Embodied carbon enhancements

Tekla Structural Designer
2022
Tekla Structural Designer

Embodied carbon enhancements

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

Review View enhancements

The legend colors for the Embodied Carbon Review View > Show/Alter state > “Utilization and embodied carbon” attribute have been adjusted and enhanced to more clearly display the distribution of embodied carbon in the model. As shown in the picture below, the colors now graduate from red (highest embodied carbon) to green (lowest), and include more gradations. This was first introduced in release 2021 SP1.

  • In addition, the information text at top left of the Review View window now includes the Overall Embodied Carbon value (for both Carbon Factors and Utilization and embodied carbon options), the number of selected entities in the current view, their amount of Embodied carbon and the % of the total.

  • Note the following:

    • The legend colors are controlled by new settings in Home > Settings > Scene > Colors > “Gradient Legend” as shown in the picture below.

    • When the displayed content requires fewer values the red and green extremes remain.
  • [TSD-9213] - Embodied Carbon Factors Dialog - the count of entities to which a particular carbon factor is assigned given in the Embodied Carbon factors dialog is corrected to be consistent with that given in the Review View Legend for the Carbon Factors attribute, as shown in the picture below. Previously, the value in the Embodied Carbon factors dialog also counted the steel member connection allowance and so was commonly considerably larger.

BIM integration of embodied carbon data

The Embodied carbon results data can now be exported to external BIM applications as follows. This was first introduced in release 2021 SP1.

  • [TSD-9235] - Tekla Structures or Revit - the Embodied carbon results are now automatically included in the Structural BIM Export CXL file which is produced by the Tekla Structures/ Revit Export options on the BIM Integration tab of the ribbon - they can then be displayed in Tekla Structures/ Revit as attributes as illustrated below.
  • IFC - the values are also included in the IFC export.

  • Trimble Connect - uploading an IFC of the model to Trimble Connect will allow these values to be seen in the Properties when viewing the IFC model in Trimble Connect as illustrated below.
    • In all cases, the values are exported for members, walls, slabs and foundations. One value per object is exported - the total resulting embodied carbon of all constituent materials of the object.

  • [TSD-9219] - Grasshopper Live Link - Embodied Carbon - Embodied Carbon results and Rebar Mass per Volume can now be returned to Grasshopper using the Concrete Material Quantities and Steel Material Quantities components. These components operate with filters as previously, and new output parameters give the total Embodied Carbon Mass of objects included in the filter, or the overall Rebar Mass per Volume.

Reporting by level

[TSD-9407] - Following customer feedback and requests, new By Level reporting options are added for the Embodied Carbon Overview Tabular Results, enabling more effective review of the distribution of totals. The Embodied Carbon Overview is enhanced to meet the requirement for a report that includes all items between one level and another, improving the reporting of the Embodied Carbon Mass (ECM) on a by level basis. This was first introduced in release 2021 SP2.
  • Thus for example, the Level St. 1 report row will include everything above foundation level up to and including items in Level 1, and so on, as illustrated in the picture below.

  • A total floored area is determined for each level and hence the embodied carbon per unit area can be reported for each storey height of the building.

    • Note that this new feature works together with the Level Property “Reporting Level” shown above left, which is enabled by default for levels set as Floors. However it can be checked off e.g. where for some modeling reason many closely spaced floor levels have been defined. Note the following:

      • The “Reporting Level” setting applies to other summary reports such as the drift checks.

      • Previously this setting was called “Check for drift” which was sometimes misinterpreted as a control that switched checks on and off.

Group by Level & Construction Type

Consider the building shown above with three identical levels. The picture below shows the Embodied Carbon Overview table for this model with the new “Group by Level & Construction Type” option selected. It can be seen that the tables ECM values sum to the same overall total given in the Review View > Embodied Carbon Show/Alter State view.
  • Note the following:

    • As expected items that exist in the identical level planes have identical ECM (e.g. the composite slabs)

    • Note that items which exist between the planes are also assigned to a level:

      • E.g. column stacks, braces and wind walls

      • These can be different at each level

    • Items that exist between reporting levels are assigned to the level above:

      • E.g. the top storey braces and top stacks of columns are assigned to level 3.

