Create the Part

Defining the part geometry is generally the first step in the development of a finite element model.

Here, the plate geometry is sketched and extruded to generate a solid part.

1. Open Abaqus/CAE. Some of the screenshots presented in this tutorial were taken from older versions of Abaqus. Consequently, results and images may differ slightly for other versions of CAE.
2. Create a new part (Part > Create) and select 3D, Deformable, Solid, and Extrusion as options. Name the part Plate.
3. Create a rectangle (Add > Line > Rectangle) with the starting corner at 0, 0 and the opposite corner at 1.5, 6.
4. Create a circle (Add > Circle) with the center point at 0.75, 3 and the perimeter point at 0.75, 3.125.
5. Extrude the part to a depth of 0.144.

The plate needs to be partitioned to assign edge seeds during meshing.

6. Create datum planes (Tools > Datum) using the Offset from principal plane method.
   1. Offset the first plane 0.75 from the YZ Plane.
   2. Offset the second plane 3 from the XZ Plane.
   3. Offset the third plane 2.25 from the XZ Plane.
   4. Offset the fourth plane 3.75 from the XZ Plane.
7. Partition the part (Tools > Partition) using the four datum planes created in Step 6. The part should appear as shown in below.