Faster rebar sets and other reinforcement improvements

Tekla Structures
2018
Tekla Structures

Faster rebar sets and other reinforcement improvements

Tekla Structures 2018 comes with many important reinforcement improvements. For example, selecting, numbering, and grouping of rebar set bars have been improved.

Rebar set performance improvements

In Tekla Structures 2018, there are many improvements that enhance performance in models that contain rebar sets. For example, numbering and selecting rebar sets, opening 3D model views, and creating and opening general arrangement drawings are now faster. Also the rebar set bars are not regenerated as frequently as before, which improves the performance.

New selection switches

Tekla Structures 2018 introduces three new selection switches for selecting bars within rebar sets.

Using these switches, you can either select entire rebar sets, bar groups in rebar sets, or individual bars in rebar sets.

Now you can hide, inquire, create reports for, and define user-defined attributes for individual bars or bar groups in rebar sets. Note that you cannot delete, copy, or move individual rebar set bars or bar groups, or change their phase, for example.

All the three new selection switches also select single reinforcing bars, bar groups, reinforcement meshes, and strands.

Adding leg faces to rebar sets

To easily add new leg faces to a selected rebar set, and to create reinforcing bars at the leg faces, you can now click the new button on the contextual toolbar:.

Then select each concrete part face or pour object face at which you want to create a new leg face with the reinforcing bars. You can also select curved faces.

Rebar set splitter improvements

Vertical rebar set splitters now also work in the inside and outside corners of concrete objects. Splitters can be used to create hooks with fixed leg lengths, for example.

Grouping bars in rebar sets

Position numbers for bars in linearly tapered rebar sets

Tekla Structures 2018 introduces many new settings that you can use to define and show position numbers for rebar set bars in drawings and reports.

Numbering reinforcement meshes

Use the new advanced option XS_IGNORE_​CROSSBAR_​LOCATION_​IN_​REBAR_​MESH_​NUMBERING to define whether the location of the crossing bars (e.g. above or below the main bars) affects the numbering of the reinforcement meshes or not. The default value is FALSE , which means that the crossing bar location is taken into account when meshes are numbered. The otherwise identical meshes receive different numbers if the crossing bars are on the different sides of the main bars.

Reinforcement improvements in drawings

Tekla Structures 2018 introduces some improvements in reinforcement behavior and appearance, such as preventing overlapping rebars, new option to show single lines with filled ends, and solid lines at rebar ends.

Rebars no longer overlapping in drawings

  • All reinforcing bar groups are now adjusted correctly and visible when you set Visibility of reinforcing bars in group to bar in the middle of group. Previously, reinforcing bar groups were adjusted if you only had two layers of bars, and Tekla Structures often placed bars from different groups on top of each other in drawings. You could not trust that all bars were visible just by looking, and a lot of manual work was needed to clean up the drawing.

    In the example below, there are three similar rebar groups on top of each other in the model. In the drawing, one bar in the middle of the group is now shown for each of them.

New rebar representation option: single line with filled ends

  • A new option single line with filled ends has been added in rebar representation to be used especially in section views. This option shows a different representation for parallel and perpendicular bars.

Reinforcing bar end symbols drawn with solid lines

  • To improve clarity in drawings, the reinforcing bar end symbols are now always drawn in solid line type, regardless of the actual reinforcement line type defined in drawing reinforcement properties.

    Before the improvement:

    After the improvement:

Rebar set groups now keep their settings better

  • Rebar set groups in drawings can lose their dimensions, marks, and visibility/representation settings after groups of bars are modified in, added to or deleted from a rebar set in a model. Improvements have now been made to ensure this happens much less frequently.

XS_​DRAW_​REBAR_HIDDEN_​FACES

You can now use the new advanced option XS_​DRAW_​REBAR_HIDDEN_​FACES in the Advanced Options category Drawing Properties to control whether the hidden faces of the rebars are shown in drawings. Setting it to TRUE shows the hidden faces of rebars. FALSE is the default value.

Previously, the advanced option XS_​DRAW_​HIDDEN_​FACES was used to control both hidden part faces and hidden faces of rebars. Now XS_​DRAW_​HIDDEN_​FACES only controls hidden part faces.

In the first image below, XS_​DRAW_​REBAR_HIDDEN_​FACES has been set to TRUE.

In the image below, XS_​DRAW_​REBAR_HIDDEN_​FACES has been set to FALSE.

New template and format string attributes

Other reinforcement improvements

  • When you select rebar sets, or bars in rebar sets, and then right-click, the Attach to Part and Detach from Part commands are now available on the pop-up menu.

    Also the following commands now work with rebar set bars in cast-in-place concrete objects:

    • Pour > Add to pour unit
    • Pour > Remove from pour unit
  • When you create a new corner point to a rebar set guideline by dragging a midpoint handle, the corner point now has the None chamfer. Previously, the new corner points had Arc point chamfers by default.
  • You can now show and report the reinforcing bar GUID , REBAR_POS , and user-defined attributes without the REBAR. prefix on the SINGLE_REBAR template rows.
  • A new option STL can now be used in bending shape rules in Rebar shape manager. STL is the total length of the spiral bar when the bar is installed on site.
  • In bending shape rules in Rebar shape manager , spiral length SL is now the distance between the reference points of the spiral bar.
  • In bending shape rules in Rebar shape manager , center line length CLL is now available for curved and circular bars.
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