ahead. Ken Short, VP Marketing ABAQUS Users Conference 2004 Boston, MA USA The 17th annual ABAQUS Users Conference will be held May 24 27, 2004, in Boston, MA USA. This event brings together users from around the world to meet and share their experiences with ABAQUS, to discuss enhancements, to learn about new capabilities in the software, and to hear about new offerings from ABAQUS in training and other support services. This event will again offer a complementary technology pavilion where providers of ABAQUSrelated software and hardware will be on hand to explain how their products and services can help make you more successful in the overall engineering process. As is typical for this event, senior managers, technologists, and founders from ABAQUS will be on hand to meet with users and listen to presentations. Technical sessions consisting of invited and contributed lectures will be held as well as tutorials, technical sessions, and presentations by ABAQUS personnel relating to new or advanced features in ABAQUS. We expect attendees from all over the world. The meeting provides an opportunity for users to learn of each other s technical work and to become acquainted informally. Social evening activities will be planned for this purpose. If you wish to present a paper at the conference, please submit a title and an abstract before February 6, You can submit your abstract online at or by simply sending an to conference2004@abaqus.com. We will be publishing a bound set of Conference Proceedings for this event. In addition, we will provide an interactive CD with electronic versions of all presented papers, which will be mailed to all attendees after the event. To ensure that your paper appears in the published proceedings, you must provide final text and high-resolution graphics before March 1, We reserve editorial rights in selecting papers for publication in the Conference Proceedings. The meeting will be held at the renowned Charles Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. An early bird conference registration fee of $750 is available until March 1, 2004, after which the normal fee of $900 will apply. To qualify for the early bird registration fee, we must receive payment or approved purchase order details before March 1, The conference registration fee includes all conference events and social activities but does not include accommodations. Additional tickets for social activities only (for example, so that you can bring your spouse to the banquet) will be available. The presenter of an accepted paper will receive an additional $100 reduction to the registration fee. On-site registration will be available at an additional charge. The day prior to the conference we will offer a number of tutorials in parallel sessions covering advanced topics in ABAQUS. Additional details on these tutorials will be available shortly. A fee of $375 is the expected cost for each of these day-long training sessions. We hope you will attend and contribute to the success of this meeting. To help our planning, please visit and complete the information request and survey form you will find there. By registering, you will receive further details on the event as they become available. 2

4 ABAQUS Version 6.4 An Overview Significant advances in software performance, mechanics technology, and user productivity highlight this important release. ABAQUS Version 6.4 represents a significant step forward for the ABAQUS product suite. This article highlights some of the more notable advances in the release. For a comprehensive review, current ABAQUS customers can consult the Version 6.4 ABAQUS Release Notes. Software Performance The demand to model, solve, and evaluate increasingly larger and more complex simulations remains high in the ABAQUS user community. Accordingly, providing best-in-class software performance continues to be a long-term strategic priority for ABAQUS. From a general perspective, ABAQUS Version 6.4 offers more than double the throughput capability over previous versions of ABAQUS on many large simulations, such as powertrain analysis or cell phone drop simulation. Gains in solution speed directly shorten analysis turnaround time, thus allowing ABAQUS users to consider more design alternatives in a shorter time period. Version 6.4 considerably enhances throughput for ABAQUS/Standard as a result of a number of new and/or improved parallel processing techniques and the introduction of an optional iterative solver. Dynamic load balancing for the direct sparse solver improves parallel performance in a number of areas, including parallel scaling for a given number of processors, scaling over a greater number of processors, and scaling for smaller model sizes. In addition to the advances made on the direct sparse solver, Version 6.4 includes the first implementation of a domain decomposition iterative solver in ABAQUS/Standard. Iterative solvers typically perform quite well for certain types of problems but can perform poorly and even fail on other problems. The iterative solver generally works well for blocky structures constructed of solid elements; it is currently