Controlling shell thickness display for postprocessing

Rendering of shell thickness is available in the Visualization module for all plot states.

If you use shell elements to model relatively thin components in your analysis, you can use the ViewODB Display Options to view the actual thickness of these shell elements in your model during postprocessing.

See Also
Controlling shell thickness display

Context:

For deformed and contour plots Abaqus/CAE scales the displacement components of the deformation but does not scale the rotational components of the deformation when you change the deformation scale factor. For contour plots Abaqus/CAE applies colors based on your selection of active section point locations. If the top section point or bottom section point is currently active, Abaqus/CAE displays the contour for that section point throughout the shell thickness; if both top and bottom section points are currently active, Abaqus/CAE creates a linear contour gradient from the top values to the bottom values through the shell thickness.

Displaying shell thickness after a sizing optimization allows you to view the resulting change in shell thickness across the design area of your structure as the optimization progresses.

Abaqus/CAE determines shell thickness for postprocessing using the shell thickness definition specified for the model in its undeformed state. If your model undergoes large deformations or large rotations during the analysis, shell thickness might not display well in the deformed plot state.

Displaying shell thickness enables you to examine the thickness of shell geometry relative to the rest of the model. You can apply a scale factor to reduce or increase the display of shell thickness for your session. Figure 1 shows the effect of scale factor changes to a model.

Figure 1. From left to right: shell thickness scale factor settings of 0.5, 1 (default), and 2.

Abaqus/CAE renders shell thickness for three-dimensional shell elements only; thickness is not displayed for axisymmetric shell elements, such as SAX1 elements. When shell thickness is displayed, Abaqus/CAE also renders the edges of shell geometry unless a view cut is displayed in the viewport. Abaqus/CAE renders shell thickness according to the current settings for color coding and translucency. When these settings change, the color and translucency of the shell thickness change as well.

  1. Locate the Render shell thickness option.

    From the main menu bar, select ViewODB Display Options. In the dialog box that appears, click the General tab.

  2. From the bottom of the dialog box, toggle on Render shell thickness to display shell thicknesses for the shell sections in your model.
  3. If desired, apply a Scale factor to the shell thicknesses to increase or decrease their thickness. The default value is 1, which produces a realistic rendering of the shell thickness settings.
  4. Click OK to implement your changes and to close the dialog box.

    Abaqus/CAE displays the shell sections in the selected part or assembly with the appropriate thickness. By default, your changes are saved for the duration of the session. If you want to retain the changes you applied for subsequent sessions, save them to a file. For more information, see Saving customizations for use in subsequent sessions.