COH3D8 element local direction problem

Hello,

I have spent two weeks trying to modify the local 1 and 2 directions for the 3D cohesive element.

In the documentation, it has been stated that the directions are defined by the standard Abaqus convention, however they can be modified by using a local orientation.

When I create an orientation either through coordinates, or offset to nodes; the cohesive elements will not use X and Y directions as their directions in the integration points. They use the standard abaqus orientatiom even if the user created orientation is stated under the cohesive section.

the local 3 direction which is the element normal does not give me any headaches, since I have set the sweep direction correctly before meshing.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Any suggrstions, comments?

thanks a lot

BTW, I am running abaqus explicit