Hi

I created a 3D 8-noded solid hexahedral user element (UEL) in Abaqus.
In order to do this I needed the constitutive tensor(6x6) to be defined in the user element. I therefore hard coded the Const Tensor into the user element. Normally the constitutive tensor is define in a user material.
I used this constitutive tensor to create the stiffness matrix, 'AMATRX', as in:

K = B(transposed) * C * B * weight *det_jacobian

for illustration. of stiffness matrix formation.

Are there any problems which may arise?
Is there some other way to use the actual constitutive tensor, rather than hard-coding?

I should add that I ran the user element, successfully. (I think)
The log file gave syntax errors, which I fixed, so I assumed that it was using the user element.

I am not sure that it is being used, as I compared the output with a single element test, and a standard element, and it gave the exact same result.

I think I may have a problem with the input file.
How do I make sure that the user element is definitely being used?
Also, how do I use the user element, and user material together?