    • Beam spans, column stacks and structural wall panels are not split between levels - they are assigned to one level based on their highest point e.g. if a beam started below level 2 and finished above it, then it will be assigned to level 3.

      • Wind Walls are split and shared between levels as appropriate.

By Level - Summary

This option gives a single grand total ECM for each level as shown in the picture below for the same building.

  • The floored area is the total area of slab items included in the level total (not necessarily all in a single plane)

  • Hence an ECM per unit area is given for each level and then an overall total for the building is given at the bottom.
  • The picture below shows the report for the same building after switching off the “Reporting level” check box at Levels 1 and 3. Note the following:

    • Everything that was in St.1 and St.2 is now combined in the St.2 totals

    • St.2 becomes the highest designated reporting level. However everything above that level must be assigned to something so a “Top” level is used for that.

    • The overall totals are unaffected.

Reports

Two new Report Chapters are added for these new options enabling them to be included in Reports, as shown in the picture below.

For new models created in this release and onwards, the default Embodied Carbon report content is changed to include the new Overview by Level followed by the existing Overview by Construction Type.

Reporting for piles

[TSD-9408] - 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. This was first introduced in release 2021 SP2.
  • To enable this the Pile Catalog data is enhanced with a new Material page as shown in the picture below. Note particularly the following settings:
    • The Volume adjustment % option - default 100%.

      • This option is included since there are many and varied piling systems. While a theoretical diameter and length is specified, in practice these can be minimums or approximations. Hence this setting enables an adjustment to be made to cater for different systems e.g. an in-situ under-reamed piling system might be given an adjustment >> 100%

    • The Volume % for the amount of reinforcement in the pile - default 0%. See below for more on this option.
  • Initially piles will not have Embodied Carbon Factors (ECF) applied. This will be clearly apparent in the ECF dialog and Review as shown in the picture below - the ECF dialog note listing the number of entities with factors applied vs the total number will be colored red highlighting the discrepancy.
  • There are then two basic options for applying ECF’s to piles:

    • Use a single ECF for both pile concrete and reinforcement - as currently for precast entities. Using either the existing precast ECF, or adding your own specifically for piles, set the pile entity type to be active for the chosen ECF(s) as shown in the picture below. When you have done so the ECF dialog will list the number of entities - i.e piles - this is assigned to.
    • Alternatively you can use separate ECF’s for the pile concrete and reinforcement by 1) setting a value for the Volume % for the amount of reinforcement in the piles in the Pile Catalog as noted above and 2) setting the pile entity type to be active for one or more concrete ECF’s and one or more reinforcement ECFs as shown in the picture below.
    • You can then assess and review the Embodied Carbon Mass contribution of the pile reinforcement, for example in the Embodied Carbon Detail report for piles as shown below.
    • You can also use the Pile entity type filter when viewing Embodied Carbon in the Review View > Show/Alter State to see the distribution and the overall total in the piles as shown below.

Interoperability of Pile Data

[TSD-9408, 9748 & 9763] - the new Pile material properties and Embodied Carbon values are also included in interoperability workflows as follows:

  • [TSD-9748 & 9763] - Structural BIM (CXL file) Export and Import - this applies to integration with both Tekla Structures and Revit using the Structural BIM CXL file.

    • Pile material and grade is included on export (previously it was set to same grade as related pile cap / mat)

    • Embodied carbon values are also exported. These can then be reviewed in the BIM application, e.g. as shown in the picture below for Tekla Structures the information is populated to the object’s TSD values which can be viewed via Inquire Object and included in Tekla Structures entity labels and output.

    • Pile material, grade and type are also considered when updating an existing Tekla Structural Designer model and importing to a new model file.

  • [TSD-9763] - Export to IFC - this applies both to export direct to IFC file and when an IFC file is uploaded to a Trimble Connect Project.

    • Pile material and grade is included

  • [TSD-9408 & 9764] - One Click LCA:

    • Pile material and grade is added to the One Click LCA export data/ Report.

    • Reinforcement information is also added where applicable.

