Abaqus: Modules

I started to get a few hits of people looking for basic Abaqus information so I'm going to post several posts about the basics. First, Modules. There are ten modules in Abaqus (version 6.7 at least): Part, Property, Assembly, Step, Interaction, Load, Mesh, Job, Visualization, and Sketch. It is important to be in the right module when you do certain things like when you use the Tools drop down menu. Below you can see where the module drop down menu is so that you can change the module as needed.

A short description of each module:

• Part: Used to create the geometry of the part. It is basically a simple CAD tool. You can import more complicated models from ProE and Solidworks from File > Import > Part.
• Property: Used to create the material properties that you will use in the simulation. Be sure to create a section (with your material) and assign the section to the part.
• Assembly: Used to instance the part meaning if you have several parts you can put them in the same assembly but if you have one part it still has to be in an assembly. You can then either mesh on the part or the assembly.
• Step: Create the simulation steps required for your simulation. 
• Interaction: Used to create interactions between parts or between a property and a part. I use this in heat treating to describe the property of the heating and quenching fluids. 
• Load: Used to create loads, boundary conditions, and predefined fields (like initial temperature).
• Mesh: This module is for creating finite element meshes.
• Job: Simply go to Job > Create then (I prefer to go to) Job > Write Input and then you can do the rest of the editing using kwrite and going through the input file (.inp file). 
• Visualization: Used after your analysis to see distortion and whatever else you are looking for.
• Sketch: It is like the Part module but for sketching. I don't use it.

Leave a comment if there is something specific you want me to write about.