Part types

When you create a new part or import a part from a file containing geometry stored in a third-party format, you must choose the part's type. The possible types for Abaqus/Standard and Abaqus/Explicit are:

See Also
How is a part defined in Abaqus/CAE?
Modeling rigid bodies and display bodies
Deformable

Any arbitrarily shaped axisymmetric, two-dimensional, or three-dimensional part that you can create or import can be specified as a deformable part. A deformable part represents a part that can deform under load; the load can be mechanical, thermal, or electrical. By default, Abaqus/CAE creates parts that are deformable.

Discrete rigid

A discrete rigid part is similar to a deformable part in that it can be any arbitrary shape. However, a discrete rigid part is assumed to be rigid and is used in contact analyses to model bodies that cannot deform.

Analytical rigid

An analytical rigid part is similar to a discrete rigid part in that it is used to represent a rigid surface in a contact analysis. However, the shape of an analytical rigid part is not arbitrary and must be formed from a set of sketched lines, arcs, and parabolas.

Eulerian

Eulerian parts are used to define a domain in which material can flow for an Eulerian analysis. Eulerian parts do not deform during an analysis; instead, the material within the part deforms under load and can flow across the rigid element boundaries. For more information about Eulerian analyses, see Eulerian analyses.

Electromagnetic

The electromagnetic part type is used only in an electromagnetic model. For more information, see Eddy Current Analysis.

You can assemble deformable bodies, discrete rigid parts, analytical rigid parts, Eulerian parts, and electromagnetic parts in the Assembly module. If allowed, you can change the type of a part after you have created it by clicking mouse button 3 on the part in the Model Tree and selecting Edit from the menu that appears.

Abaqus/CAE uses the following methods to determine the type of an imported part:

  • When you import a part from a file containing geometry stored in a third-party format, you can specify the part's type to be either deformable, discrete rigid, or Eulerian.

  • When you import a mesh from an output database, Abaqus/CAE determines the type of the new part from the information stored in the output database.

  • When you import a mesh from an input file, Abaqus/CAE determines the type of the new part from the element type.

  • When you create a mesh part in the Mesh module, the type of the mesh part is the same as the type of the original part.