Other enhancements and fixes

Tekla Structural Designer
2022
Tekla Structural Designer

Other enhancements and fixes

In addition to the major features, there have been other improvements made to modeling, design and many other areas. All the following are implemented/introduced in Tekla Structural Designer 2022.

General & modeling

  • A number of additional fixes which are not detailed explicitly here are also made to improve general performance and stability. An example of this is given directly below:

    • [TSD-11177] - an exception would occur when splitting a continuous member with a Temperature load applied to it. This problem no longer occurs and the temperature load is correctly duplicated on the new members resulting from the split.

  • [TSD-7338] - New Keyboard Shortcuts

    The following new keyboard shortcuts are added in this release to provide quick and efficient access to a number of key actions and features:

    • Ctrl+P Process Window - to open/close the Process Window.

    • Ctrl+C Copy - first make a selection of entities then press Ctrl+C to start the copy operation.

    • Ctrl+D Validation - press Ctrl+D to run the model validation process - on completion the Project Workspace switches to the Status page if not already active.

    • Ctrl+T 2D/3D toggle - for any planar view, press Ctrl+T to toggle between 2D and 3D view options.

    • Ctrl+R,1..6 View Regime - to change the view regime depress the Ctrl key then, keeping it depressed, press R followed by a number key from 1 to 6 to activate the associated view regime as follows (note this only functions with the number keys above keyboard letter keys, not the numpad) : 1 = Structural View, 2 = Solver View, 3 = Results View, 4 = Wind View (only if Wind model exists), 5 = Review View, 6 = Slab Deflection View.

Interoperability

FBEAM export

The following issues with FBEAM Export are addressed in this release.

  • [TSD-10764] - Cantilever reactions now exported

    Previously there was a limitation that the reaction from any supported beam or column at the tip of a FABSEC cantilever beam was not exported to FBEAM. This limitation is removed in this release and such reactions are now exported.

  • [TSD-10944] - Export failed when composite beam had no shear connectors

    No export file was created when any composite beams selected for export had an undefined shear connector layout. For any such beams a default connector layout is now assigned and the export will complete successfully.

  • [TSD-10448] - Camber set to proportion of load now exported

    When the camber option is enabled and set to the option “Apply as Proportion of deflection” the appropriate camber value is now exported.

Performance

  • [TSD-10221] - Concrete design speed improved when load envelopes present

    Previously, when load envelopes were added they were unnecessarily considered by the concrete design process (which design for all combinations hence does not need to consider envelopes). This is fixed in this release resulting in significantly reduced concrete design time when load envelopes are present.

  • [TSD-4946] - Improved interactive concrete column & wall design check process

    When making edits - for example to the number of bars - in the Interactive column and wall design dialogs, previously the process to update the check results was made for each edit which could take some time and slow down the process of interactive design. In a previous release this was improved with a manual “suspend checking” option for walls but not for columns. In this release, the suspend checking (until edits are complete) process is now fully automated for both columns and walls as follows:

    • During editing, the check process is now constantly automatically aborted/ re-started as necessary, hence editing is not prevented and the wait time after the final edit is minimized.

    • An “Updating” message is displayed below the dialog buttons while checks continue as shown in the picture below


  • [TSD-10754, 10849 & 11040] - Design using Tekla Tedds speed improvements

    The process of design using Tekla Tedds has been refined and streamlined to improve performance.

    • The improvements reduce the overall calculation time when running any of the following processes; Check in Tedds from the Design ribbon, Check using Tekla Tedds > Selection (when multiple members are checked), Design using Tekla Tedds > Member/ Group/ Selection (when group design is active).

    • As a result of these changes the checking time can be more than halved.

  • [TSD-10900] - Improved performance for models with composite steel beams

    The procedures to determine composite beam flange effective widths have been optimized to minimize RAM requirements and improve speed. The effective width calculation procedures run when opening a model and are re-run repeatedly while editing and designing the model. The reduction in RAM is significant and means that, particularly for systems with a "favor speed" setting (see Help topic Performance settings), there is much less chance of RAM requirements reaching the system limits and the drastic performance reduction this can cause. In summary:

    • For systems and models where RAM availability was not an issue, you will see small performance benefits.

    • Where RAM availability was a limiting factor you may see very significant performance benefits (potentially order of magnitude improvements) at various stages of modeling and design.

    • Quite modest models which might previously have challenged the RAM limits on a system with 16GB of RAM will now run comfortably on such machines.

Loading

[TSD-11047] - USA seismic wizard can now be resized and layout is fixed

An error was introduced in the Seismic Wizard dialog in release 2021 SP1 for the Site Specific Spectra option (user defined - generic curve). The user was prevented from seeing or accessing the bottom lines in the table when defining the generic curve and access to the drop down list of shear wave velocity, vs:30 located beneath the table was also prevented. This is fixed in this release.

