# Defining rebar as an element property

 The preferred method for defining rebar in shell and membrane elements is defining layers of reinforcement as part of the element section definition (documented in Defining reinforcement). The preferred method for defining rebar in solids is embedding reinforced surface or membrane elements in “host” solid elements as described in Embedded Elements. This section describes an alternative method of defining rebar in shell, membrane, and continuum elements as an element property. This method is more cumbersome than the method described in Defining reinforcement, and does not allow visualization of the rebar and rebar results in Abaqus/CAE. Element-based rebars: are used to define uniaxial reinforcement in solid, membrane, and shell elements; can be defined as individual reinforcing bars in solid elements; can be defined as layers of uniformly spaced reinforcing bars in shell, membrane, and solid elements (such layers are treated as a smeared layer with a constant thickness equal to the area of each reinforcing bar divided by the reinforcing bar spacing); can be used with coupled temperature-displacement elements but do not contribute to the thermal conductivity and specific heat; can be used with coupled thermal-electrical-structural elements but do not contribute to the electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and specific heat; do not contribute to the mass of the model in Abaqus/Standard; cannot be used in elements intended for heat transfer or mass diffusion analysis; cannot be used with triangular shell and membrane elements or with triangular, triangular prism, and tetrahedral solid elements; and have material properties that are distinct from those of the underlying element. The following topics are discussed:
 Related Topics In Other Guides *PRESTRESS HOLD *REBAR

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