Workshop 5

Material and Section Properties: Pump Model

Introduction
In this workshop you will use the ABAQUS/CAE Property module to define the material
and section properties of the components in the pump assembly. The gasket will be
defined using gasket material properties. All other components (pump housing, cover,
and bolts) are assumed to possess the properties of steel.

Defining a linear elastic material and solid section properties

Follow the steps outlined below to complete the steel property and section assignments
for the pump components. Note that the units used in this model are in, lb, and psi.
1. Start a new session of ABAQUS/CAE from the directory containing the pump
assembly model.
2. From the main menu bar, select FileOpen to open the model database file
PumpAssy.cae.
3. Switch to the Property module.
4. From the Model list located under the toolbar, select pump_ribs to access the
pump_ribs model.
5. From the main menu bar, select MaterialCreate to create a linear elastic
material named Steel. Specify a Young’s Modulus of 30.E6 psi and a
Poisson’s ratio of 0.3.
6. From the main menu bar, select SectionCreate to create a homogeneous solid
section named SteelSection that refers to the material named Steel.
7. From the main menu bar, select AssignSection to assign the section named
SteelSection to the parts named cover, n_bolts and PUMP-1.
Tip: You will need to make the section assignments individually; select the
different parts by choosing them from the Part pull-down list.

Defining the gasket material and section properties

The typical specification of gasket material properties in ABAQUS involves a tabular
representation of the pressure versus closure relationship in the thickness direction of the
gasket. The pressure versus closure models available in ABAQUS allow the modeling of
very complex gasket behaviors, including nonlinear elasticity, permanent plastic
deformation, and loading/unloading along different paths. These behaviors are usually
calibrated from test data. A detailed discussion of gasket material behavior, however, is
beyond the scope of this course. For your convenience (and to make the analysis realistic)
the gasket properties are defined in a script that you will read directly into
ABAQUS/CAE.
1. From the main menu bar, select FileRun Script.
The Run Script dialog box appears.
 W5.2

8. Select the file named gasket_material.py. Click OK in the dialog box.

9. From the main menu bar, select MaterialManager to open the Material
Manager.
Notice that the material named Gasket has been added to the model database.
10. Select Gasket, and click Edit.
11. Review the gasket material properties. Note the gasket has membrane elasticity of
12155 psi, shear stiffness of 6435 psi, and a coefficient of thermal expansion of
1.67 E5 /F.
12. Select Gasket Thickness Behavior from the list of available Material
Options in the dialog box, and notice the tabular specification of the loading and
unloading curves for the gasket (see Figure W5–1).

Figure W5–1. Edit Material dialog box

You can use the plotting capabilities within ABAQUS/CAE to plot the loading
and unloading curves. This may help you obtain a better understanding of the
material behavior.
13. Open the Loading tabbed page. Right-click your mouse over the column
headings of the table, and select Create XY Data from the list of options that
appears. Name the curve loading when prompted for a name in the Create XY
Data dialog box. Repeat the same operation for the unloading curve to create a
curve named unloading.
14. Switch to the Visualization module.
15. From the main menu bar, select ToolsXY DataManager.
The XY Data Manager appears.
16. Select both the curves (using the shift key), and click Plot. You should see a
similar plot in the viewport as that shown in Figure W5–2.
 W5.3

Figure W5–2. Loading and unloading gasket behavior

17. Click Dismiss in the XY Data Manager, and switch back to the Property
module to continue with the gasket section property specification.
18. From the main menu bar, select SectionCreate to create a gasket section.
19. In the Create Section dialog box, select Other as the category and Gasket as
the type. Name the section GasketSection (see Figure W5–3) and click
Continue.

Figure W5–3. Create and Edit Section dialog boxes

20. In the Edit Section dialog box (see Figure W5–3), select Gasket as the material
and accept all other defaults.
21. Assign the section named GasketSection to the part named gasket.
22. Save your model database as PumpAssy.cae.