available for the static and steady-state heat transfer procedures for models that have symmetric stiffness matrices. The iterative solver runs in parallel on shared memory computers and shows good scalability on large models. Continued improvements are planned for the iterative solver in Version 6.5 and beyond. ABAQUS/Explicit also benefits from a number of the scalar and parallel performance improvements in Version 6.4. Throughput for the analysis input processing and packager phases is significantly faster; the time to process a typical large automotive crash model through these phases of the analysis has been reduced from several hours to minutes. The scalar performance of the general contact algorithm and other parts of ABAQUS/Explicit is improved as well. For a typical automotive crash model, the performance measured in terms of microseconds per element increment (MSPEI) has gone from approximately 50 MSPEI for Version 6.3 to less than 10 MSPEI for Version 6.4. In terms of parallel performance, the domain decomposition parallelization method in ABAQUS/Explicit has been extended to include general contact. In addition, a new architecture for parallelization in Version 6.4 based on MPI (Message Passing Interface) allows ABAQUS/Explicit to be run in parallel on distributed memory systems such as clusters. While performance gains will vary depending on the particular application, users should expect to see significantly improved performance in this release of ABAQUS/Explicit. Version 6.4 of ABAQUS/CAE features dramatically improved interactive response. To support the increasingly large models users are creating, ABAQUS/CAE has been rearchitected to improve interactive performance dramatically when processing large finite element models. Further, the performance of the ODB API (a mechanism to access model and results data from the ODB outside of ABAQUS/Viewer) has been improved significantly. Mechanics Technology ABAQUS continues to lead the FEA industry in the development of advanced mechanics technology; Version 6.4 offers a number of new elements, materials, and solution procedures. Dynamic load balancing means the sparse direct solver in ABAQUS/Standard now scales very well on large models for up to 16 processors. These results are from a typical powertrain model with approximately 3 million degrees of freedom. Composite beams enable complex structures to be represented as a beam with various cross-sections along its length. The cross-sections for composite beams are meshed initially with two-dimensional elements; a new procedure in ABAQUS/Standard calculates the appropriate beam properties to be used in a three-dimensional beam analysis of the structure in either ABAQUS/Standard or ABAQUS/Explicit. Another new element, the continuum shell element, is available in both ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit. This element has 3

5 ABAQUS Version 6.4 An Overview (continued) the topology of a continuum element, such as a brick or wedge, but behaves very much like a shell element and, thus, can yield the accurate bending solutions typically associated with a shell element. Only one element through the thickness is required to obtain accurate results. For multi-material composite applications, continuum shell elements can be stacked together as needed. In addition, since these elements have the topology of solid elements, they provide for more accurate contact modeling. Two important enhancements have been added to the hyperelastic material models in ABAQUS. Mullins effect, which models the observed damage of rubber materials when initially loaded, can be incorporated in any of the hyperelastic material models. The implementation provides for the specification of test data, whereby the material parameters are calibrated automatically from the supplied test data. In addition, a completely new hyperelasticity model, conceived by an ABAQUS staff member, is available in Version 6.4. The Marlow model is unique in that the strain energy potential that is constructed exactly replicates the homogeneous deformation mode test data that are supplied. The Marlow model also exhibits reasonable behavior in other deformation modes, making this the model of choice when only limited test data are available. Version 6.4 includes a new direct cyclic procedure intended to speed up low-cycle fatigue calculations for high-temperature components and assemblies, such as those commonly found in automotive powertrain applications. Past approaches to this problem have required that a number of transient load cycles be analyzed until steady-state response is achieved. This new procedure avoids much of that computational cost by using an iterative algorithm to achieve the stabilized steady-state response to cyclic loading. The new direct cyclic procedure provides a much faster solution to obtain the steady-state response to cyclic loading. Model courtesy of PSA Distortion control in ABAQUS/Explicit is designed to keep elements from collapsing and the analysis from prematurely terminating when large deformations are involved. This new feature is available for solid elements and is used