New Charts view

An exciting and informative new Charts View has been added to further improve the review of design aspects of the structure. The first application of this is for Embodied Carbon Review - as shown in the picture below, the new “Charts'' button on the Review ribbon opens a dedicated Charts Ribbon Tab and displays the default chart. You can then select from the chart options “Embodied Carbon by Level” bar chart and “Embodied Carbon by Construction Type” pie chart. The new charts give an immediate and easily understood picture of the overall distribution of Embodied Carbon and complement the more granular views of the Review View. For more information on this new feature see the new Help Topic Charts. This was first introduced in release 2021 SP3.

The charts can be configured via a comprehensive set of Settings - for example you can choose to show values or not and, when values are enabled, report total embodied carbon by amount or by relative %. The picture below shows the “Embodied Carbon by Construction Type” pie chart configured to display relative % values.
The “Embodied Carbon by Level” bar chart also has automatic group and sort options. The picture below shows this chart configured to display results grouped by construction type and sorted by carbon mass, with carbon mass values and units included.

Reports

The new charts can also be included in Reports, with the same settings as applied in chart views all available as report settings. To include a chart in a report:

  1. As shown in the picture below, add the new “Chart” report item to the report structure.

  2. Right-click this, open the Chart Settings and select the chart type you want.

  3. Click the options icon and set the chart options you wish to use then OK and OK again.



New and enhanced review and reporting options

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. These enhancements are specifically targeted at facilitating interaction with the Institute of Structural Engineer’s (IStructE) Structural Carbon Tool spreadsheet, enabling much of Tekla Structural Designer’s embodied carbon data to be copied and pasted directly into the IStructE sheet (all Tekla Structural Designer’s Embodied Carbon tables can be exported directly to Excel from the Tabular Data view).

We would note that the IStructE sheet describes an entire scheme by simple grand totals for each material used, hence it is aimed at a reasonably high level summary of scheme data enabling scheme comparisons - i.e. it is aimed primarily at scheme selection rather than detailed optimisation during design development of a selected scheme. It thus compliments the powerful Embodied Carbon assessment tools in Tekla Structural Designer, which do enable efficient detailed optimisation during this phase of design development.

In addition to these enhancements, a new Chart view has been added for Embodied Carbon by Material. The full list of enhancements in this area is as follows with further details for each below. These enhancements were first introduced in release 2021 SP4.

  • [TSD-10324] - Group by Material

  • [TSD-10323] - Group by Construction Type & Material

  • [TSD-10320] - Separated Reporting of Slabs and Mats

  • [TSD-10324] - New “Embodied Carbon by Material” Chart

The new grouping options are listed in the drop-down options list for the “Embodied Carbon Overview” Review Data table, and also have new associated Report items in the Embodied Carbon chapter options, as shown in the picture below.

Group by Material

An example of this new table option is shown in the picture below for the simple model shown - a steel structure with steel decking composite slabs and composite and non-composite beams. Note the following:

  • There is a single total for each material.

  • Steel appears twice in this example because there are two types of steel with different EPDs (ie they are considered to be different materials) - the same would apply to different concrete or timber grades.

Group by Construction Type & Material

An example of this new table option is shown in the picture below for the same model. Note the following:

  • For each construction type - e.g. Composite slabs - there is now a separate total for each material.

  • Hence the steel total is separated for beams, composite beams, columns, braces, etc

  • This can also be a very useful breakdown of embodied carbon values (though it could become lengthy for larger/ more complex structures).

Separated Reporting of Slabs and Mats

In Embodied Carbon Overview summaries the totals for concrete slabs and mat foundation slabs are now separated. An example of this is shown in the picture below. For the IStructE sheet this allows mats to be assigned to a foundations category which in turn enables some automatic allowance for excavated materials.

Embodied Carbon by Material chart

A new automated “Embodied Carbon by Material” chart option has been added to the charts view as shown in the picture below left. Note the following:

  • In this view, materials with the same name but different carbon factors are combined (the chart shown below right is for the same steel structure with steel decking composite slabs and composite and non-composite beams used for examples above).

  • The settings for the new chart include an option “Merge segments contributing less than” with a user-defined % value (default 1.5%) to avoid overlapping text for small segments. This is illustrated below for the example building, in which loose bars (for composite beams), composite beam shear connectors and coating all contribute small proportions < 1.5% to the overall total, and so are combined into the “Other Materials” category with the default 1.5% merge segments value.

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