Can I create a level in Tekla Structural Designer that is a duplicate of another level?

Question

I have a model where all or most of the floors are identical. Is it possible to duplicate levels, so if I make a change to one of the levels the others also change? I've tried the Edit ribbon tab > Copy command, but each floor is unique so I have to delete and repeat the process or remember to change all the beams on each level if I wish to keep the floors identical. Is there a better way?

Answer

In some models you may want the same information (members, slabs, loads etc.) on multiple levels.

The Model ribbon tab > Construction Levels command has a Source column that allows you to define if a Level is either Unique or Identical/Duplicate of another level.

If the Source is;

• Unique, then it is independent and anything defined on that level is unique to that level only.
• Identical/Duplicate i.e. by assigning an existing level reference, Base, 1, 2, Roof etc. then you are saying that this level is identical or a duplicate of the level you have referenced. Anything drawn on either level will be duplicated to the other. All changes i.e. new, deleted, edited  members will be the same on all duplicate levels.

Using the Identical/Duplicate facility within the Source column of the Construction Levels dialog, we can very quickly input the base geometry, members, slabs and loads into the model. Once the levels have been created, it is then possible to change the level to be Unique, therefore breaking the association with the other levels so it is unique and editable independently. This would be useful for say a transfer level where the arrangement differed slightly.

Construction Levels

Under the Model ribbon tab >  Construction Levels command, you can set the Source of one Level to be Unique or to be a Duplicate of another level. In the case of the screenshot below, we have set all the levels to a duplicate of the "Base".

As you place one member, slab, load on any level where Source = Base, it is duplicated to all other levels with the same Source reference. Once you have modelled in all the elements, all the levels will be identical.

If you make a change to one element the change is reflected on all levels where Source = Base

If you wish, you can set one or more of the levels back to Unique and everything will stay as it is, however, changes made to a unique level only occur to that level only.

 

Example

For this example, we have used the levels set up in the previous screenshot.

We have then modelled in a series of beams, columns and slabs and a 5kN line load crossing the slabs.

 

If we view the model in the Structure 3D View, you can see the members, floors and loads are duplicated on all levels.

 

If we then change Model ribbon tab > Construction Levels command, and change the Source for Level 3 to be Unique, this level becomes independent to the others.

 

If we then Delete the slabs and load on Level 3, we can see in the screenshot below that it only effects level 3 since this level was Unique.