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Release notes summary across Tekla Structural Designer versions

Tekla Structural Designer
Modified: 12 Nov 2024
Not version-specific
Tekla Structural Designer

Release notes summary across Tekla Structural Designer versions

This page summarizes the new features and improvements in Tekla Structural Designer versions and service packs between Tekla Structural Designer 2025 and 2020. Note that this page is a summary and does not replace the release notes.

Follow the links on the page to read the full release notes content of a Tekla Structural Designer version and service pack.

This page is updated when a new Tekla Structural Designer version or service pack is released.

Tekla Structural Designer 2025

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2025

  • New Edge release options for meshed walls

    These enable you to better model common construction conditions for masonry, cast-in-place, precast, timber, and CLT walls, such as expansion joints and pinned walls.

  • New Notifications side pane
    This feature allows Trimble to broadcast information directly to all users within the application.

    The new pane can be accessed from the Windows ribbon and is located by default with other side panes (such as Scene Content) at the right-hand edge of the main application window.

  • New exterior masonry wall design and other masonry improvements

    The following improvements have been made to masonry wall design:

    • The Tedds design calculation used by Tekla Structural Designer has been updated to cater for out-of-plane moments and shears, enabling the design of exterior masonry walls. (In previous releases masonry walls were assumed to primarily resist axial and in-plane shear and bending loads only).
    • An innovative ‘Wall Patch’ feature has been introduced which improves the design workflow for masonry walls with openings.
    • New wall 'Edge 1/Edge 2' release options enable the modeling of control joints and wall intersections.

  • Eurocode - steel member fire data calculation

    Two new fire design related features are introduced:

    • Ambient temperature utilization - this new feature enables the calculation of critical design values under fire conditions which can be used for the assessment of fire protection requirements. The scope of this release captures values from non-composite steel beam design (assumed restrained for lateral torsional buckling) and steel column design which are essential for the calculation of fire protection.

    • Fire UDAs - these can now be added to steel member properties by selecting Populate UDAs on the Design ribbon.

  • Semantic TrimBIM Import (Steel)

    A new 'Import Semantic Model' workflow for engineers who use Tekla Structures for analysis and design during the early stages of design. The new workflow is initially for steel members only, and allows you to automatically generate a connected, solvable model in Tekla Structural Designer directly from a Tekla Structures model.

  • Enhanced transfer of UDAs between Tekla Structural Designer and Tekla Structures
    The import to Tekla Structures from a Tekla Structural Designer .tsmd file has been enhanced to simplify the transfer of User Defined Attributes (UDAs).
    When set up, the UDAs and their values map automatically into the correct locations in Tekla Structures.
    When working with Eurocodes, this enhancement can be used alongside the new Fire Data Calculation (steel design) feature to improve the calculation and data transfer workflow for fire data.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP5

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP5

  • A small number of enhancements and fixes are added primarily in relation to import into TSD from Revit.  

Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP4

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP4

  • A slight error in the Total Vertical Forces in Nodes calculation which caused a warning to be erroneously displayed for some models has been fixed. 

  • Eurocode wind loading for multibay roofs: To clarify factors being used the 'Bay position' property has been replaced by 'Bay Cpe Multiplier'. This allows you to set the panel factors directly in accordance with the code.

  • The existing validation warning 'Foundation mat with ground bearing springs not meshed' which is displayed when a foundation mat with ground bearing springs is not meshed has been updated. Tekla Structural Designer now checks and warns for any foundation mat that is not meshed.
  • For steel members with haunches (including portal frame rafters), the default restraint at the sharp end of the haunch has been changed from bottom flange, to being unrestrained. If there are incoming secondary members restraining this position, the restraint is then assumed torsional, following the typical engineering expectations.

Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP3

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP3

Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP2

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP2

  • A new Region Settings set for Mexico is added.

  • Staged Construction Analysis is enabled for steel design for the United States Regional Code.

  • A new option “Include accidental torsion in seismic combinations” is added to the ASCE 7 Seismic Wizard

  • When working to Eurocodes, the check for simple connection resistance is now performed for EQU combinations (as is steel member design) when these are present and active.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP1

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2024 SP1

  • New United States Regional Code Loading to ASCE7-22 introduces some very significant changes compared to previous code years. Includes updates to Combinations, Snow Loading, Seismic Loading, Wind Loading, and the addition of the new requirements for Tornado Wind loading.

  • New Structural PANDA Integration allows PANDA export files can now be imported into Tekla Structural Designer.

