Loadcases and combinations

When you open the Loadcases dialog in Tekla Portal Frame Designer the first four loadcases are automatically created and named as follows:

The loading in these loadcases will be taken from Tekla Structural Designer loadcases (providing the loadcase names have been specified exactly as per the below table):

If the Tekla Structural Designer model does not contain loadcases named "Dead", "Services" or "Imposed"; in Tekla Portal Frame Designer the "Frame Dead Load", "Frame Service Load" and "Frame Imposed Load" loadcases are created regardless, defaulting to the loading values specified in the Tekla Portal Frame Designer Preferences. However, in this situation, since these loadcases are not included in any load combinations they will have no effect on the design.

Every other Tekla Structural Designer loadcase that applies in-plane loading to the frame gets exported to Tekla Portal Frame Designer retaining its original name. Care should be taken in Tekla Structural Designer to ensure that each loadcase name is unique.

CAUTION: If the Tekla Structural Designer model contains loadcases that do not apply any in-plane load to the frame being exported, the implications need to be carefully considered:

• If the empty loadcases are named "Dead" and/or "Imposed":

  • The corresponding "Frame Dead Load" and/or "Frame Imposed Load" loadcases are created in Tekla Portal Frame Designer, but instead of being empty they will default to the loading values specified in the Tekla Portal Frame Designer Preferences.

  • As a result, extra load would be added to any Tekla Portal Frame Designer combinations containing these loadcases, (which, unless there is a critical uplift case. will always be conservative).

• If the empty loadcase is named "Services":

  • The corresponding "Frame Service Load" loadcase is created in Tekla Portal Frame Designer. Similar to the "Dead" and "Imposed" cases, it will default to the loading value specified in the Tekla Portal Frame Designer Preferences.

    However, (unlike the "Dead" and "Imposed" cases) it is removed from the Tekla Portal Frame Designer load combinations and therefore doesn't result in any extra load being added.

• If the empty loadcases have any other name:

  • The loadcases are not exported and they are removed from the Tekla Portal Frame Designer load combinations.

  • Once the empty loadcases have been removed, if the resulting combination is empty, or if it only contains self weight, the combination itself is removed.

After making changes to loads in Tekla Structural Designer, you should rerun the analysis before exporting frames to Tekla Portal Frame Designer.

Any changes to loads, loadcases, or combinations made in Tekla Portal Frame Designer are not returned to Tekla Structural Designer.

Lateral Restraints

The Tekla Structural Designer lateral restraints are exported, strut restraints are ignored.

Any changes to restraints made in Tekla Portal Frame Designer are not returned to Tekla Structural Designer.

Rafter Restraints

These are exported to Tekla Portal Frame Designer restraints as follows

Column Restraints

These are exported to Tekla Portal Frame Designer restraints as follows

Supports

The Fy, Fz and Mx Tekla Structural Designer support properties are used to configure the Tekla Portal Frame Designer base fixities as shown in the following table.

Any changes to base fixities made in Tekla Portal Frame Designer are not returned to Tekla Structural Designer.