AutoConnection & AutoDefaults Example

Tekla Structures
Not version-specific
Tekla Structures
AutoConnection
AutoDefault
Environment
United States (Imperial)

This guide is to serve as a brief example of AutoConnection and AutoDefaults, how to use them individually and how to use them together.

First review the product guide pages on these topics before continuing. This guide is meant to be a supplement to the existing product guides pages:

  1. AutoConnection
  2. AutoDefaults

It is important to understand the distinction between the two.

AutoConnection decides what type of component to use in a particular framing condition – for example, it will choose to use 141 for a beam to wide-flange column, or 146 for a beam to HSS column.

AutoDefault chooses connection properties based on the framing condition – if Clip angle (141) is being used, based on the flange width of the column it might choose a 4” C/C, or 5-1/2” C/C dimension.

So AutoConnection chooses which component to use, and AutoDefault chooses how that component is configured.

AutoConnection

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Here we have two examples that were just mentioned. One beam is framing to a wide-flange column, and another to an HSS column. If we were going to manually apply these connections, we would open the component catalog, search for the proper connection (141 and 146 for this example), and then click in the catalog to activate the component, then pick the column and beam to apply the connection. If you have been using Tekla Structures for any length of time then you are probably familiar with this pick-pick-pick-pick-pick type of input.

This process can be streamlined using AutoConnection.

AutoConnection is set up by a group of rules for different framing conditions. These need to be defined – go to Detailing > AutoConnection > AutoConnection Settings.

 

 

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There are already several presets available, but for the purpose of this tutorial we will start from scratch. Right-click anywhere in the Setup dialog and choose New Rule Group.

It does not matter where it shows up, but if you highlight it and right-click, there are the options Move Up and Move Down in the list.

 

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If the New Rule Group is expanded, you can see several different framing conditions listed. These are included with every AutoConnection rule group by default, and they cover the range of the types of framing conditions that AutoConnection can be customized for.

First expand the Beam to column flange section.

 

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Here we can see that no connection is currently created for any beam to column flange connection. Because we started a new rule group, all of the options have ’No Connection’ set. A connection could be chosen here, but there can be lots of different connections required for different beams for different flanges.

We may simply think of ’beam’ as a horizontal wide-flange member – but what if it is a different profile, like a channel? What if it is a brace modeled with the beam tool – angle or HSS? What if it is coming in at an angle? All of these factors need to be considered, and if they may exist in our model, there needs to be subrules or ’rule sets’ for them.

 

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There are some framing conditions that you may want no connection to be created – for instance if it is a complicated bracing condition you may want to manually add and review the component that is required there – so on purpose the rule could create no automatic connection.

Change the name of the Rule group by selecting the word New, and then right-click > Rename. Change the name to AC Example.

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To add a new Rule Set, right-click on the Beam to column flange option and click Create additional rule sets. This creates sub-rules called New and Default.

 

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Default is a required sub-rule. It will always be there, and the last in the list. If you try and rename or replace it, a new one will be created when you close the AutoConnection Setup dialog. Default cannot have any specific rule in it, because it is meant as a ’catch-all’ if no other rules are met.

Right-click again on Beam to column flange and choose Create additional rule sets to add another New sub-rule.

Select the first New rule and right-click > Edit Rule Set. The following dialog box appears:

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  1. Change the name of the rule set here. This should be descriptive about what type of framing condition we are building a rule for.
  2. We can choose from the available rules which can be used to define many different things about the framing condition – intersection angle, profile information, number of secondary members, etc.
  3. When we add these rules to the right side, we define exactly what it looks for.

For this simple example, we will build rules that look at the column profile type – we want a clip angle at the wide-flange column, and a shear plate on the HSS column. For this first rule change the name to WF Column.

From the available rules, choose Primary profile type. Use the arrow button to move it to the right side.

For AutoConnection rules, the profile type is a number that represents different shapes. The full list can be found here.

For an I profile, the number to use is 1, so enter this in the Exact value column. Depending on what rule you are adding, you may use the minimum value/maximum value columns to affect a range (such as flange width dimension).

 

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Click OK to close this dialog.

Repeat the above steps for the next rule marked ’New’. Change the name to HSS Column, use Primary profile type again but set the value to 8. Click OK to close the dialog.

Next expand the WF Column and HSS Column rules – they will both be set to No connection. Right-click on this text and choose Select Connection Type. This will open the component catalog so that you can choose a component. Use Clip angle (141) for the WF Column rule, and Shear plate simple (146) for the HSS Column rule.

 

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Click Apply and OK to save these settings.

Now we can test these settings. Go to Detailing > AutoConnection > Create Connections. On the Rule groups tab, choose AC Example under the connection selection drop-down. Leave the connection parameters selection to Default.

 

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Highlight the columns and beams in your model and then click Create connections.

 

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Based on the rules that were defined, a clip angle connection was created at the wide-flange column, and a shear plate connection at the HSS column.

If you did not get a connection at the HSS column, it may be a matter of the rotation setting – remember, we built this deliberately for Beam to Column Flange framing. Even though this is a rectangular tube, it still has a ’Top & Bottom’ (flanges) and ’Front & Back’ (web).

See this page for more on part orientation.

The basic idea is that when you define rules you have to make sure that the conditions are being met – so just as you would define a rule for the web (or ’sides’) of a wide-flange column, you need to define a rule for the ’sides’ of an HSS column.

Now, although connections have been created, we did not control what settings were used. They were chosen by the ’Default’ parameters selection that was set in the AutoConnection dialog. These are the AutoDefaults.

AutoDefaults

While AutoConnection chooses which component to use, AutoDefaults sets how they will be used.

Below is a brief example of choosing component settings based on the parts being connected.