  • A powerful new Show/Alter State Any Property attribute enables the rapid and efficient graphical comparison of any selected entity property, vastly expanding the Review View capabilities.

  • A new Instructor Pane provides contextual guidance on the use of application features within the application window

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2024

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2024

  • New - Staged construction analysis and design

    Building upon Tekla Structural Designer's existing automated analysis and design features, staged construction analysis (SCA) and design is now supported. This exciting development allows the analysis to recognize the changing state of a structure over time, which can potentially result in a more economic design.

    While staged construction might appear to be a complex process, you should find that the way it has been implemented in Tekla Structural Designer makes it simple to use.

  • New - Masonry wall design to US codes

    For the US regional code, Tekla Tedds can now be used to automatically define masonry material and analytical properties, as well as to perform the design of the masonry wall sections.

    In the first release there is no particular consideration in modeling, analysis or design, for any other type of masonry wall other than single pane, in-plane loaded masonry walls (typically internal).

  • New - Reference models

    In an exciting development of BIM integration features, you can now accurately model and check compatibility with other disciplines during design decision making and execution through the use of TrimBIM or IFC based reference models, all from within Tekla Structural Designer, saving time and improving design accuracy.

    Reference models are managed through the dedicated Reference Models side pane.

    The same side pane is also used to import TrimBIM files to be used as reference models.

    The Trimble Connect side pane can be used to import both TrimBIM (.trb) files and IFC files to be used as reference models.

  • New - Export of Portal Frame Connections and Column Baseplates to Tekla Structures

    Further expanding the scope of integration with Tekla Structures, both portal frame haunched connection geometry and column base plates can now be exported to Tekla Structures. With these enhancements to the BIM workflow, there is less work for the detailer to do on receiving the model from the Engineer.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2023 SP4

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2023 SP4

  • Enhancements are made to the Grasshopper Live Link including new Foundation Reactions, New Member End Forces, and Composite slabs components.

  • Calculation of Notional Loads (NL), Minimum Lateral Loads (MLL) and seismic weight/ mass all use the same process of assessing the gravity load distribution throughout the structure by calculating the forces at the nodes of columns and walls at levels. This process is enhanced in this release for some less common geometries (involving raised supports above the main base level) to give a more accurate assessment of the total gravity load and hence total NL/ MLL/ seismic weight.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2023 SP2

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2023 SP2

  • New - Footfall assessment of floor vibration to AISC Design Guide 11 is added for the United States Region (and others that utilize United States design codes and guides) to perform a rigorous analytical Footfall Analysis following the method of the AISC Design Guide 11 (DG11).

  • The scope of US base plate design is extended to include welded plate washers. The primary design advantage of these is to equalize the shear load to all anchor rods (as explained in AISC Design Guide 1 (Section 3.5.3)). In previous releases the recommended cautious approach of using only two of the anchor rods to transfer shear was adopted (and continues in this release when the new option is not enabled).

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2023 SP1

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2023 SP1

  • A new Footfall assessment of floor vibration to CCIP-016 is added to perform Footfall analysis following the method of the UK Concrete Centre Design Guide, A Design Guide for Footfall Induced Vibration of Structures (Reference CCIP-016). The CCIP-016 design guide is applicable to structures of any construction material, e.g. steel, composite, concrete or timber, making it a highly flexible option applicable to all kinds of buildings.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2023

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2023

  • New - Footfall assessment of floor vibration to SCI P354

    Technological advances in structural design have made buildings lighter and more efficient. This can lead to floors being more sensitive to vibration due to walking-related activities. An assessment of this sensitivity is commonly required to avoid adverse disturbance of occupants or sensitive equipment. Previous versions of Tekla Structural Designer included options to run simplified Floor Vibration checks to either DG11 (for the US regional code) or SCI P354 (for BS/ Eurocode regional codes). While pragmatic, these simple ‘hand method’ checks could be limited in terms of geometric applicability and accuracy (they are retained in this release should you still want to make use of them). The desire for a more generally applicable and accurate method has resulted in a comprehensive new rigorous analytical Footfall Assessment being introduced.

  • Global reactions enhancements

    In previous releases, Foundation reactions were always reported with respect to (w.r.t.) the local axis system of the support, which follows that of the supported column or wall, giving results in the most convenient manner for foundation design. For buildings with several orientations on plan, and columns/ walls with different rotations/ orientations, these reactions could be in several directions, as illustrated below. This could present problems for engineers wishing to know the total reaction for a given single direction for several or all supports. Following customer feedback, a new feature is added in this release to optionally obtain reactions w.r.t. a single axis system, so they all have the same orientation.

