CAE material models

A CAE material model is based on a specific material in your Granta MI database, and a model definition (also called an exporter) that defines how the material's properties and behavior are simulated.

In HyperMesh and ANSA, the CAE material models generated by MI Materials Gateway are also specific to the currently selected finite element solver (where applicable).

For any material, the availability of different types of CAE material model depends on the model definitions that have been made available for use with that database, and the currently selected solver. For more information about the availability of CAE material models in your system, contact your Granta MI data administrator.

Model definitions

Each model definition specifies the material properties (Granta MI material attributes) that will be included in the CAE material model, and the unit system that is used to generate the data.

The model definition also specifies how the material data is transformed into the format required by the CAD or CAE application. Note that model definitions are specific to solvers.

CAE material model definitions are stored in the Granta MI database as XML files (these are called exporters in Granta MI). If you have access to two or more Granta MI databases, you may find that materials from each database have different types of CAE material model available.

Model definitions are specific to a given CAD or CAE application and solver. When you import a CAE material model, MI Materials Gateway will only allow you to select model types that are compatible with your current CAE application (and solver, where applicable).

Units for CAE material models

The data for a CAE material model is always generated using the unit system that is specified in the model definition. If there is more than one unit system specified in the model definition, MI Materials Gateway uses the one that appears first in the XML file.

Note: The unit system selected in your MI Materials Gateway user preferences (see Choose your unit system) does not have any effect on CAE material model data.

Parameters for CAE material models

Some model types are dependent on parameters such as temperature, pressure, or strain. Each parameter has a default value that is defined in the Granta MI database. For material attributes that have parameter-dependent data, these determine the attribute value that is included in the CAE material model by default (for example, Density at 300K). If a material has no data for that attribute at the default parameter values, then the CAE material model will have missing data.

When you import a CAE material model to MI Materials Gateway, you may be given the option to specify values for any parameters required (see Specifying parameter values for a material model). The values that you can choose from will depend on the parameterized data that is available in the database for your selected material.

Note: A CAE material model that has data missing at the default parameter values may, or may not, have missing data if it is imported with different parameters. For more details, see Specifying parameter values for a material model.