Understanding the role of the Interaction module

You can define the following:

• Contact interactions.

• Elastic foundations.

• Cavity radiation.

• Thermal film conditions.

• Radiation to and from the ambient environment.

• Abaqus/Standard to Abaqus/Explicit co-simulation interaction.

• Pressure penetration.

• Incident waves.

• Acoustic impedance.

• Cyclic symmetry.

• A user-defined actuator/sensor interaction.

• Model change interactions.

• Tie constraints.

• Rigid body constraints.

• Display body constraints.

• Coupling constraints.

• Adjust points constraints.

• MPC constraints.

• Shell-to-solid coupling constraints.

• Embedded region constraints.

• Equation constraints.

• Connector section assignments.

• Inertia.

• Cracks.

• Springs and dashpots.

Interactions are step-dependent objects, which means that when you define them, you must indicate in which steps of the analysis they are active. (For more information about step-dependent objects, see Understanding the status of an object in a step.) For example, you can define film and radiation conditions on a surface only during a heat transfer, coupled temperature-displacement, or coupled thermal-electrical step. Similarly, you can define an interaction with a user-defined actuator/sensor only during the initial step.

The Set and Surface toolsets in the Interaction module allow you to define and name regions of your model to which you would like interactions and constraints applied. You can use the Amplitude toolset to define variations in some interaction attributes over the course of the analysis. The Analytical Field toolset allows you to create analytical fields that you can use to define spatially varying parameters for selected interactions. The Reference Point toolset allows you to define reference points that are used in constraints and creating assembly-level wire features.

Abaqus/CAE does not recognize mechanical contact between part instances or regions of an assembly unless that contact is specified in the Interaction module; the mere physical proximity of two surfaces in an assembly is not enough to indicate any type of interaction between the surfaces.

For information on defining cracks to study their initiation and propagation, see Fracture mechanics. For information on defining inertia, see Inertia. For information on defining springs and dashpots, see Springs and dashpots.