  • New - design of slender flexural classification hollow sections - US regional code

    The scope of design checks for both steel beams and columns is extended to include Hollow Structural Sections (HSS) classified as slender for Flexure. Around 21% of Square Hollow Sections (SHS) are slender in flexure, 3% of Rectangular Hollow Sections (RHS) are slender in major axis flexure and 36% in minor.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2022 SP4

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2022 SP4

  • Slabs set to the One-way decomposition method can now be optionally set to be analyzed. Though the slabs remain “one-way” from a setting perspective, when the new Analyze Slab property is enabled they are essentially treated in the same manner as “two-way” slabs with orthotropic properties enabled and fit in with all the established procedures for two-way slabs.

  • In prior releases, modal analysis mode shapes were always reported using the Mass normalized convention. Following customer requests, a new option is added in this release to report the Unity normalized alternative. This may be desirable for example where modal results are to be post processed in some way following guidance which is written with the expectation of unity normalized mode shapes.

  • Following customer feedback, a new Try non-composite setting enables composite beams to be checked as non-composite both when auto design is enabled and when it is not, and whether the composite solution passes or fails. This applies to the British Standards (BS), Eurocode and United States (ACI/AISC) Regional Codes.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2022 SP2

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2022 SP2

  • Enhanced IDEA StatiCa® Link - the Checkbot application is now used for exporting connections to IDEA StatiCa

  • A new connection type is added for where brace members are connected to beam/ column junctions.

  • Additions to the steel decking database and enhancements to the workflows and design of composite beams supporting steel decking , particularly those with closed ends - such as the Sigmat Sigdeck100

  • Building on the enhancements to Timber Design Using Tekla Tedds added in release 2022 SP1, this release adds a significant further enhancement in the form of comprehensive assessment and checking of member deflections for both Eurocode and US Regional Codes. The new feature includes the option to calculate and include the effects of creep deformation for long term deflection checks.

  • A multi-stack column ‘Lift’ (consisting of several stacks between floors all having the same section size) can now be designed using a single instance of the Tedds timber design calculation for the entire lift. Previously it was necessary to run the calculation separately for each stack, and any change to the section size needed to be manually re-applied at each stack. The new streamlined lift design process can be significantly quicker than the previous one.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2022 SP1

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2022 SP1

  • A number of Timber Design Using Tekla Tedds enhancements are made in this release giving a more accurate and more user friendly design experience for design to both the Eurocode (all supported NA’s) and USA codes. The enhancements enable engineers to optimize their timber structure designs using more detailed designs with similar or better performance than in previous releases.
  • Slab and wall panels - new and enhanced key results present tabular views in which all the critical design force results information relating to a single panel (wall or slab) is gathered together and reported in one place. Note that all the tabular data result tables can be exported directly to Excel for further processing. Report result tables can also be exported to Excel.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2022

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2022

  • Tekla Structural Designer 2022 introduces significant embodied carbon enhancements. An eLearning course is also available.

  • A new Quick Access window is an exciting productivity feature which can be used to quickly search for and access/activate any of; File menu and Ribbon commands; View actions; Settings; Entity properties.

  • An enhanced remoting API enables structural engineers to automate manual processes and incorporate Tekla Structural Designer into their engineering office workflows by direct integration.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP4

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP4

  • Automatic minimum wind loads have been added for the Action Codes of ASCE 7-05/10/16 in this release for the USA Head Code as an alternative to the existing automated Wind Loads for wind zones. When selected, the minimum wind load is applied to windward Wall and Roof panels and open structure wind load members.

  • The scope of Eurocode steel column base plate design is enhanced to consider design for minor axis shear. Where previously an ignored forces warning was issued when minor axis shear existed, minor & biaxial shear is now checked for column base plates on columns with the following sections: I/H, CHS & SHS
  • Continuing the rapid development of the timely and industry leading Embodied Carbon assessment feature-set in Tekla Structural Designer, this release adds two further Embodied Carbon Overview table grouping options of by Material and by Construction Type & Material, plus separate reporting of totals for mat slabs and other concrete slabs.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP3

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP3

  • A powerful new tabular results feature for 1D Members is added in this release. This replicates the output of the recently enhanced Member Forces Report item. The table features real-time filtering and configuration settings to customize the results exactly as you need. The configured table can then be exported directly to Excel to facilitate further result processing.

