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Welcome. In this post, I would like to present a series of videos comparing and contrasting Abaqus/CAE and 3DEXPERIENCE for an analysis of a lap joint. Before that, though, I would like to explain the genesis behind this series.

During my career, I have had to change software several times and seen others go through the same. Each time this tends to follow the same routine. Get introduced to the new tool. Learn the new commands and icons. Successfully do the workshops. Struggle on using the new tool in practical use. Then at some point it just clicks. The new tool is then fine to work with. Until the next new tool comes up.

In my experience, that point where using the new tool just clicks is when I stop thinking 'This is how I would have done it in Product A, where is the button to do that in Product B?' and instead think 'This is how Product B expects me to do this'. Something I've termed the philosophy of the product. Once you recognize the philosophy of the product, using it becomes much less error-prone.

At SIMULIA I have been primarily using Abaqus/CAE. I had training in this and was using it most of the time, becoming proficient with it, if not an expert user - I had learned the philosophy of Abaqus/CAE. I've also had training in 3DEXPERIENCE, but for various reasons was not using it practically. As such, I didn't develop an understanding of the philosophy behind it to become proficient. Recently I have had a need to use 3DEXPERIENCE practically and realized just going through the training again wouldn't be enough as I was still thinking about how I would work in Abaqus/CAE and the training only shows the 3DEXPERIENCE approach.

To help me understand the philosophy of 3DEXPERIENCE quickly, I went through the same analysis in both programs. At each stage trying to look at what I would do in Abaqus/CAE. Then how 3DEXPERIENCE expects this to be done. This comparing and contrasting helped me quickly become more efficient by identifying what Abaqus/CAE approaches I could reuse, what needed a slight modification and what needed a bigger change. 

The series of videos below run through an analysis of a lap joint. Each video is one particular stage in the analysis process. The general format is consistent, recap that stage in Abaqus/CAE on the left, then do that stage in 3DEXPERIENCE on the right. There is narration talking through what is being done and describing the changes I've learned which have helped me be more comfortable in using 3DEXPERIENCE practically.

• 00 Initial Options
• 01 Geometry
• 02 Meshing
• 03 Materials and Sections
• 04 Steps
• 05 Interactions, Restraints & Loads
• 06 Input Files & Solving
• 07 Results
• 08 Iterative Analysis​​​​​​​

Note, I do not expect these videos to be sufficient to learn 3DEXPERIENCE. Instead, I think of this as a primer. If you are an experienced Abaqus/CAE user, then you could watch these and get an understanding of how 3DEXPERIENCE is similar and different, then when you go through a 3DEXPERIENCE training course you will be able to connect the concepts back to your established knowledge.

Since 3DEXPERIENCE uses the Abaqus solvers, a lot of the skills and experience that Abaqus/CAE users have developed help in using 3DEXPERIENCE. Although at first glance the user interface looks very different, you can find common concepts in setting up and using analysis models due to the same underlying solver. Hopefully these videos will help in learning the philosophy of 3DEXPERIENCE.

If you find these helpful and have other topics you would like to see explored in a similar way, let me know.

Thank you

Mark