Design connections
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 |
|
| Beam to Beam Moment Connections |
|
| Beam to Beam Simple Connections |
|
| Beam to Column Moment Connections |
|
| Beam to Column Simple Connections |
|
| Column Splice |
|
| General Connections |
|
See also
Update connections
To create connection objects for the first time, or to recreate connections after changes to the model:
Design connections
Design using Tekla Connection Designer is initiated in one of two ways:
- 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.
- From a scene view:
- Right click on the connection object and choose Design connection from the context menu.