primarily with material models such as crushable foam, where elements can become very highly distorted. Hyperelastic materials can now include Mullins effect, modeling the damage in rubber when it is first loaded. A complex eigensolver is introduced in ABAQUS/Standard for Version 6.4, with an initial application focus on brake squeal. This capability can be used in conjunction with contact and other nonlinear capabilities in ABAQUS. TRW and Delphi have already written separate papers documenting the benefits of this new ABAQUS solution technique. Eroding contact, previously available for shell element-based surfaces with general contact, is now available for solid elements with the general contact algorithm using element-based surfaces. Contact between multiple eroding bodies, such as in ballistic applications, can now be modeled. This capability is also useful in manufacturing operations such as drilling or other operations where material is being removed. Better integration of ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit continues to be a priority. In Version 6.4 modified 10-node tetrahedral elements and acoustic elements can be imported between the two products. The robustness of the transfer of solid elements is improved by the implementation of the same enhanced hourglass formation in ABAQUS/Standard that was previously available in ABAQUS/Explicit. ABAQUS/Standard Version 6.4 offers a breakthrough approach to brake squeal analysis that seamlessly combines the modeling of contact and other nonlinear effects with complex eigenvalue extraction. This image shows a contour plot of one of the mode shapes of the complex eigenvalue solution. Model courtesy of Delphi Corporation 4

6 ABAQUS Version 6.4 An Overview (continued) Engineering Productivity Version 6.4 establishes ABAQUS/CAE as a compelling solution for desktop modeling and results visualization. A more intuitive and streamlined user interface is provided as a Windows-native application (Exceed has been eliminated). ABAQUS/CAE has a fresh new look and operates in a much more Windows-like fashion. The dialog boxes are streamlined, and the viewport area can be maximized, providing more room for model viewing and manipulation. Images can be copied and pasted into other Windows applications. Icons have been redesigned to result in a more modern-looking application. As mentioned earlier, ABAQUS/CAE and ABAQUS/Viewer offer significantly improved graphics speed, enabling more efficient manipulation, display, and animation of large models and results sets. Advanced virtual topology capabilities, as well as several automatic meshing technologies and procedures, make it easier to create robust and intelligently sized finite element meshes in ABAQUS/CAE. Virtual topology is more robust and easier to use with highlighting of entities associated with a virtual topology feature. Advancing front mesh quality is improved for quad and quad-dominated meshes. Swept or revolved meshes can now use the advancing front algorithm, which helps avoid creating skewed elements, especially where one swept region bounds another. Hexahedral meshing of swept regions with constant cross-sections allows complex twisted geometry (like a spring) to be meshed easily without partitioning. Tetrahedral meshing is improved in a number of areas, including usability, robustness, and speed. Further, it is now possible to create a persistent boundary (preview) mesh, which can then be edited manually by moving boundary nodes before completing the solid mesh. Many mesh edit enhancements have been made, including the ability to clean up and merge nodes within an orphan mesh and edit nodes within a native mesh. Geometry import as well as native geometry creation benefit from advances in several areas in Version 6.4. The geometry translators have been upgraded to include for the first time direct import from CATIA V5 and Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire. To aid in the creation of geometry, ABAQUS/CAE offers a new interactive interface for generating lofts that allows users to select a number of sections (not necessarily planar) and optionally specify guide paths to loft between selected sections. In addition, ABAQUS/CAE now provides for both radial and linear patterning of sketched geometry. Part Boolean operations allow parts to be merged and allow one part to be used to cut another. This functionality also allows two orphan meshes to be merged. Part regeneration is improved a certain number of snapshots of the model may be cached, which makes regeneration much faster since the starting state of the model is the last saved snapshot, not the first feature. A number of enhancements make it easier to understand the progress of an analysis as well as to visualize material data and indepth results information. As a first step in a multi-release effort, new visualization tools help users understand and troubleshoot complex simulations. This first release focuses on general static procedures, providing a capability to interactively explore and visualize the diagnostic information normally written to the message file. The material