Defining assembly set from part sets

[Arnaud-W]

Hi all,

I would like to know if anyone know of a way to define a assembly level set based on part level sets in Abaqus CAE. This seems to me like it would be a very usefull possibility, but I didn't find any reference about that in the manual.
To be more clear, here is what I would like to do :
I have an assembly in which I have multiple parts, with each a few sets. I would like to create an assembly set by selecting part-1.set1, part-2.set5, etc... Without reselecting all the geometry behind each part set (which can be quite complex).
This would be very usefull to define a single BC on the complete assembly set, without repeating the BC.

Thanks in advance for your anwsers !
Arno
PS : now that I think about it, the same for assembly surfaces would be great also !

 

[FEA way]

There are assembly level sets and surfaces in Abaqus. Check the "Assembly definition" chapter of the documentation for information on how they work.

 

[Arnaud-W]

Hi ! Thanks for your answer, but this is not exactly what I was meaning.
I know there is assembly level sets and surfaces. And I know how they work in Abaqus.

What I would like to know is if there is a way to define such assembly level sets by refering to part level sets, in CAE.

For now if I select "new set" in CAE, I can only directly clic on geometry in the 3D view. Is there a way instead to select multiple previously defined sets in a list (similar to the one you get when you define a BC for example).

The closest way I know to do this for now is to create a display group containing only the sets I want, and then to create a assembly level set and select evrithing in the 3D view. But it is longer, and obviously it don't keep the link : if one of my part sets change, the assembly set is not updated as no explicit link exist between the two.

Maybe the feature I look for just doesn't exist ! But it seems to me I would be extremely handy, so I thought that it may already exist.

Arno

 

[FEA way]

If you select multiple assembly level sets (for example Part-1-1.Set-1 and Part-2-1.Set-2) you can click with right mouse button and choose Boolean —> Union to create a new set consisting of these two. That’s the closest you can get in Abaqus/CAE.

 

[Arnaud-W]

Hi,

Perfect ! I didn't knew this feature, this is exactly what I was looking for !

It also works for surface by the way.

Thanks !
Arno