Manage and design connections in the Project Workspace

The Connections tree organizes the model’s steel connections in a hierarchical way, by Type (i.e. Type/Reference), and by Group (i.e. Type/Section size/Reference).

When opened for the first time, or if the model has been edited in a way that affects the connection configurations within it, you must run Update Connections in order to determine the valid connections.

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
General Connections

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

Update connections

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

Click on the Connections tree in the Project Workspace
Right-click the Connections branch.
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.

Edit connection

In the Connections tree, right click on the appropriate connection reference and choose Edit... from the context menu.

A dialog opens allowing the connection to be edited.

Select connection in visible views

In the Connections tree, right click on the appropriate connection reference and choose Select in visible views from the context menu.

The connection is selected if it exists in the active scene view.

Design connection

In the Connections tree, right click on the appropriate connection reference and choose Design connection from the context menu.

The connection is designed using Tekla Connection Designer.

Export connection to Tekla Connection Designer

In the Connections tree, right click on the appropriate connection reference and choose Design connection from the context menu.

The connection is designed using Tekla Connection Designer.