Meshing Complex models in abaqus

An efficient way of dealing with the issue is to break the analysis into two parts:

1. Do an analysis for the major parts of the structure without considering the details of the geometries of the attachment mechanisms, e.g., hook/hole at the left-bottom of the image you have provided.

2. Take the boundary conditions from the first simulation and apply them for a second substructure analysis that considers the details.

For thin structures, if the geometry is too complex for shell approximations, you should try to use as many hexahedral elements as you can with a few tetrahedral/pyramidal elements in regions where hex meshing becomes impossible.

Also the partitioning of the geometry, if needed, should be carried out such that each region is simply connected (i.e., no holes). That can be done by creating partitioning surfaces through the middle of the holes.

There are several other possibilities depending on exactly what you want out of the analysis, e.g., just static, transient/modal analysis,explicit dynamics, linear elastic-plastic fracture/X-FEM/cohesive fracture, multiphysics, etc.