*VISCO

Transient, static, stress/displacement analysis with time-dependent material response (creep, swelling, and viscoelasticity).

This option is used to obtain a transient static response in an analysis with time-dependent material behavior (creep, swelling, and viscoelasticity).

This page discusses:

Optional parameters

ALLSDTOL

Include this parameter to indicate that an adaptive automatic damping algorithm will be activated in this step. Set this parameter equal to the maximum allowable ratio of the stabilization energy to the total strain energy. The initial damping factor is specified via the STABILIZE parameter or the FACTOR parameter. This damping factor will then be adjusted through the step based on the convergence history and the value of ALLSDTOL. If this parameter is set equal to zero, the adaptive automatic damping algorithm is not activated; a constant damping factor will be used throughout the step. If this parameter is included without a specified value, the default value is 0.05. If this parameter is omitted but the STABILIZE parameter is included with the default value of dissipated energy fraction, the adaptive automatic damping algorithm will be activated automatically with ALLSDTOL=0.05.

This parameter must be used in conjunction with the STABILIZE parameter (see Solving Nonlinear Problems).

CETOL

Set this parameter equal to the maximum difference in the creep strain increment calculated from the creep strain rates based on conditions at the beginning and on conditions at the end of the increment, thus controlling the accuracy of the creep integration. In general, the tolerance can be calculated by choosing an acceptable stress error tolerance and dividing by a typical elastic modulus. If the model consists of a linear viscoelastic material characterized by the VISCOELASTIC option, a looser tolerance of the order of the elastic strains can be used. If CETOL is omitted, fixed time increments are used.

CONTINUE

Set CONTINUE=NO (default) to specify that this step will not carry over the damping factors from the results of the preceding general step. In this case the initial damping factors will be recalculated based on the declared damping intensity and on the solution of the first increment of the step or can be specified directly.

Set CONTINUE=YES to specify that this step will carry over the damping factors from the end of the immediately preceding general step.

This parameter must be used in conjunction with the ALLSDTOL and the STABILIZE parameters.

CREEP

Set CREEP=EXPLICIT to use explicit integration for creep behavior throughout the step, which may sometimes be computationally less expensive. The time increment will be limited by the accuracy tolerance (CETOL) and by the stability limit of the forward difference operator. See Rate-Dependent Plasticity: Creep and Swelling for details on the integration scheme.

FACTOR

Set this parameter equal to the damping factor to be used in the automatic damping algorithm (see Solving Nonlinear Problems) if the problem is expected to be unstable due to local instabilities and the damping factor calculated by Abaqus/Standard is not suitable. This parameter must be used in conjunction with the STABILIZE parameter and overrides the automatic calculation of the damping factor based on a value of the dissipated energy fraction.

STABILIZE

Include this parameter to use automatic stabilization if the problem is expected to be unstable due to local instabilities. Set this parameter equal to the dissipated energy fraction of the automatic damping algorithm (see Solving Nonlinear Problems). If this parameter is omitted, the stabilization algorithm is not activated. If this parameter is included without a specified value, the default value of the dissipated energy fraction is 2 × 10−4 and the adaptive automatic damping algorithm will be activated by default with ALLSDTOL=0.05 in this step; set ALLSDTOL=0 to deactivate the adaptive automatic damping algorithm. If the FACTOR parameter is used, any value of the dissipated energy fraction will be overridden by the damping factor.

Data line for a transient, quasi-static analysis

First (and only) line
  1. Suggested initial time increment. This value should be reasonably correct (in agreement with the strain change allowed with the CETOL parameter) but may be reduced if automatic time incrementation is being used.

  2. Time period of the step.

  3. Minimum time increment allowed. If Abaqus/Standard finds it needs a smaller time increment than this value, the analysis is terminated. If this entry is zero, a default value of the smaller of the suggested initial time increment or 10−5 times the total time period is assumed.

  4. Maximum time increment allowed. Only used for automatic time incrementation. If this value is not specified, no upper limit is imposed.