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2.2Formatoftheinputfile

2.2Formatoftheinputfile
Theinputfileisthemeansofcommunicationbetweenthepreprocessor,usuallyAbaqus/CAE,andthe
analysisproduct,Abaqus/StandardorAbaqus/Explicit.Itcontainsacompletedescriptionofthenumerical
model.Theinputfileisatextfilethathasanintuitive,keywordbasedformat,soitiseasytomodifyusing
atexteditorifnecessaryifapreprocessorsuchasAbaqus/CAEisused,modificationsshouldbemade
usingit.Indeed,smallanalysescanbespecifiedeasilybytypingtheinputfiledirectly.
Theexampleofanoverheadhoist,showninFigure21,isusedtoillustratethebasicformatoftheAbaqus
inputfile.Thehoistisasimple,pinjointedtrussmodelthatisconstrainedatthelefthandendand
mountedonrollersattherighthandend.Thememberscanrotatefreelyatthejoints.Theframeis
preventedfrommovingoutofplane.Asimulationisperformedtodeterminethestructure'sdeflectionand
thepeakstressinitsmemberswhena10kNloadisappliedasshowninFigure21.
Figure21Schematicofanoverheadhoist.

Sincethisproblemisverysimple,theAbaqusinputfileiscompactandeasilyunderstood.Thecomplete
Abaqusinputfileforthisexample,whichisshowninFigure22andalsoinOverheadhoistframe,
SectionA.1,issplitintotwodistinctparts.Thefirstsectioncontainsmodeldataandincludesallthe
informationrequiredtodefinethestructurebeinganalyzed.Thesecondsectioncontainshistorydatathat
definewhathappenstothemodel:thesequenceofloadingoreventsforwhichtheresponseofthe
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structureisrequired.Thishistoryisdividedintoasequenceofsteps,eachdefiningaseparatepartofthe
simulation.Forexample,thefirststepmaydefineastaticloadingwhilethesecondstepmaydefinea
dynamicloading,etc.
Figure22Inputforoverheadhoistmodel.

Theinputfileiscomposedofanumberofoptionblocksthatcontaindatadescribingapartofthemodel.
Eachoptionblockbeginswithakeywordline,whichisusuallyfollowedbyoneormoredatalines.These
linescannotexceed256characters.
2.2.1Keywordlines
Keywords(oroptions)alwaysbeginwithastarorasterisk(*).Forexample,*NODEisthekeywordfor
specifyingthenodalcoordinates,and*ELEMENTisthekeywordforspecifyingtheelementconnectivity.
Keywordsareoftenfollowedbyparameters,someofwhichmayberequired.TheparameterTYPEis
requiredwiththe*ELEMENToptionbecausetheelementtypemustalwaysbegivenwhendefining
elements.Forexample,thefollowingstatementindicatesthatwearedefiningtheconnectivityofT2D2
elements(twodimensionaltrusselementswithtwonodes):
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*ELEMENT,TYPE=T2D2
Manyparametersareoptionalandaredefinedonlyincertaincircumstances.Forexample,thefollowing
statementindicatesthatallthenodesdefinedinthisoptionblockwillbeputintoasetcalledPART1.
*NODE,NSET=PART1
Itisnotessentialtoputnodesintosets,althoughitisconvenientinmanyinstances.
Keywordsandparametersarecaseindependentandmustuseenoughcharacterstomakethemunique.
Parametersareseparatedbycommas.Ifaparameterhasavalue,anequalsign(=)isusedtoassociatethe
valuewiththeparameter.
Occasionally,somanyparametersarerequiredthattheywillnotfitonasingle256characterline.Inthis
caseacommaisplacedattheendofthelinetoindicatethatthenextlineisacontinuationline.For
example,thefollowingkeywordandparametersareavalidkeywordline:
*ELEMENT,TYPE=T2D2,
ELSET=FRAME
DetailsofthekeywordsaredocumentedintheAbaqusKeywordsReferenceManual.
2.2.2Datalines
Keywordlinesareusuallyfollowedbydatalines,whichprovidedatathataremoreeasilyspecifiedaslists
thanasparametersonthekeywordline.Examplesofsuchdataincludenodalcoordinateselement
connectivitiesortablesofmaterialproperties,suchasstressstraincurves.Thedatarequiredforparticular
optionblocksarespecifiedintheAbaqusKeywordsReferenceManual.Forexample,theoptionblock
definingthenodesfortheoverheadhoistmodelis:
*NODE
101,0.,0.,0.
102,1.,0.,0.
103,2.,0.,0.
104,0.5,0.866,0.
105,1.5,0.866,0.
Thefirstpieceofdataineachdatalineisanintegerthatdefinesthenodenumber.Thesecond,third,and
fourthentriesarefloatingpointnumbersthatspecifythe , , coordinatesofthenode.
Thedatacanconsistofamixtureofinteger,floatingpoint,oralphanumericvalues.Floatingpointvalues
canbeenteredinavarietyofwaysforexample,Abaqusinterpretsallofthefollowingasthenumberfour:
4.0
4.
4
4.0E+0 .4E+1 40.E1
Dataitemsareseparatedbycommas,asinFigure22,whichallowsfairlyarbitraryspacingoftheinput
valuesonthedataline.Ifthereisonlyoneitemonadataline,itmustbefollowedbyacomma.
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