Running the Interface

  The interface will only produce an input deck if all or part of the model contains a mesh created by FEMGEN using the command 'MESHING GENERATE ALL/part'. Once the model has been meshed, the interface may be run using the FEMGEN command 'UTILITY WRITE ABAQUS filename'. The file name is optional and the default name is 'modelname.anl'. When the user supplies a file name with no extension, the extension '.anl' will be automatically added. ABAQUS users should supply the full file name with the extension '.inp'. Alternatively, if the resource Femsys.femgen.FileExtension.abaqus (see FEMGV Users Manual) is set to 'inp', then 'UTILITY WRITE ABAQUS' will automatically produce the name 'modelname.inp' for the ABAQUS input deck.

The interface processes all FEMGEN data that it can subject to the configuration options which have been set (see section 1.4). It is possible to enter a short dialogue session with the interface in order to select some of these options interactively. This feature is activated by setting the correct resource (see table 1.1) which will activate the questions below that include the options and current default. The `/` character may be used to return to the first question. If it is used at the first question it will abort the interface.

FEMGEN TO ABAQUS INTERFACE VERSION 4.4
ENTER ABAQUS VERSION (4.9/5.2-5.8) (5.8) >

ENTER ABAQUS TYPE+SOLVER (STANDARD/EXPLICIT/SPARSE) (STANDARD) >

WRITE TO SEPARATE INPUT FILE (NONE/NODES/GEOM) (NONE) >

RESULT OUTPUT TO (FIL/RES/BOTH) (FIL) >

ENTER RESULT FILE TYPE (ASCII/BINARY/ZASCI/ZBINA) (BINARY) >

ENTER LOADCASES TO BE PROCESSED (ALL/LIST) >

The second prompted question in this dialogue session allows the user to choose between
ABAQUS/Standard and ABAQUS/Explicit and also enables the selection of the solver type for an ABAQUS/Standard analysis. Choosing 'STANDARD' will automatically select the default solver of the currently used ABAQUS/Standard version (frontal for ABAQUS versions up to 5.6 and sparse for versions 5.7 or above). Choosing 'SPARSE' means that the analysis is for ABAQUS/Standard with the SPARSE solver and this is only applicable to ABAQUS 5.6.

The third question directs the interface to write either the nodes or all of the geometry (i.e. nodes and elements) to a separate ABAQUS input file. The name of this additional file will take the name of the main ABAQUS input file ('.inp') but with the extension '.nod' for the nodes or the extension '.geo' for the nodes and elements. The default is NONE and only one ABAQUS input file is created.

The fifth question prompts for the type of results file: ASCII or binary, and can also request that the values of the output variables at the beginning of each step, the zero increment, are to be written to the '.fil' file (ZASCII, for zero increment and ASCII format, and ZBINARY, for zero increment and binary format).

For the last question the user should respond with a list of loadcase identification numbers on one line separated by spaces. The limit is 20 loadcase numbers.

Note that options to the first five questions above can also be individually selected by setting the relevant resources (see table 1.1).

If the option of writing the output to an ABAQUS restart file ('.res') is selected either within the above dialogue session (at the fourth question with option RES or BOTH) or by setting the correct resource (see table 1.1), the following questions are used to define the parameters of the ABAQUS '*RESTART, WRITE' record:

ENTER LOADCASES WITH RESTART FILE (ALL/LIST) (ALL)>

ENTER FREQUENCY OF RESTART FILES (1)>

OVERLAY OPTION FOR RESTART FILES (Y/N) (N)>