evaluation feature for hyperelastic materials in ABAQUS/CAE is easier to use, as the numerical solution is now calculated in closed form, eliminating the usage of analysis tokens. The graphical results comparing experimental to numerical data are now displayed in the Visualization module, and stability information for each strain energy potential is now provided. Path plots that extend across multiple part instances can now be created, which enables the creation of, among other things, a stress linearization that spans part instances. Tensor components can be operated on as if they were scalar variables, and tensors or vectors can be transformed into user-defined coordinate systems. In fact, any results quantity can be transformed easily into user-defined coordinate systems, which can be created in the Visualization module after the analysis has been completed. New visual diagnostics in ABAQUS/CAE help you assess the progress of complex analyses. ABAQUS/CAE now provides a simple graphical user interface for the creation of rebar in membranes and shells and for the specification of multi-layered composite shells. Shell-to-solid couplings and the embedding of one set of elements inside another are also supported. In addition, it is now possible to replace a step definition from one procedure type with another without losing the associated step-dependent attributes such as contact interactions, boundary conditions, and loads. Support for ABAQUS analysis functionality in ABAQUS/CAE has been extended to include additional procedures, materials, contact options, and other features. 5

7 ABAQUS Version 6.4 An Overview (continued) Capabilities for interoperability with NASTRAN continue to be developed. The fromnastran utility, which takes a NASTRAN bulk data file and translates it to an ABAQUS input file, has been enhanced. In addition, an ABAQUS ODB file can be translated to a NASTRAN Output2 (or OP2) file. This capability allows ABAQUS to be used seamlessly in complex NASTRAN-specific workflows which often have special postprocessing tools and procedures. Version 6.4 also includes the first general release of the ABAQUS GUI Toolkit that, together with the ABAQUS Scripting Interface, constitute the ABAQUS Process Automation toolset. The GUI Toolkit allows users to customize ABAQUS/CAE in any number of ways, from making simple modifications to the user interface to developing complete vertical applications. To support users in the areas of scripting and GUI development, a Process Automation Portal (a web site where users can exchange scripts, find and post tips, and download example applications) has been created. The Process Automation Portal is discussed in more detail on Page 7 of this issue of ABAQUS Insights. Summary Version 6.4 represents a very strong release for the ABAQUS product line in terms of software performance, new and improved mechanics technology, and significantly improved interactive model creation and visualization. To learn more, please consult the Version 6.4 ABAQUS Release Notes, or contact your local ABAQUS office. ABAQUS Engineering Services Did you know that over the past year ABAQUS offices have delivered over 200 significant engineering services projects to ABAQUS software customers? These projects have ranged from short-term mentoring on ABAQUS, to methods development, through to complex process automation systems. A complete list of our service offerings is as follows: Customized training On-site support and mentoring Methods development and technology transfer Extended ABAQUS capabilities Process Automation Advanced simulation and consulting Product liability and patent infringement support ABAQUS services help our customers expand user productivity, advance and integrate technologies, accelerate and streamline processes, and meet special time-to-market and resource challenges. Your local ABAQUS office can deliver most of these services directly; and when a particularly daunting challenge arises, they can draw upon the wide range of advanced and industry-specific skills available from engineers in our worldwide network of ABAQUS offices. How can we help? To see some examples of our services, visit For an interactive discussion about your challenges and how ABAQUS services may be able to help, contact your local ABAQUS office to setup a meeting at your location or via the web. 6

8 ABAQUS Process Automation Portal Open for Collaboration As many users know, ABAQUS/CAE includes tools that can be used to automate many pre- and postprocessing tasks. These tools include the ABAQUS Scripting Interface and, new with Version 6.4, the ABAQUS GUI Toolkit. From macros, to replay files with rudimentary input, through to complete vertical applications, ABAQUS/CAE provides a rich toolset to automate both basic and advanced tasks and processes. Python ( a powerful object-oriented scripting language, is embedded in ABAQUS and has been extended to include a rich set of commands. Using the ABAQUS Scripting Interface, scripts can be written to create new functions to perform geometry modeling or meshing, submit analysis jobs, or automate common postprocessing