Administrator's release notes: Reinforcement improvements

For more information about these improvements and changes, see Reinforcement improvements in the Tekla Structures 2024 release notes.

Update your standard files if you want to use the new options and features.

Update Rebar shape manager rules

The rules for the recognition of circular bars have changed. If you do not use the default environment, update the Rebar shape manager rules in your environment.

In previous versions, the recognition of circular bars was based on the bar creation method. Now all bars, regardless of their creation method, are recognized based on their geometry.

Add a shape definition rule to recognize circular bars.
1. In the shape catalog, select a circular bar shape.
2. Add the following bending shape rule:
```
Arc angle 1 >= 360
```
Update the curved bar shape definition to prevent it from recognizing circular bars as curved bars.
1. In the shape catalog, select a curved bar shape.
2. Add the following geometry condition to the shape bending rules:
```
Arc angle 1 < 360
```

Making these changes also updates the version number of the RebarShapeRules.xml file.

Update the environment for smoothing factor for rebar sets

A new user-defined attribute, Smoothing factor, is now available for rebar sets on the Rebar set UDA tab. This setting is useful when leg surfaces in complex geometry parts do not produce the desired bar geometry.

If you do not use the objects_rebar_set.inp file from the common environment, merge your file with the one in the common environment.

Update user-defined attributes of bar ends

To control which user-defined attributes are created for reinforcing bars, you can now use the new XS_REBAR_END_SPECIFIC_UDA_METHOD advanced option.

It has two values: START_AND_END and SHORT_AND_LONG. The default value is START_AND_END. If you want to change the value to SHORT_AND_LONG for the users in your area, add that setting to your environment-specific .ini file.

Note:

As a result of this change, the RebarCoupler.UdasSL.dat file has become redundant and has been removed from the environments.

Update rebar mesh sizes in rebar_config.inp

To fix an issue with multiple spacings not being shown correctly in rebar mesh size in drawing marks, the template for rebar mesh size was changed in the rebar_config.inp in the common environment.

In RebarMeshSize, CC_PITCHING_LONG and CC_PITCHING_CROSS were changed to CC_LONG and CC_CROSS.

Before:

// Template for rebar mesh size
RebarMeshSize="%CC_DIAMETER_LONG%/%CC_DIAMETER_CROSS%%CC_PITCHING_LONG%/%CC_PITCHING_CROSS%%LENGTH%/%WIDTH%""

After:

// Template for rebar mesh size
RebarMeshSize="%CC_DIAMETER_LONG%/%CC_DIAMETER_CROSS%%CC_LONG%/%CC_CROSS%%LENGTH%/%WIDTH%""

If you do not use the rebar_config.inp from the common environment, update your file for these changes.

Open your rebar_config.inp file in a standard text editor.
Make the following changes:
- Change CC_PITCHING_LONG to CC_LONG.
- ChangeCC_PITCHING_CROSS to CC_CROSS.