Abaqus/CAE Volume Fraction Tool

Lecture 3
 L3.2

Overview

• Introduction
• Using the volume fraction tool
• Tips

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

Introduction
 L3.4

Introduction

• It is not required that the Eulerian mesh conform to initial material

boundaries.
• Elements may be partially filled with material.
• Often a simple rectangular grid Eulerian mesh is used.
• The regular-shaped elements are more accurate and less
computationally expensive than distorted elements.
• Material-filled Eulerian elements influence the Abaqus/Explicit stable
time increment size (Δt) in the same way Lagrangian elements do.

Le
t 
cd
where Le is the element characteristic
length and cd is the dilatational wave
speed (i.e., speed of sound in the
material)

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.5

Introduction

• The Abaqus/CAE volume fraction tool can calculate how much material
each Eulerian element contains.

Meshed Eulerian part instance

volume
fraction
tool

Reference part instance A discrete field used to

representing initial material domain assign material to the
Eulerian part instance
Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit
 L3.6

Introduction

• The reference part instance may represent a material-filled region or an

empty region (i.e., one filled with void).

Material instance Material instance

(e.g., a droplet of fluid) (e.g., fluid surrounding a
round object)

Discrete field Discrete field

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit
Using the volume fraction tool
 L3.8

Using the volume fraction tool

• Example: Washing machine with higher water level

New water level

• Two tub baffles and ball initially
immersed in water.
• Use volume fraction tool to
define initial water location that
does not overlap the Lagrangian
bodies.

Original water level

Initial water location defined with some
simple partitions in the Eulerian geometry.

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.9

Using the volume fraction tool

1. Create and mesh the Eulerian part

• Eulerian part must be meshed before you can apply the volume fraction
tool.
• The resulting discrete field will contain element volume fractions that
are unique to this mesh
• If you remesh the Eulerian part,
you will need to reapply the
volume fraction tool.

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.10

Using the volume fraction tool

2. Create a reference part representing initial material geometry

• The part type can be:
• deformable,
• Eulerian,
• or discrete rigid.
• It must be:
Entire reference
• a three-dimensional solid part (translucent)
• or a fully-enclosed three-
dimensional shell.
• The reference part instance can be:
• unmeshed geometry,
• meshed geometry,
• In this case the mesh will be used
A quarter of the reference part
in the volume fraction calculation, has been removed from the
even if the part is only partially meshed. display so the hole in the interior
is clearly visible.
• or an orphan mesh part;

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.11

Using the volume fraction tool

3. Instance the parts and position the reference part within the
Eulerian part

Again, a quarter of the reference

part instance has been removed for
display purposes only.
Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit
 L3.12

Using the volume fraction tool

4. Use the volume fraction tool

• The resulting discrete field contains the element volume fractions required
to define the initial position of the water in the current Eulerian mesh.
• If you remesh the part you must recreate the discrete field.

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.13

Using the volume fraction tool

5. Assign material to Eulerian part

Double-click to Choose the discrete

select the field created by the
Eulerian region volume fraction tool
(the entire part
instance in this
example)

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.14

Using the volume fraction tool

6. Suppress the reference part instance (optional)

• In this example, the reference part instance’s only purpose is to identify the
initial location of the water within the Eulerian domain.
• If the reference instance is not meshed, Abaqus/CAE will omit it from the
analysis automatically;
• hence, suppressing the reference instance is optional in this example.
• Suppression is recommended, however, to avoid unintentional use of
the reference geometry when defining loads, boundary conditions, etc.

Assembly with Assembly with reference

reference part instance part instance suppressed

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

Tips
 L3.16

Tips

• If you remesh the Eulerian part, you must

reapply the volume fraction tool.
• The discrete field created by the volume
fraction tool is mesh dependent.

• When you assign materials using discrete

fields, the corresponding input (.inp) file
contains a line per element per field.
• If the Eulerian mesh is fine the input file
size will be large.
• Where applicable, partition the Eulerian
domain geometry and use element-based
sets to define the initial volume fraction.

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.17

Tips

• For a fine Eulerian mesh volume fraction

calculations can be slow.
• For such cases, consider using the low
accuracy setting.
• A lower accuracy results in faster
performance for the tool.

• The volume fraction tool can create a set

containing all nodes connected to elements
with nonzero volume fractions in the discrete
field.
• This set is sometimes useful for:
• Verifying that nonzero volume fractions
were defined where you expected.
• Applying initial conditions, boundary
conditions, etc.

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.18

Tips

• To initialize a material in several different regions in the Eulerian

domain:
• merge all the regions into a single reference part and
• use this reference part with the volume fraction tool in Abaqus/CAE.

1 Three separate
part instances

Apply volume
3
fraction tool

2 Single part
instance
Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit
 L3.19

Tips

• Alternative method
• Partition the Eulerian domain so that each partitioned region includes just
one of the intended material locations
• Use the volume fraction tool to create individual discrete fields for each
partitioned region using the appropriate reference part
• When assigning materials, use appropriate region and discrete field pairs.

3 Assign the discrete fields

to the appropriate regions

Three reference
part instances

1 Partition the
Eulerian part

2 Create three
discrete fields

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.20

Tips

• The cut functionality of the Merge/Cut Instance tool is useful for

creating reference parts when Lagrangian bodies are submerged in a
fluid.

Cut the Eulerian

part instance…

with the Lagrangian

part instances…

to create a part representing the

inside of the tank with a hole for the
Lagrangian ball.
Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit
 L3.21

Tips

• Suppressing the reference part instance.

• In some cases the reference instance used for the volume fraction tool is
also used in the analysis. Fluid filled tank
• For example, the reference instance (Eulerian)

could be a stiff deformable body

(Lagrangian) submerged in a fluid.
• Such part instances should not be suppressed.
• If the reference part instance is not used in the analysis, suppress it after
applying the volume fraction tool.
• If the reference part is not meshed,
then the part will not be included in the
analysis and suppressing it is optional,
but still recommended.
• This will avoid unintentional use of
the reference geometry when
defining loads, boundary conditions, etc.

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit

 L3.22

Tips

• The following items are useful when you need to select a reference part
instance that lies within an Eulerian part instance:
• Display group tools
reference instances

• Selection options

Eulerian part

Cannot select reference

• Selection from the instance list instances directly because they
are inside the Eulerian part

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian Analysis with Abaqus/Explicit