Submodelling Blog

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Submodelling Blog

Uploaded by

Ali Aboulatta

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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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How to avoid re-running the global analysis if the global

element set was not correctly defined

Submodels can be used to reduce the computational cost of the analysis. These techniques are
useful to perform multi-levels analysis and study the global response of a large structure and/or the
local behaviour of a specific region of interest. However, sometimes mistakes happen. Yes, it's a pain
to have to deal with a mistake, especially after spending time preparing and running a simulation. In
this blog, I will explain how to avoid re-running an analysis if the global element set needed in
submodeling was not correctly defined.

I first used submodels during my doctoral research to reduce the computational time of the analysis.
I used the ABAQUS submodeling approach to apply realistic boundary conditions to the edges of the
ocular globe finite element model. Displacements from the full ocular globe model were mapped to
a set of nodes on the edges of the submodel and used as boundary conditions. This approach was
very economical in terms of computational time. All that I needed was the initial global model that
was then used to drive the boundary conditions to the submodels. However, sometimes the
boundary conditions set used from the global model needed to be modified or created from scratch.
The way to do this was to re-run the global analysis however that would take time and go against the
benefit of a submodel. To avoid this, the workaround explained in this blog was developed.

In submodeling, a global element set is used to drive the boundary conditions from the initial global
model. This element set needs to be defined in the initial global model before carrying out the initial
global analysis. This blog explains how a new global element set could be created for submodeling if
it was not defined in the initial analysis.

The submodeling technique is used to study a local part of a model based on interpolation of the
solution from an initial global model. A submodeling analysis consists of:

 Running a global analysis and saving the results in the vicinity of the submodel boundary;
 Defining the total set of driven nodes or surfaces in the submodel;
 Running the submodel analysis using the driven variables to drive the solution.

By default, the global model in the vicinity of the submodel is searched for elements that encompass
the locations of driven nodes or driven surfaces' faces; the submodel is then driven by the response
of these elements. To prevent certain elements from driving the submodel, you have the option of
specifying a global element set to limit the search to an appropriate subset of the global model. This
global element set needs to be defined in the global model before the analysis*.

The following error messages are displayed if the global element set is not defined in the initial
global model.

>>>The global element set specified on the *Submodel option was not found in the output database
for the global model. <<<

>>>The driven node for part instance does not belong to any element from the specified global
element set. <<<

>>>Check the global element set and tolerance parameters on the *SUBMODEL option. <<<
>>>The global element set was not found in the global model part map file. <<<

The Submodel reads the information from the output database (.odb) and part(.prt) files. The
following demonstration will display how a new element set can be added to the (.odb) and (.prt)
files after the analysis was carried out.

1. Add element set to (.odb) file

 Open the global model (.odb) file and click on Tools and choose “Create Set”.
 Name the element set and manually choose the global elements from which the
boundary conditions should be extracted.

 Check the output Database to ensure that the new set has been created.
2. Add element set to (.prt) file
 Now create a copy of the global model and name it “Main_Model_2”.
 In the assembly module, create an element set of the elements from which the
boundary conditions should be extracted. Make sure the name of the element set
matches the name defined earlier in the (.odb) file.
 Create a Job, name it “Main_Model_2” and run it for a few seconds until the (.prt)
file is created. Once created, kill the job.
 Delete the initial global model (.prt) file and rename the newly created (.prt) file to
match the global model’s name.

Now the global element set can be found in both the (.odb) and (.prt) files.

In the Submodel when defining the boundary conditions, the new element set can be specified as
the driving region.

Summary
In submodeling, the driving region needs to be defined in the global model before running the
analysis. There is no need to re-run the global model if the driving region was not correctly
defined. The main steps are adding the global element set to the (.odb) and creating a dummy
model to be able to add the element set to the (.prt) file.

*ABAQUS/Standard User's Manual, Version 6.9. Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp, Providence, RI