Hello everyone,
I am currently working on modelling ITZ zones in concrete 2D microstructure. ITZ is the cement paste zone near the surface of aggregate which differs in properties from bulk cement paste. The thichness of ITZ zone ranges from 10-50 micrometer (0.01 - 0.05 mm). The size of RVE I am using is 100X100 mm which makes ITZ a very fine detail in my microstructure. I have created a instance in abaqus merging all parts, Aggregate, ITZ and Matrix( Cement Paste).
I seeded the instance with using these parameter:
Global Size: 2
Maximum deviation factor = 0.0001 (Approximate no of element per circle 7854)
Minimum size value = 0.1
these parameter ensures that I get same size elements at ITZ region regardless of size of perticular aggregate.
Now here is my problem:
This seeding gives me the meshing in Picture 1, in which element size decrease from outer boundary to ITZ zone, but not increases again after passing the ITZ zone and getting into Aggregate region. My required mesh can be seen in Picture 2. Can anyone help me with this?
In abaqus documentation, there is mention of "increase the size of the interior elements" but it says one can only do it when using tetrahedral element. Can I do it 2D case using quad dominated elements?
Thanks.
Vasav Dubey
Graduate Student
Texas A&M University
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Picture 1.PNG | 323.03 KB |
| Picture 2.PNG | 475.28 KB |
ANSYS is more flexible as a
ANSYS is more flexible as a mesher, you can create your mesh in ANSYS and export it to Abaqus to do what you want it to do.
You can create your mesh in
You can create your mesh in ANSYS, which is more flexible for specifying element sizes in regions that are away from edges (interior regions), and then export it to Abaqus.
Use Edge Seeding
Seed both the edges of the ITZ using larger no. of elements (or smaller size). If you want the inner aggregate to be coarser than the ITZ, then create another concentric partition to the inside of the ITZ, and set the seeds on that edge as coarser.