The pre- and post-processing scripts for finite element modelling of self-drilling screw connections between thin steel sheets (femssc) were adopted in the paper "Shear behaviour and modelling of self-drilling screw connections between thin steel sheets"

As a type of widely utilised mechanical fastener responsible for transferring shear forces or tension-shear interactions, self-drilling screw connection plays a prominent role in the overall structural performance of cold-formed steel assembled members and structures. Although the bearing capacity of screw connections has been widely investigated, far less attention has been paid to their deformation behaviour. A parameterised FE model of self-drilling screw connections is thus developed by using femssc based on the built-in Python 2.X in Abaqus software package, to further explore the shear deformation behaviour of screw connections and to propose a prediction model for quantitatively describe their load versus deformation relationships. Details of this FE model are presented in the related paper.

Kangyi Cai 2021 @ WHU

If you use these scripts in your study, please cite the related paper:

K. Cai, H. Yuan. Shear behaviour and modelling of self-drilling screw connections between thin steel sheets. 

Or in the format of BibTex:

@article{,
  title={Shear behaviour and modelling of self-drilling screw connections between thin steel sheets},
  author={Kangyi Cai, and Huanxin Yuan},
  journal={},
  volume={},
  pages={},
  publisher={}
  doi={}
}

Generate .inp files, namely establish FE models of self-drilling screw connections with different sheet thicknesses and materials, as well as diverse screw diameters and arrangements.

Based on generated .inp files, recreate jobs for computation, and obtain .rpt and .png files, corresponding to curves and contours, respectively.

• Create a folder containing this script

• Determine parameters of the database in this script

• Open Abaqus/CAE

• Set work directory to the folder

• Run this script

• Create a folder containing this script and all the .inp files for computation

• Determine the value of switchMode, copyOrNot and targetDirM in this script

• Open Abaqus/CAE

• Set work directory to the folder

• Run this script

MIT