tasks. ABAQUS Version 6.4 now offers a GUI Toolkit, which is a powerful ally to the Scripting Interface. The GUI Toolkit provides programming routines that allow customization of the ABAQUS/CAE graphical user interface. The GUI Toolkit enables users to add and remove functionality to the user interface; for example, to create vertical applications. The Process Automation Portal To foster and advance the use of the scripting interface and GUI Toolkit, ABAQUS has created a Process Automation Portal web site, which provides a mechanism for the ABAQUS community to collaborate on process automation through discussion forums for GUI customization and kernel scripting. Users can participate in or initiate discussions and share ideas, links, and scripts. The portal includes the following sections: Forums The discussion forums can be used to seek advice, find out if others have done what you are setting out to do, or offer useful hints/scripts to others. Users can submit questions about creating new custom applications. Forums are meant to provide a mechanism for collaboration and exchange of ideas but are not intended for technical support. Downloads The portal provides a number of example scripts and custom applications for download. Users can also upload scripts and applications they may have developed and want to share. Web Links Useful links to web sites related to the development of custom applications are provided. Users can also submit links. News Important updates and new information are displayed on the main page (after logging in) as news items. Users can also submit news items related to process automation. Portal Access / User Accounts To access the portal, you will first need to login to the ABAQUS Online Support System (AOSS). If you are not yet registered there, you can create a user account by visiting After you login to AOSS, you will find a link to the portal. When you register at the portal, you may specify a username and password that are different from your AOSS account. Portal accounts are cookie based, so you will not need to re-login every time to use the portal. New class: GUI Customization with ABAQUS Increasingly, ABAQUS is being applied to more routine, repeatable workflows and analysis procedures. These workflows can be captured using specialized ABAQUS Process Automation tools, such as the ABAQUS GUI Toolkit. The ABAQUS GUI Toolkit provides programming routines that allow you to change the ABAQUS graphical user interface (GUI) and build customized applications. Such applications can enable you to capture proven ABAQUS-centric workflows and methods for deployment to a wider range of users and generate ABAQUS solutions more efficiently and reliably. This seminar covers basic syntax and the fundamentals of the ABAQUS GUI Toolkit. Hands-on workshops are an integral component of learning about the ABAQUS GUI Toolkit and represent a significant portion of the seminar experience. The workshops focus on distinct aspects of the GUI Toolkit and build upon each other to create a complete stand-alone application. Additional details on this course as well as the current worldwide training schedule for 2004 can be found at 7

9 ABAQUS in the News AVL and ABAQUS Sign Strategic Agreement On October, 14, 2003, ABAQUS announced its strategic agreement with AVL, the world s largest privately owned and independent company for the development of powertrain systems with internal combustion engines, instrumentation and test systems, as well as mathematical simulation software. The agreement will accelerate and deepen the integration between the companies software products. The first release of this solution platform is expected in the first half of Further, the solution platform will be flexibly packaged so that AVL and ABAQUS customers can fully leverage existing investments in both companies software products. Dr. Uwe Lehmann, Senior Manager, Design and Analysis Bearings, at Federal Mogul (FM) commented, FM uses AVL solutions and ABAQUS as strategic tools in our product development process. We are encouraged by the new agreement between the companies and look forward to the improved integration and solutions that are planned. The partnership represents a best-in-class approach, combining industry-specific solutions from AVL with a general-purpose FEA technology solution from ABAQUS. For the full press release, please visit our web site at and click on Press Releases. Tire Assessment Using Finite Element Analysis In the 2003 annual review issue of Tire Technology International, ABAQUS was highlighted in an article written by Harish Surendranath, ABAQUS, Inc., and Martin Kuessner, ABAQUS Deutschland, which discusses how ABAQUS provides many of the important tire analyses needed to support the tire development process. Increasing use of parallelized solvers is cutting the turnaround time required for analysis, while close integration between explicit and implicit frameworks in ABAQUS facilitates a full sequence of analyses from the axisymmetric inflation of the tire via the full three-dimensional footprint simulation to a steady-state rolling analysis followed by an explicit