Assigning thicknesses and offsets

Like all shell faces in Abaqus/CAE, midsurface model faces require a defined thickness. After you have created the shell geometry for the midsurface model, the Assign Thickness and Offset tool provides a method to accurately capture the thickness of the solid model that you are replacing. You can also use this tool to edit thicknesses assigned automatically by Abaqus/CAE. For example, you can edit the thickness of faces that were created using the face offset process (for more information, see Offset faces). Abaqus/CAE automatically derives the shell thickness for offset faces from the parameters used in the offset operation.

Related Topics
Editing techniques

There are two ways to assign a thickness to shell faces in Abaqus/CAE. You can apply a shell thickness definition by using the section properties in the Property module, or you can assign thicknesses by selecting faces and editing their thicknesses with the Assign Thickness and Offset tool in the Part module. During the section assignment process you select which method Abaqus/CAE uses to assign thickness to a particular set of geometric faces. (For more information on section assignments, see Assigning a section.)

Note:

Thickness data assigned in the Part module—either automatically or using the Assign Thickness and Offset tool—appear as From geometry in the thickness section of the Edit Section Assignment dialog box in the Property module. You cannot use thickness data assigned in the Part module to calculate the offset in an Abaqus/Explicit analysis.