If you still have the parts from the above example, delete the components that were created. Change the existing wide flange column to a W12X65. Change the HSS column to a W8X24, and make sure the rotation is set so the beam frames into the flange.

 

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These two column sizes have different Workable Gage values per the AISC. The W12X65 gets a 5-1/2” gage, and the W8X24 has a 4” gage. The AutoConnection rules built previously will ensure that a Clip angle (141) connection will be created for both of these.
To use AutoDefaults, there must be settings saved for the components being applied. Go to the Component Catalog and open the dialog box for Clip angle (141). The available saved settings can be viewed from the drop-down menu at the top.

In the US Imperial environment, we can see that there is a preset for 4-inch gage, but not one specifically for 5-1/2 inch gage. (the standard setting will do that, but for the purposes of this exercise we will create a separate setting for that purpose)

 

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Select and load the Gage=4_inches setting.

On the Parts tab, change the profile size for NS and FS to L4X3-1/2X5/16. Change the bolt C/C dimension to 5”1/2.

 

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On the General tab, change the Connection code to std-5.5.

Use Save as to save these settings as Gage=5.5_inches.

Next go to Detailing > AutoConnection > AutoDefaults Settings. This opens the AutoDefaults Setup dialog box.

 

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We can see that it appears very similar to the AutoConnections dialog. To keep things simple, we will create a new Rule Group. Right-click in white space and choose New Rule Group.

Right-click on the New group and choose Rename. Change the name to AD Example.

Expand the Rule Group and notice that the components are broken down by groups – Components 1 through Components 34, and a section for Other components. In older versions of Tekla Structures, components were available on a default Toolbar that had ’Pages’ – these tree view groups are reflecting those pages.

 

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In the US Imperial environment we can reference which group they are a part of by looking in the Component Catalog and changing it to a List view. The group will be listed under the Keywords.

 

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In the image above, Clip angle (141) is marked as being in the Components 1 group.
In the AutoDefaults Setup dialog box, expand Components 1 and also the Clip angle (141) component.

 

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Notice that under the Clip angle (141) there is only one setting – standard. This means that currently, whenever (141) is applied through AutoConnection, it will always just be the standard setting.

Just like the AutoConnection setup, however, we can add sub-rules to the component.

Right-click on the Clip angle (141) option and then click Create additional rule sets. This creates the sub-rules New and Default.

Just like in AutoConnection Default is a required sub-rule. It will always be there, and the last in the list. If you try and rename or replace it, a new one will be created when you close the AutoDefaults Setup dialog. Default cannot have any specific rule in it, because it is meant as a ’catch-all’ if no other rules are met.

Right-click on Clip angle (141) and click Create additional rule sets a second time.

 

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Select the first New rule and right-click > Edit Rule Set. Make the following changes to the rules dialog:

 

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Change the name of the rule set to ColFlg-4in Gage. Add a rule for the Primary part nameCOLUMN as the exact value. Add a second rule for Secondary beam to column flange and set it to TRUE (using this allows us to define different settings for flange vs web). Finally, add a rule for Primary flange width – and enter 6”7/16 for the minimum value and 7”7/8 for the maximum.

Click OK.

Select the remaining New rule and right-click > Edit Rule Set. Make the following changes:

 

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Change the name of the rule set to ColFlg-5-1/2in Gage. Add a rule for the Primary part nameCOLUMN as the exact value. Add a second rule for Secondary beam to column flange and set it to. Finally, add a rule for Primary flange width – and enter 8” for the minimum value and 1’-0” for the maximum.

Click OK.

Organize the Rule sets so that the 4 inch rule is first, then the 5-1/2 inch rule, and then Default. Select them, and right-click, then choose Move up or Move down as needed. Remember that Default needs to be at the end.

 

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Expand each of them to see the connection settings.

 

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Currently each rule is still set to use standard. Select the standard.j141 shown under the ColFlg-4in Gage Rule set and right-click > Select Connection Parameters.

Select the Gage=4_inches.j141 attribute and click OK.

 

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Repeat this for the ColFlg-5-1/2in Gage rule set, and select the Gage=5.5_inches.j141 attribute. When you are done the AutoDefaults Setup dialog should appear like this.

 

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Click Apply, and OK to close the dialog.

Now test these settings. Delete any components that may be on the beams and columns. Highight the parts and go to Detailing > AutoConnection > Create Connections. For the connection selection choose AC Example, and for the parameters selection choose AD Example. Click Create connections.

 

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Check the angle sizes and the bolt gages and they should be different for the two columns.

Other benefits

When components are applied using AutoConnection and AutoDefaults, if you go to the General tab of the component dialog box we can see that the rule groups are specified there.

 

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What this means is that the connection will change according to these rule groups if the parts they are linked to change. Double-click on the smaller column and change it to the same W12X65 as the other. When you click Modify, the component will change to now have different clip angle sizes and a 5”1/2 C/C distance.

Even more, if your AutoConnection rules were defined properly, if the column changes to a different type, like an HSS column, the component can change from one type to another (141 to 146) automatically. So not only can AutoConnection and AutoDefaults make initial detailing much faster, it can make model changes much easier to manage.

Important Notes

  • Rule sets in both AutoConnection and AutoDefault are hierarchical – so the order they are placed is important. Rules that are met first will be applied and later rules that may also meet the criteria will be ignored.
  • Rule sets can have sub-rule sets as well.
  • Modifying AutoConnection creates a file in the models attributes folder called rules.zxt. This file can be saved to a model template or Firm folder for future use.
  • Modifying AutoDefaults creates a file in the attributes folder called defaults.zxt. This file can also be saved to a model template or Firm folder for future use.
  • Make sure you test your rules against a number of different framing conditions – you may have to make your rules more specific or create additional rules for unforseen situations.
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