Solid (continuum) elements

Solid (continuum) elements:

  • are the standard volume elements of Abaqus;

  • do not include structural elements such as beams, shells, membranes, and trusses; special-purpose elements such as gap elements; or connector elements such as connectors, springs, and dashpots;

  • can be composed of a single homogeneous material or, in Abaqus/Standard, can include several layers of different materials for the analysis of laminated composite solids; and

  • are more accurate if not distorted, particularly for quadrilaterals and hexahedra. The triangular and tetrahedral elements are less sensitive to distortion.

The following topics are discussed:

Related Topics
Choosing the element's dimensionality
One-dimensional solid (link) element library
Two-dimensional solid element library
Three-dimensional solid element library
Cylindrical solid element library
Axisymmetric solid element library
Axisymmetric solid elements with nonlinear, asymmetric deformation
In Other Guides
*SOLID SECTION
*HOURGLASS STIFFNESS
Creating homogeneous solid sections
Creating composite solid sections
Creating electromagnetic solid sections
Assigning a material orientation
Composite layups

ProductsAbaqus/StandardAbaqus/ExplicitAbaqus/CAE