Element foundations

Elastic element foundations:

  • can be defined for stress/displacement elements in Abaqus/Standard according to the load identifiers described in About the element library;

  • act like springs to ground; and

  • are a simple way of including the stiffness effects of a support (such as the soil under a building) without modeling the details of the support.

The following topics are discussed:

Related Topics
In Other Guides
*FOUNDATION
Defining foundations

ProductsAbaqus/StandardAbaqus/CAE

Defining element foundation behavior

Foundation pressures act normal to the element faces on which they are applied. In large-displacement analysis the direction of action of the foundation is based on the deformed configuration; foundations rotate with the element sides.

Convergence difficulties may arise with large-deformation problems since no corresponding foundation load stiffness terms are included in the element stiffness matrices.

To define the foundation behavior, you specify the foundation stiffness per unit area (per unit length for beams).

Input File Usage

Use the following option in the model definition portion of the input file:

FOUNDATION

Abaqus/CAE Usage

Interaction module: Create Interaction: Step: Initial, Elastic foundation