  • A New Charts View is available for reporting embodied carbon.
  • Minimum Lateral Load, Seismic Loading, Snow Loading and Imposed/ Live Load Reductions. Reflecting the worldwide use of Tekla Structural Designer, in this release we have focused on making the program more flexible by both enhancing the automated loading features and extending their applicability to more Head Codes. This makes Tekla Structural Designer more widely usable, especially for regions and countries for which the design codes may not be fully supported currently.
  • Steel column base plate design - USA has design for shear lugs added.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP2

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP2

  • New Properties Window Validation and Tooltips have been added to improve workflows.
  • The Embodied Carbon for piles of both pile caps and piled foundation mats can now be calculated, reviewed and reported. New pile material information settings are added to enable this. New By Level reporting options are also added for the Embodied Carbon Overview Tabular Results, enabling more effective review of the distribution of totals to levels.
  • The following enhancements to Simple Wind are in this release making it considerably more powerful and flexible:

    • Enhanced Simple Wind dialog and controls - new graphical view of the Pressure vs Height profile and an option to paste loading information directly from the clipboard.

    • New option Apply to Wall Panels, Roof Panels, Members, Ancillaries and Equipment - greatly expands power and flexibility.

    • Improved Load Profile Application to Diaphragms - the load profile can now be defined above or below the highest diaphragm level.

    • Reporting for Simple Wind cases on Open Structures - Wind Load data can now be reported for manually created Simple Wind loadcases

  • An enhanced scope for steel column base plate design for USA head code covers a wider range of loading conditions.

  • A new orthotropic two-way slabs feature enables different stiffnesses to be set for the two orthogonal (X and Y) directions of slabs thus making them orthotropic rather than isotropic (same stiffness in both directions). This can be used to model slab elements that exhibit orthotropic material properties and are assumed to behave in a predominantly “one-way spanning” manner, such as; precast slab units, profiled steel decking, timber decks on floor joists and cross-laminated timber (CLT) elements. For isotropic slabs, the new settings also enable overriding of the global stiffness modification factor for individual slabs.

  • A new Tekla Structural Designer Integrator for Autodesk Revit 2022 has been made available.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP1

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2021 SP1

  • Review View Enhancements - Imposed/ Live Load Reductions - All Head Codes

  • Enhanced Camber Settings & New Review View Attribute for steel beam design. In this release the settings and processes for camber have been thoroughly reviewed and enhanced to give increased flexibility and make the workflow more intuitive. In addition the Review View > Show Alter state is enhanced with a new dedicated attribute for Camber, enabling rapid and efficient graphical review and control of its settings and values.
  • Enhanced Scope for steel column base plate design - USA Head Code. Major axis shear loading is now checked for the shear resistance of the rods and/ or concrete and the welds are now also checked. In addition, all the applied forces are reviewed and beyond scope and/ or Ignored forces warnings issued as appropriate for cases that are not considered by the design.
  • New Overall Wind Drift Check - All Head Codes. This checks the maximum deflection at the top of the structure relative to its total height against a specified limit. When activated, the check is fully automated and is carried out/ updated when any of the following processes are run; Analyze > Analyze All (Static) or 3D Only (Static); any of the Design Steel/ Concrete/ All (Static) options of the Analysis & Design groups of the Design Ribbon.
  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.

Tekla Structural Designer 2021

Release notes - Tekla Structural Designer 2021

  • New Embodied Carbon Calculation & Design Efficiency Assessment

    With an exciting further development of recent features to assess the Carbon Impact of design, Tekla Structural Designer 2021 adds an automated and comprehensive new built-in calculation of embodied carbon quantities, together with powerful new options for graphical review/ optimization and reporting of this aspect of design.

  • New Fireproofing

    Fireproofing is the application of fire resistant insulation material to the surface of structural members (as illustrated in the picture below) in the form of; protective paints, thin/thick film coating sprays, fire boards etc. Tekla Structural Designer 2021 adds the facility to apply such fireproofing to all 1D members of the model with the definition of its distribution, thickness and density. The fireproofing increases both the weight and surface area of members. The additional member self-weight is automatically calculated, reported and included in the analysis, and the resulting enlarged surface of the member is also considered by the new Open Structure Wind Loading. For the Eurocode Head Code, the fire resistance check settings are now incorporated into those for Fireproofing.

