Experience of Using Tekla Structures in Reinforced Concrete Structural Design

In the modern world, a lot of changes occur in all sectors. From year to year, the greater number of more cutting edge technologies arise. Applying them, people strive to simplify their lives, reduce costs, increase profits and ensure efficiency. When it comes to construction industry, BIM information modelling technologies come to the fore.

There are a lot of programming solutions that implement BIM modelling in the construction sector. They can be paid or free, many have cloud storage of BIM models and remote access. One of the most in-demand software for the design of reinforced concrete structures is Tekla Structures - the best option that enables you to improve the design work quality and reduce the implementation time at the same time.

Tekla Structures is a tool for design engineers, process engineers and structural steel manufacturers. This is an integrated solution for three-dimensional modelling that makes it possible to control the data bases of various materials (steel, concrete, wood, etc.). Tekla Structures supports interactive modelling, calculation and design of building structures as well as automatic creation of drawings.

At the moment, reinforced concrete structural engineers are fully focused on project "Residential community in Solnechnyi, Minsk district". Tekla Structures supports the work of several specialists on one project at the same time and enables the specialists to work with the same model from different places, as well. That enhances the accuracy and quality because the relevant information is used all the time.

In this project, Tekla Structures is applied. There is a range of advantages of using this software.

1. Creation of the main components

In Tekla Structures, elements can be created using various methods. There are no obstacles to make a plate, rotate it for 90° and give it a name "wall", then copy it, change parameters and it becomes a "column". There are certain features for the elements, but they don't impose any restrictions.

2. Design navigation and work with components

In Tekla Structures, we always model in 3D-mode, in general, it's very convenient especially for complex shapes. In addition, you can orient a view in the form of a plan.

Moreover, there is an opportunity to work with individual elements which can be extracted from the general model, and that is very helpful.

It is very handy to work with the list of drawings: we have just a list that is sorted out in the right order.

3. Reinforcement

The most convenient and simple option is to create a "conditional" element, reinforce it and save it as a framework or a mesh with some filtering parameters. Then add it to the end element as a part or a detail, so that it could appear in the list and in the drawing.

There is an opportunity to model with components, which enables you to complete the task much faster.

4. Lists

By default, only those elements that are shown in the specific drawing are included in the list. It means, if we have a drawing of an individual wall, or plate, or column, no more filters are needed.

In addition, to put different data in one table, we do not create a new table, we add a data row and select what we need to show. In this data row, you can arrange the parameters you need to show them in any convenient order.

5. Drawings

Drawings exist in a separate mode, i.e. they must be first opened, closed, edited and reopened.

In my work, I often applied cloning of drawings (prototype drawings). I executed a drawing of one product, cloned it for all the others, and all that remained was to slightly correct the dimensions and leader lines. If you need to issue several hundred drawings of reinforced concrete products, the choice is obvious. Leader lines are pre-configured, but there is no problem changing them on the fly.

Views and details in the drawings are created in three clicks without filters and effort, showing what has been configured in the template.

6. Reference model

Reference model is a file, which makes modelling in Теkla Structures easier. Reference model is created in Теkla Structures or other software or modelling means and then imported in Теkla Structures. For example, an architectural model, an enterprise model or a HVAC model can be used as a reference model. Reference models can be represented by simple 2D drawings imported and used as layouts, on the basis of which a model is built.

The reference model geometry can be taken as a basis, on which a designer can create his own models. Тekla Structures uploads the reference model from the file every time when the file is being opened.

Various types of files are supported (*.IFC, *.dxf, *.dwg,*.pdf, etc.)

Most of the linear IFC reference objects can be converted into original Tekla Structures objects that is also very convenient.

Building Information Modeling has become an invaluable tool with a great number of benefits for the construction sector. Projects using BIM are more likely to succeed and maximise efficiency at every stage of the project lifecycle and beyond.

Accurate and coordinated solutions, timely and high-quality projects, thoroughly calculated values and quantities help to significantly reduce not only the cost of building an object, but also to reduce the construction time, future costs of renovation, reconstruction of a building, human effort and the required number of specialists. All this is achieved by using BIM technologies, when it comes to saving money.