What are step-dependent managers?

Like the basic managers described in What are basic managers?, step-dependent managers contain a list of all of the objects of a certain type that you have created, as well as Create, Edit, Copy, Rename, and Delete buttons that you can use to manipulate existing objects and to create new ones.

Related Topics
The output request managers
Managing objects in the Interaction module
Managing prescribed conditions

However, the types of objects that appear in step-dependent managers are those that you can create and, in some cases, modify, suppress, and deactivate in particular analysis steps. Therefore, unlike basic managers, step-dependent managers contain additional information concerning the history of each object listed in the manager. Step-dependent managers display how these objects propagate from one step to another during the course of an Abaqus analysis. (For information on steps and multiple-step analyses, see Defining an analysis.)

The following step-dependent managers exist in Abaqus/CAE:

In the Load module:

  • Load Manager

  • Boundary Condition Manager

  • Predefined Field Manager

In the Interaction module:

  • Interaction Manager

In the Step module:

  • Field Output Requests Manager

  • History Output Requests Manager

  • Adaptive Mesh Constraint Manager

For example, the Load Manager is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The Load Manager.

This manager displays an alphabetical list of existing loads along the left side of the dialog box. The names of all the steps in the analysis appear along the top of the dialog box in the order of execution. The table formed by these two lists displays the status of each load in each step. (For information on creating and deleting steps, see The Step module.)

If you click one of the cells in the table, that cell becomes highlighted, and the following information related to the cell appears in the legend at the bottom of the manager:

  • The type of analysis procedure carried out in the step in that column.

  • Information about the step-dependent object in that row.

  • The status of the step-dependent object in that step (the same information that appears in the cells of the table except in more detail in some cases).

You can use the icons in the column along the left side of the manager to suppress objects or to resume previously suppressed objects for an analysis. For more information, see Suppressing and resuming objects.

The buttons along the right side of the manager allow you to manipulate objects in the steps that you select. For example, if you click Edit in the Load Manager shown above, an editor appears in which you could modify the load named Force in Step-1. The other buttons—Move Left, Move Right, Activate, and Deactivate—allow you to change the status of an object in a particular step.

Note: The Activate and Deactivate buttons are not available in the Predefined Field Manager.

For more information, see Modifying the history of a step-dependent object, Changing the status of an object in a step, and Editing step-dependent objects.

You can resize the columns of the table by dragging the dividers between the column headings to the right or left. You can also increase the size of the dialog box by dragging the sides of the box. If the analysis includes many steps or many step-dependent objects, increasing the size of the dialog box allows you to view more rows and columns without having to use the scroll bars.