  • New Automatic Backups

    While Tekla Structural Designer has always had an Autosave feature which provided additional file security to cater for unexpected PC/ program problems this had some limitations. These are addressed in Tekla Structural Designer 2021 with the addition of a comprehensive new Backup facility. This ensures that, whatever happens, there can be previous versions of the model to revert to. Another benefit is an automatic history of the model

  • New Open Structure Wind Load

    This feature adds a quick and effective way to apply wind load especially for Industrial Structures which typically are not clad, though it can be used for any un-clad structure or part. Application is simple and straightforward - the existing Wind Wizard is used in essentially the same manner as currently, other than there being no requirement to ‘clad’ the model with wall and roof panels. The feature can also be used in conjunction with wind wall and roof panels and has a host of user-defined settings, making it very flexible and applicable to a wide range of structures and geometries. The method of calculation for open structure wind loads we have developed follows both general principles and guidance from the United States Loading code ASCE 7 and the ASCE document ‘Wind Loads For Petrochemical And Other Industrial Facilities’ (adapted for all loading codes).

  • New Equipment Load Entities

    These are similar in concept and operation to the recently added Line and Area Ancillaries. They enable the definition of three dimensional objects for the purpose of load application for such items as retaining tanks, plant and machinery etc. While developed principally with industrial structures in mind, they may have wider application for tanks, plant etc acting on any type of structure. Since (like Ancillaries) they represent physical objects, they are applied via a new button added to the “Walls & Loading Objects” group of the Model tab of the Ribbon. They can be of three principal shapes; Cuboid, Cylinder (Vertical & Horizontal) and Sphere. They are also fully considered and loaded by the New Open Structure Wind Loading.

  • New Partially Cracked Concrete Walls & Members

    This new feature is an addition to existing features of especial use in the design of tall buildings, for which the engineer needs to particularly assess and modify the stiffness of the lateral force resisting system - commonly composed of concrete shear walls - to control lateral displacements. The stiffness of concrete members is determined in large part by their state of cracking - which can vary between the ‘extreme’ conditions of entirely uncracked and fully cracked.

  • New Steel Column Base Plate Connection Modeling & Design - Eurocode and USA Head Codes

    It is now possible to explicitly model and design steel column Base Plate Connections to the Eurocode and USA Head Codes. The design is carried out and reported fully within the program, with no use of Tekla Connection Designer (TCD)

  • Enhanced Sway/ Drift/ Wind Drift & Seismic Drift Check Control and Reporting - All Head Codes

    The control settings and reporting for the Sway/ Drift/ Wind & Seismic Drift Checks have been thoroughly updated and enhanced in line with customer feedback. All these checks assess the relative lateral deflections of successive levels - resulting from lateral loads of various kinds - and so their results and reporting requirements are similar.

  • New Reinforced Concrete Design to ACI 318-2019 - US Head Code

    ACI 318-2019 is added to the Resistance Codes available for USA Concrete Design. The scope essentially matches that of the existing 2008, 11 and 14 versions for Static and loading, and applies to all the following concrete elements; Reinforced Concrete Beams, Columns and Walls; Reinforced Concrete Slab Panels, Slab Patches and isolated Punching Checks; Reinforced Concrete Spread and Strip Footings, Pile Caps and Mat Foundations. Design for Seismic loading is covered for; Beams, Columns and Walls. There are many detail changes incorporated in the update in accordance with the new code version.

  • Foundation Design - New Lateral Load Check for Pile Caps and Piled Mats

    This adds the ability to check the piles of Pile Caps and Piled Mats for lateral loads (previously only vertical loads were checked). This enhancement applies to the following Head Codes; Eurocode (all countries), United States (ACI), India and British Standards.

  • Design Using Tekla Portal Frame Designer - Improvements for Class 4 Haunches - Eurocode

    For those designing steel portal frames to the Eurocode (UK and Irish NA’s) in Tekla Structural Designer 2021, there is a new companion release of Tekla Portal Frame Designer which features significant enhancements to the classification of haunches, in accordance with customer feedback. The Eurocode introduced tighter rules for section classification on the Class 3/ Class 4 boundary which resulted in many haunches that were adequate to BS 5950 being Class 4 at the deep end to the Eurocode. This resulted in a 'Fail' because Class 4 sections are not dealt with in Tekla Portal Frame designer. A number of improvements to the classification rules and equations are made in the new release to mitigate the occurrence of Class 4 haunches.

  • Plus numerous other enhancements and fixes.
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