Abaqus => Calculix, generalized plane strain
Abaqus => Calculix, generalized plane strain
(OP)
Hi, everybody...long time Fortran supporter, first time FEA poster.
I do computer program support/development; for the present task, the engineers are using Patran/Abaqus combination for meshing, thermal and structural analysis...very slowly. The desire is to carry out some optimization by running many processes (in parallel?) at a time triggered by a single user, let alone others working on similar things...but we just don't that kind of numbers in licenses!
So, somebody tasked me with replacing licensed software with "non-licensed" one, in other words, open source.
I have looked into the inherited Patran-mesh files that are produced for Abaqus and have been able to have Salome produce a mesh that can be solved by Calculix for the thermal analysis; but, for the structural analysis, there is this thing called the "generalized plane strain" element that they use in Abaqus and I don't see it in Calculix.
Does anybody know if it is possible in Calculix to setup an element to behave like the "generalized plane strain" element in Abaqus?
Any hints greatly appreciated.
gsal
I do computer program support/development; for the present task, the engineers are using Patran/Abaqus combination for meshing, thermal and structural analysis...very slowly. The desire is to carry out some optimization by running many processes (in parallel?) at a time triggered by a single user, let alone others working on similar things...but we just don't that kind of numbers in licenses!
So, somebody tasked me with replacing licensed software with "non-licensed" one, in other words, open source.
I have looked into the inherited Patran-mesh files that are produced for Abaqus and have been able to have Salome produce a mesh that can be solved by Calculix for the thermal analysis; but, for the structural analysis, there is this thing called the "generalized plane strain" element that they use in Abaqus and I don't see it in Calculix.
Does anybody know if it is possible in Calculix to setup an element to behave like the "generalized plane strain" element in Abaqus?
Any hints greatly appreciated.
gsal





RE: Abaqus => Calculix, generalized plane strain
The opposing surface to that of the extruded surface would also be restrained in the Z direction so that for all nodes UZ=0.
Under a thermal load, for example, thermal expansion in the Z direction would be allowed for the extruded plane but the strains would all be equal and the extruded plane would remain parallel as it expanded.
RE: Abaqus => Calculix, generalized plane strain
Thank you very much for such a quick reply.
There is some learning ahead as I don't do mechanical or FEA analysis for a living, but your answer gives me hope; it sounds like it is possible.
I posted this question ahead of looking into the inherited Abaqus input file thinking it may take some time before anybody replies; so, I am not yet familiar with what the model looks like and how it is loaded. To be sure, I should have a working Abaqus model which I then need to tweak for use by Calculix and attempt what you suggest...at the end, if it works, I should get the same answers.
With the thermal case, I was very, very surprised to get the same temperatures for every node from both Abaqus and Calculix...but I digress...
As you yourself said it, Calculix does not seem to do 2D elements; even the (shell) S6 element that I ended up using for the thermal model seems to turn into some kind of brick or wedge and a 1-element thick "2D" model...at least, this is kind of how I understood it.
So, for as long as Calculix plane strain element CPE6 is already a cube, couldn't I simply create a 1-element thick "2D" model and do as you suggested? Or do you think I may need to let the model be 2, 3 or more elements thick for some reason? to capture something?
Thanks again and looking forward to your reply.
gsal
RE: Abaqus => Calculix, generalized plane strain