dynamic transient rolling simulation. Some of the other topics covered include structural-acoustic modeling, multi-body dynamic analysis, and the use of submodeling and design sensitivity analysis to further speed and enhance the process. To download the full article, please visit our web site at and click on In The News. First Metal-Matrix Landing Gear Component Flown on Dutch F16 In the September issue of High Performance Composites, ABAQUS is mentioned for playing a part in the design of the titanium metal matrix composite (MMC) lower drag brace for the landing gear on a Royal Netherlands Air Force F16 by SP Aerospace. It is the first application of an MMC landing gear part. The MMC replacement brace weighs 40% less than the original, which is fabricated with high-strength steel. Additionally, the MMC material has better corrosion and fatigue resistance than either steel or aluminum, say SP. To link to the full article, please visit our web site at and click on In The News. 8

10 ABAQUS for CATIA V5 Background ABAQUS has worked closely with Dassault Systèmes and several major joint customers to deliver much-requested advanced finite element analysis (FEA) functionality to engineers from within CATIA V5. In January 2004 the first release of ABAQUS for CATIA V5 will ship to customers. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 is the first-ever product lifecycle management (PLM)-integrated implementation of ABAQUS that provides end-to-end solutions for real-world analysis workflows. Companies that use CATIA V5 will want to take a look at ABAQUS for CATIA V5 in 2004 to see how it might benefit their design and analysis processes. Complete CATIA V5 Integration ABAQUS for CATIA V5 is a modeling and user-interface extension to CATIA V5 in which the user can create, submit for solution, and postprocess ABAQUS-based simulations, without ever leaving the CATIA V5 environment. The user works completely within CATIA V5 and enjoys the benefits of having expanded analysis functionality fully integrated into their familiar PLM environment. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 maintains and reuses the CATIA V5 concepts of parts, virtual parts, and assemblies and makes full use of geometric associativity. Familiar modeling constructs, such as points, surfaces, and bodies, are the basis for analysis constructs, such as boundary conditions, loads, and contact associations. Modifications to the model geometry are instantly reflected in the analysis model, typically requiring only a remeshing operation before submitting the job. Workflow Enabled ABAQUS has been delighted to have the following major CATIA and ABAQUS customers help us define functionality content for this first release of ABAQUS for CATIA V5: BMW, Boeing, Honda, PSA Peugeot Citroën, and SNECMA. During the development process, these organizations helped us identify and focus on realworld application workflows of greatest interest and value to the their end users. These and many other engineering organizations have developed proven workflows using ABAQUS to solve some of their most critical simulation and design problems. Robust methods have been developed by their own ABAQUS experts and have been improved and enhanced over the years as more experience and new functionality have become available. These methods have become extremely reliable and may be suitable for deployment outside the ABAQUS expert community to engineers operating earlier in the design process. By moving powerful, realistic simulations earlier in the product lifecycle, engineers can make more intelligent design decisions, improving the effectiveness of the overall design process. Your ABAQUS for CATIA V5 analyses are fully integrated in the user interface of CATIA V5, with model definition, analysis settings, and results all accessible through the familiar CATIA V5 specification tree. Features and Highlights Workbenches ABAQUS for CATIA V5 functionality is grouped into two CATIA V5 workbenches for convenience: the Thermal Analysis workbench and the Structural Analysis workbench. Within the Thermal Analysis workbench users can define thermal attributes, such as temperature-dependent film coefficients and gap heat conductance, as well as heat transfer simulation steps. Within the Structural Analysis workbench users can define mechanical attributes, such as bolt tightening connections and pressure loads, as well as structural simulation steps. In a single analysis you can include both types of simulation steps to perform a sequentially coupled thermal-structural simulation. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 appears within the CATIA V5 user interface as two additional workbenches under Analysis & Simulation. Nonlinearity Clearly, one of the fundamental requirements CATIA V5 customers have requested is access to the powerful nonlinear mechanics capabilities in ABAQUS. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 enables advanced simulations that can include nonlinear geometric effects, such as arbitrarily large rotations and stress stiffening. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 also enables such fundamentally nonlinear effects as intermittent contact, plasticity, and temperature-dependent thermal film conditions. Contact ABAQUS for CATIA V5 can model complex inter-part interactions in model assemblies using proven ABAQUS contact capabilities. Simulations can have hard or softened contact with arbitrarily large relative sliding, including friction. For thermal simulations gap thermal conductance properties can be assigned to contact surfaces. 9

