Abaqus Introduction & Spatial Modeling Guide

This guide discusses an overview of the Abaqus finite element system and the basic modeling concepts in Abaqus, such as defining nodes, elements, and surfaces, and the conventions and input formats that should be followed when using Abaqus.

Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit can be run as batch applications (see Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit execution for details) or through the interactive Abaqus/CAE environment (see Abaqus/CAE execution for details on how to start Abaqus/CAE). The main input to the Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit analysis products is a file containing the options required for the simulation and the data associated with those options. There may also be supplementary files, such as restart or results files from previous analyses, or auxiliary data files, such as a file containing an acceleration record or an earthquake record for dynamic analysis. The input file is usually created by Abaqus/CAE or another preprocessor. Both input file usage and Abaqus/CAE usage information are provided.

As described in Abaqus Model Definition, the main input file consists of two sections: model input and history input. The input is organized around a few natural concepts and conventions, which means that even though input files for complex simulations can be large, they can be managed without difficulty. The basic syntax rules that govern an Abaqus input file are discussed in Input Syntax Rules. The Abaqus Keywords Guide contains a complete description of all the input options available in Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit. For a detailed introduction to using Abaqus for your analyses, it is recommended that you follow the self-paced tutorials in Getting Started with Abaqus/CAE. Refer to the Abaqus/CAE User's Guide for detailed information on working with Abaqus/CAE.