Design connections

Tekla Structural Designer
2020
Tekla Structural Designer

Design connections

Note: These topics relate to the design of connections using either Tekla Connection Designer, or IDEA StatiCa; they do not cover checking of simple connection resistance, which is a separate topic.
 

Overview

Before connections can be designed in Tekla Structural Designer valid connection objects have to be created in the model. This is achieved by running Update connections from the Project Workspace. This applies a set of rules to create and organize connections into the following types:

  • Base Plate Connections
  • Beam to Beam Moment Connections
  • Beam to Beam Simple Connections
  • Beam to Column Moment Connections
  • Beam to Column Simple Connections
  • Column Splice Connections
  • General Connections

Valid connections are then displayed in the scene views and are also listed in the Connections tree.

Provided a licence of Tekla Connection Designer is available, some of these can then be designed or exported to Tekla Connection Designer. If you have a licence of IDEA StatiCa you can also export some types to that software for design.

Type Connection Design Options
Base Plate Connections
  • Design Connection
  • Export to Tekla Connection Designer
Beam to Beam Moment Connections
  • Design Connection (Eurocode and BS Head Codes only)
  • Export to Tekla Connection Designer (Eurocode and BS Head Codes only)
  • Export to IDEA StatiCa
Beam to Beam Simple Connections
  • Export to IDEA StatiCa
Beam to Column Moment Connections
  • Design Connection (Eurocode and BS Head Codes only)
  • Export to Tekla Connection Designer (Eurocode and BS Head Codes only)
  • Export to IDEA StatiCa
Beam to Column Simple Connections
  • Export to IDEA StatiCa
Column Splice
  • Design Connection (Eurocode and BS Head Codes only)
  • Export to Tekla Connection Designer (Eurocode and BS Head Codes only)
General Connections
  • Export to IDEA StatiCa

See also

Update connections

To create connection objects for the first time, or to recreate connections after changes to the model:

  1. Click on the Connections tree in the Project Workspace
  2. Right-click the Connections branch.
  3. Choose Update Connections from the context menu.

    This applies a set of rules to determine all valid steel connections in the model. The resulting connections are listed in the Connections Tree and are also shown by bounding boxes in the Scene Views.

    Note: If the model has been changed so that new connections exist, these are not created automatically; you are required to update connections as required.

Design connections

Design using Tekla Connection Designer is initiated in one of two ways:

  1. From the Project Workspace:
    • Expand the appropriate branch in the Connections tree
    • Right click on the required connection reference and choose Design connection from the context menu.
  2. From a scene view:
    • Right click on the connection object and choose Design connection from the context menu.
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