ABAQUS BOUNDARY CONDITION

[Laura Marelli]

Dear all,
I have a complex mesh (obtained with Meshmixer from an external geometry) of an open structure (let's suppose like an open tube to give the idea) and I need to do some simulations in ABAQUS on this mesh.
My problem now is that I need to impose boundary conditions (of no rotation) at the extremities, but I do not know how to impose them since I do not have specific nset. I thought to create a nset, but from simply the mesh itself I have no information about which are the correct nodes number to take and neither their coordinates.
Any idea of how can solve it?
I thank you very much

 

[Dave442]

you can define node/element sets for an orphan mesh in a very similar way as you would define node/element sets for a geometry.

 

[Laura Marelli]

Thank you for your answer!
My problem is defining this nset in the sense how to find the nodes to put in. I mean I know they are at the extremeties but I do not know at those extremeties which are the number ofnodes and the coordinates. I tried simply with CAE selecting each node, but due to the number of nodes I was looking for a more efficient way..

 

[Mustaine3]

A/CAE has good selection method you could use. So not only clicking each node one by one, but especially using the angular method or a drag-box.

 

[Laura Marelli]

Yes right, I still take some time because of the irregular shape but way better.
Thank you!!