Defining an actuator/sensor interaction

You can create an actuator/sensor interaction at a single vertex of your model. An actuator/sensor interaction provides an interface to user subroutine UEL. The subroutine, in turn, represents a linear or nonlinear user-defined element. Actuator/sensor interactions must be defined during the initial step and are valid only for Abaqus/Standard analyses.

Warning:

This feature is intended for advanced users only. Its use in all but the simplest test examples will require considerable coding by the user/developer. User-defined elements, should be read before proceeding.

Related Topics
Interaction editors
In Other Guides
User-defined elements
UEL

  1. From the main menu bar, select InteractionCreate.

    Tip: You can also create an actuator/sensor interaction using the tool in the Interaction module toolbox.

  2. In the Create Interaction dialog box that appears, do the following:

    • Name the interaction. For more information about naming objects, see Using basic dialog box components.

    • Select the initial step.

    • Select the Actuator/sensor type of interaction.

  3. Click Continue to close the Create Interaction dialog box.

  4. From the assembly, select the point where the interaction will be applied. Click mouse button 2 to indicate you have finished selecting the point.

    Tip: You can limit the types of objects that you can select in the viewport by specifying filtering options in the Selection toolbar. See Using the selection options, for more information.

    Abaqus/CAE displays the Edit Interaction dialog box.

  5. Enter the necessary data in the Edit Interaction dialog box. The required data are a function of your user-defined element subroutine. You may need to create real and integer actuator/sensor interaction properties. For more information, see Defining an actuator/sensor interaction property.

    The following table indicates the correspondence between the fields in the Edit Interaction dialog box and the variables in user subroutine UEL.

    Field UEL variable
    User element type id JTYPE
    Degrees of freedom NDOFEL
    Number of coordinate components MCRD
    Solution-dependent state variables SVARS and NSVARS

    The real and integer values entered into an actuator/sensor interaction property are used by the PROPS, JPROPS, NPROPS, and NJPROPS variables. For a description of all the variables that can be passed into user subroutine UEL, see User-defined elements.