An assembly in CATIA V5 is a collection of components. A component, in turn, is a part, a part instance, or a sub-assembly. Similarly, in an Abaqus input file, the assembly is a collection of positioned part instances. You can choose between the following two formats for the Abaqus input file generated by Abaqus for CATIA V5:
A single part
Abaqus for CATIA V5 writes an input file in which the CATIA V5 assembly of separate components is converted into an Abaqus assembly containing a single part. This is the default behavior. You can use this format in conjunction with the Automatic mesh capture option in the Advanced Surface Meshing workbench to capture adjacent nodes on separate parts and treat them as a single node in the Abaqus input file. This approach is useful for tying together beam and shell parts such as the stiffeners and the skin of an airframe. You can also use this format in conjunction with the Tetrahedron Filler tool in the Advanced Surface Meshing workbench to capture the coincident nodes on the original surface boundary mesh and the resulting tetrahedral mesh. Abaqus for CATIA V5 treats these coincident nodes as a single node when it writes the input file.
An assembly of separate parts
Abaqus for CATIA V5 writes an input file in which the CATIA V5 assembly of separate components is converted into an Abaqus assembly containing separate part instances. You can use this format to treat each part instance in the assembly as independent, in which case the part instances are free to move relative to each other unless you tie them together using constraints or connections. When Abaqus for CATIA V5 writes the Abaqus input file, coincident nodes that are shared between separate part instances are treated as separate nodes that can move independently of each other even if Automatic mesh capture is used.
Use the General tabbed page to specify the format that Abaqus uses to write the input file. Alternatively, you can specify the input file format by configuring the analysis settings; see Configuring an Abaqus Analysis for more information.
This task shows you how to specify the input file format.
In the job editor, click the General tab to display the General tabbed page.
From the Write Input File as options on the tabbed page, toggle on An assembly of separate parts to generate the input file as an assembly of separate part instances, where unconstrained nodes from each part instance are free to move relative to nodes from other part instances.
By default, this option is toggled off and the input file is generated as an assembly containing a single part.
Click OK to close the job editor and to save your settings.