11 ABAQUS for CATIA V5 (continued) Bolted Connections Many mechanical models use bolted connections among parts in an assembly, and ABAQUS is particularly well-suited to modeling these types of connections. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 leverages ABAQUS technology in this area, with a robust and easy-to-use bolt modeling capability based on native CATIA V5 tools. You can further simplify bolted models by using virtual bolts, which model the effects of bolt tightening without requiring modeling of the physical bolt geometry. Learn More ABAQUS for CATIA V5 is an exciting new member of the ABAQUS product suite. This first release offers an exceptional solution to a number of important analyses; and we expect that the product will be expanding rapidly based on our additional customer feedback. We invite anyone interested in learning more about ABAQUS for CATIA V5 to join our upcoming web seminar that will further introduce you to the benefits and functionality this product offers users of ABAQUS and CATIA V5 technology. To learn more, stay tuned to for the latest information or contact your local ABAQUS office. ABAQUS is well known for its accurate and robust procedures for the treatment of bolted assemblies. ABAQUS for CATIA V5 offers several powerful and easy to use approaches for modeling bolts. ABAQUS Web Seminars ABAQUS Technical Specialists Appearing on your PC ABAQUS would like to keep all of our customers up to date on our latest enhancements and make sure our software is being used to its fullest capabilities. For these reasons, we have implemented a series of web seminars. These seminars are created to be convenient for our customers you can watch from your own desktop! We will try to target different niches to hopefully touch on topics of interests for everyone. We currently are running approximately one web seminar per month and typically offer at least two broadcasts to accommodate different time zones. Stay tuned to for future postings Web Seminar Recap Between June and December we delivered four web seminars, reaching over 500 people. Below is a brief description of each event. We hope to expand upon this list in An event replay is available for each of these events except the UNDEX event. If you d like to view a replay of any of these events, send an to webinars@abaqus.com. If you would like to hear more on UNDEX, please contact your local ABAQUS office. UNDEX ABAQUS capabilities for UNDEX (underwater explosion analysis) are integrated within the coupled fluid-solid interaction capability, which is also used for structural acoustics. Transient explosion simulations are generally handled in ABAQUS/Explicit, using specialized infinite boundary conditions and incident wave loading options. Process Automation Many users are unaware that workflows can be customized and captured within specialized Process Automation tool sets created using the familiar ABAQUS/CAE interface. These Process Automation tools allow users to modify and extend the built-in capabilities of ABAQUS/CAE to enable much more efficient ABAQUS solutions to be generated. Routine Analysis Did you know that ABAQUS has significant, competitive, and cost-effective capabilities in the realm of routine linear analysis? Features like inertia relief, multiple load case analysis, RBE-style elements, accurate shells for linear analysis, Nastran bulk-data file import, and OP2 file export are standard. Brake Squeal With ABAQUS Version 6.4, no longer does the brake engineer have to deal with approximating nonlinear effects, DMAP, or alternate solution sequences ABAQUS does it all as a standard procedure easily accessed and used by any ABAQUS user Web Seminars Plans for 2004 have begun. To start, we have two web seminars scheduled. The dates are currently being finalized and will be posted to our events page shortly. January 2004 An Overview of ABAQUS Version 6.4 February 2004 ABAQUS for Catia V5 Feedback and Ideas... We d like to hear from you! Please give us suggestions on future web seminar topics that you d like to learn more about. Help us with feedback on the events you have attended; let us know what can be improved and what you think worked well that shouldn t be changed. webinars@abaqus.com with your thoughts. 10

12 ABAQUS, Inc Main Street Pawtucket, RI USA Europe Japan info.japan@abaqus.com ABAQUS, ABAQUS/Standard, ABAQUS/Explicit, ABAQUS/CAE, ABAQUS/Viewer, ABAQUS/Aqua, ABAQUS/Design, ABAQUS/Foundation, and the ABAQUS logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ABAQUS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. Copyright 2004 ABAQUS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. MAR_INS_401