Validation

[TSD-3601] - Composite beams - new validation check for beams with non-composite slab

Validation now checks for the circumstance of composite beams in contact with composite slabs for only part of their length and any other slab types for the remaining length. Where previously the effective width of such beams was automatically calculated (based on the touching composite slab), the default effective width is now set to zero, producing a Validation error. For such cases you can then exercise your judgment and either set them to non-composite, or check on their “Override effective width” setting and enter your own user-defined effective width value.

Analysis & results

  • [TSD-9396] - Sorting of sway and drift tabular results by column

    The Review View > Tabular Data results tables for Sway and Drift can now be sorted in ascending and descending order of any column by clicking the column header. This applies to all of the following tables; Sway, Kamp, Drift, Wind Drift, Seismic Drift.

    • Sorting can be performed in the summary view as well as full tabular view.

    • The user defined sorted table can be exported to Excel.


  • [TSD-10693] - Analysis results display - New progress bar and option to cancel

    For large models there can be quite lengthy wait times while results are processed for display in the Results view, especially for the display of the results for envelopes for a large number of combinations. Additionally in previous releases it was not clear that a process was in operation during the wait time. This is addressed in this release as follows:

    • When results are activated, a new progress bar is shown at the top of the view window making clear the operation that is ongoing and the progress through this.

    • The Cancel button at the left of the status bar is enabled, allowing you to cancel the operation if, for example, you wish to change the selection of results you wish to view.


  • [TSD-11117] - Improved 2D element meshing process

    The 2D element meshing process, and more specifically the preparation of the input data required for the process, has been improved in this release to ensure a more consistent mesh is produced in all areas of the program involving 2D element meshing.

    • This addresses some previously observed cases in which the mesh used in the analysis could vary slightly between analysis runs and also potentially between the various analysis models and any linked slabs in duplicate floors within the same analytical model. This improvement applies to all entities meshed with 2D elements; slabs, walls and other semi-rigid diaphragms.

    • This improvement should remove any small variations in forces due to small changes in the mesh between different analysis runs.

    • For existing models opened and analyzed in this release, the 2D mesh will be updated using the improved process which may result in some changes to 2D analysis results and hence design forces. However it is expected that any changes would be minor in most cases and the meshing and results will then remain consistent for subsequent analysis runs.

  • [TSD-10778] - Wind Drift Check - All regional codes - correct critical combination flagged in Details

    In previous releases, while the Wind Drift Tabular Data Results table reported the correct critical combination, an incorrect combination could be flagged as critical (with the ❢ symbol) in the list of combinations in the check details dialog.

Design - general

  • [TSD-10571 & 11179] - Design Status - new “Not Yet Designed” status

    In the Review View > Design Status view, a new “Not Yet Designed” status has been added to the legend. This clarifies the design status for entities that are not designed ‘natively’ within Structural Designer, such as Precast Concrete and Timber members. This especially helps to clarify the workflow for design using Tekla Tedds as illustrated in the picture above.

    • In addition to this change, other than Pass and Fail the legend now only lists other statuses with an entity count > 0, giving a clearer idea of the overall design status of the model.

  • [TSD-10260] - Steel beams with web openings - new warning for closely spaced openings

    For the USA and Eurocode regional codes, a new warning status and message in the design details is issued when any pair of openings in a beam is established as 'closely spaced' with the text "Warning: one or more openings are 'closely spaced'. Not all local Vierendeel effects around openings have been taken into account in determining the deflection."


Design - regional code Eurocode

[TSD-10880] - Concrete beam design - modified calculation of maximum allowable shear and torsion capacity

The calculation of the maximum allowable shear and torsional strengths in the design of reinforced concrete beams has been modified to utilize the calculated shear strut angle 𝛳 rather than the maximum shear strut angle 𝛳max. This change may result in a difference in the value of the calculated design force/strength ratios to some extent, however that the outcome of the design in terms of pass or fail should remain the same in the majority of cases.

Design - regional code USA

[TSD-8482 & 10608] - Seismic steel design - new warnings for SFRS members in non-linear models

New design warnings are issued for SFRS members in non-linear models - such as those that include Tension Only bracing. Please refer to Product Bulletin PBTSD-2110-1 for full details about the issues for this situation. The location and behavior for the warnings is as follows:

  • When the model is non-linear and the Design Setting for Analysis ``Solve lateral loadcases in isolation if non-linear analysis is required during design” is NOT enabled, a warning is now issued in the Seismic Required strength checks for SFRS members which require the inclusion of an amplified seismic force. As shown in the picture below, the cursor tooltip for the warning directs the user to enable the Design > Analysis setting. This warning is reflected in the overall design status of SFRS members.


  • SFRS members attached to Tension Only bracing - when the above setting is enabled, a Warning is still issued in the design details for such members directing the user to the Product Bulletin. The overall design status is governed by that of the design checks.


Reports & drawings

[TSD-7750] - Problem with generating report images fixed

In a small number of models, reports containing multiple images on a single page could display 'The image could not be generated!" error in place of one or more of the images. This problem has now been fixed.

Note: The number in brackets before an item denotes an internal reference number. This can be quoted to your local Support Department should further information on an item be required.
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