Improvements in rebar shape recognition and Rebar shape manager

Tekla Structures 2023 comes with changes in rebar shape recognition. It is now possible to recognize bar bending shapes and assign appropriate shape codes to bars in concrete structures that have complex geometry. The previously recognized polylines and even polycurves might produce complicated bending shapes for bars that followed a curved face of a part, for example. Now in Tekla Structures 2023, all bars are recognized as polycurve geometry that can contain straight and curved legs. Arcs are recognized as arcs also when combined with straight legs.

Tekla Structures 2023 is also able to simplify complex bar shapes according to the shape recognition settings, so that a recognized bar shape would match one of the predefined bending shapes, if possible.

In Rebar shape manager, under the preview of a selected model bar or bending shape, Tekla Structures shows a description of the recognized bar geometry, and the number of bendings and arcs. If you move the mouse pointer over the text, a tooltip shows which tolerance values and other properties are in use for the selected bar. If the bar geometry has been simplified in the recognition process, (Simplified) is shown next to the description text, and the tooltip shows the simplification result.

The new polycurve bar geometry is not used in exports.

New advanced options in rebar shape recognition

The following new advanced options define the default values for the tolerance settings that are used in rebar shape recognition:

XS_REBAR_RECOGNITION_CURVE_TOLERANCE sets the default value for Curve tolerance
XS_REBAR_RECOGNITION_EXTRA_POINT_SHORTENING sets the default value for Extra point shortening
XS_REBAR_RECOGNITION_MAXCURVE sets the default value for Max curve radius requiring bending

If needed, these default values can be overridden by modifying rebar definitions in the rebar catalog (rebar_database.inp) or by using the Shape recognition user-defined attributes of individual reinforcement objects.

Recognition settings in the rebar catalog and user-defined attributes

Extra point shortening and Curve tolerance have been moved from the Rebar shape manager dialog box (Tolerances tab) to the rebar catalog. They are also available in the Shape recognition user-defined attributes for reinforcement objects.

Max curve radius requiring bending is a new tolerance setting in the rebar catalog and in the Shape recognition UDAs, and MAXCURVE is a new parameter in the bending shape rules in Rebar shape manager. You can use these settings to define if a curved segment of a bar (or a curved bar) needs to be bent before the supply to the site. If the arc's inner radius exceeds the bar's Max curve radius requiring bending value, the curved segment is recognized as a straight leg (or the bar is supplied straight).

A new user-defined attribute, Recognize as straight bar (RSR_FORCE_STRAIGHT), is also available for reinforcement objects. You can use it to have Tekla Structures recognize individual reinforcement objects as straight bars even though they are bent in the model.

Removed settings

The previous Extra point max angle setting has been removed from the Rebar shape manager dialog box (Tolerances tab).
The advanced options XS_REBAR_COMBINE_BENDINGS_IN_EVALUATOR and XS_REBAR_USE_POLYCURVES_IN_EVALUATOR have been removed.

Other improvements in Rebar shape manager

In Rebar shape manager, the template attributes USAGE and USAGE_VALUE can now be used as custom properties in bending shape rules.

Changes in attachment of rebar set bars

Improvements in automatic attachment of rebar set bars to concrete parts were introduced in Tekla Structures 2022 SP2 and SP4.
The commands Attach to part and Detach from part were added to the property modifier context menu in Tekla Structures 2022 SP1. You can use the commands to manually attach rebar set bars that intersect the property modifier to a concrete part.
Using the Attach to part command with rebar sets now works better than it did in previous versions. Previously, only the currently existing rebar set bars were attached to the part. If more bars were subsequently added to the rebar set, the command had to be used again in order to attach the added bars. Now in Tekla Structures 2023, bars added to the rebar set are automatically attached, without having to run the command again.

Other updates in rebar sets

The short or long leg logic was added for rebar set bars that have couplers or end anchors.

This improvement was introduced in Tekla Structures 2022 SP6.
You can no longer use the By guidelines command with pour objects or add leg surfaces to existing rebar sets in pour views.

This change was introduced in Tekla Structures 2022 SP7.

Reinforcement improvements