About the Abaqus Adapter

The Abaqus adapter allows you to exchange data with Abaqus and to control the execution of Abaqus analyses. The adapter scans either a model database (.cae) file or an input (.inp) file and generates a list of input parameters that can be modified by Optimization Process Composer. The input parameters can include loads, boundary conditions, and material and section properties as well as sketcher parameters, such as extrusion depth and chamfer radius. The adapter launches an Abaqus analysis and reads a set of output parameters from the resulting output database (.odb or .sim) file.

See Also
The Parameters You Can Extract from a Model Database File
How the Adapter Interacts with Abaqus/CAE
The Abaqus Configuration File

If the adapter is scanning an Abaqus input file, a configuration file controls the keywords and associated data lines that are supported by the adapter. You can modify the configuration file if a particular keyword or data item is not supported. Similarly, if the adapter is scanning a model database file, a Python script controls the parameters that are supported by the adapter.

Once configured, the Abaqus adapter can be used together with process drivers to perform parameter scans, design of experiments, or optimization on Abaqus models. Because the process drivers usually run numerous Abaqus jobs to gain information and search the design space, a reduced number of Abaqus license tokens will be consumed for these jobs to allow for more cost-effective design exploration.