Defining foundations

You can model an elastic foundation by defining the foundation stiffness per area of a selected surface (or per length for beams). Select InteractionCreate from the main menu bar, and select the surface to be modeled as an elastic foundation. For a brief overview of elastic foundations, see Understanding interactions. For a more detailed discussion, see Element foundations.

Related Topics
Interaction editors
In Other Guides
Element foundations

Context:

Elastic foundations allow you to model the stiffness effects of a distributed support without actually modeling the details of the support. You can create elastic foundation interactions only in the initial step. Once an elastic foundation is activated, you cannot deactivate it in later analysis steps.

  1. From the main menu bar, select InteractionCreate.

    Tip: You can also create an elastic foundation interaction using the tool in the Interaction module toolbox.

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

    • Use an existing surface to define the region. On the right side of the prompt area, click Surfaces. Select an existing surface from the Region Selection dialog box that appears, and click Continue.

      Note:

      The default selection method is based on the selection method you most recently employed. To revert to the other method, click Select in Viewport or Surfaces on the right side of the prompt area.

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

    • Select the initial step.

    • Select the Elastic foundation type of interaction.

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

  4. Use one of the following methods to select the surface:

    • Use the mouse to select a region in the viewport. (For more information, see Selecting objects within the current viewport.)

      If the model contains a combination of mesh and geometry, click one of the following from the prompt area:

      • Click Geometry if you want to select the surface from a geometry region.

      • Click Mesh if you want to select the surface from a native or orphan mesh selection.

      You can use the angle method to select a group of faces or edges from geometry or a group of element faces from a mesh. For more information, see Using the angle and feature edge method to select multiple objects.

  5. In the text field that appears in the prompt area, enter the foundation stiffness per area.

    Abaqus/CAE creates the elastic foundation interaction.