Description: Abaqus/CAE now enables you to create substructures, import them into your model database, add them to your assembly, and recover their data during an analysis. The enhancements fall into three categories: substructure generation, substructure usage, and substructure recovery.

• The new Substructure generation step definition enables you to control several aspects of substructure generation in your analysis, including its recovery region, generation options, retained eigenmodes, and damping controls. Multiple preloading steps can precede the substructure generation step in your analysis.

  Once you specify a substructure generation step, you can create a boundary condition to specify the retained nodal degrees of freedom for nodes or regions in the substructure. When you import a substructure from this analysis into a model for substructure usage, Abaqus/CAE displays these nodes as light blue crosses, which enables you to pick them easily from a part instance or assembly.

  If you want to apply a load to the substructure at a location other than its retained degrees of freedom, you can define a load case in the substructure generation step. You can subsequently create the loads that you want to use in your analysis, include them in the load case definition, and create a substructure load in the usage model that refers to the load case.

• You can use substructures in your model by first importing them into the model database as new part definitions. The new Create Substructure Part dialog box enables you to customize the name of the new substructure part you import and to specify the output database file containing the mesh you want to display for the selected substructure.

  Once imported, you can instance a substructure-based part in Abaqus/CAE in the same way that you can for any other part definitions, and you can translate and perform other manipulations on substructure part instances using the same tools you use to manipulate the other part instances in your assembly. Abaqus/CAE distinguishes substructure part instances by displaying them with translucency by default, but you can toggle off translucency for all substructures at the part or assembly level. Figure 4–1 shows a model of a backhoe in which one component, the dipper, has been modeled with a substructure part instance.

  Figure 4–1 Translucent display of a substructure part instance in a backhoe model.

  

  The substructure statistics query enables you to display detailed information about a substructure part in the message area, including its number of retained nodes, eigenmodes, and substructure loads; the availability of the recovery matrix, gravity load vectors, reduced mass matrix, reduced structural damping matrix, and reduced viscous damping matrix in the substructure; and mass properties of the substructure.

• You can now request field output for one or more sets in a substructure. If you specify the Substructure as the Domain for your request, the field output editor enables you to open the Select Substructure Sets dialog box to select the set or sets for which you want to recover output within one or more substructure part instances. Figure 4–2 displays this dialog box with five sets selected for output in the first substructure part instance, FAN_Z114-1.

  Figure 4–2 Select Substructure Sets dialog box.

  

All modules:
    FileImportPart: File Filter: Substructure: select .sim file
Part module:
    ToolsQuery: Substructure statistics
    ViewPart Display Options: Always show substructure with translucency
Assembly module:
    ViewAssembly Display Options: Always show substructure with translucency
Step module:
    OutputField Output RequestsCreate: Domain: Substructure
    StepCreate: Procedure type: Linear perturbation: Substructure generation
Load module:
    BCCreate: Mechanical: Retained nodal dofs
    LoadCreate: Mechanical: Substructure load
    Load CaseCreate: Step: substructure generate step