Tall buildings can be incredibly challenging projects to deliver. As the height and complexity increases, so does the margin for error. Here, William Hulme, Account Manager, Structures Division, at Trimble explores how multi-material software, connected workflows and intelligent digital features can help engineers design with confidence and reduce risk.
Tall buildings push structural engineering to its limits, with dozens of disciplines, materials and stages to coordinate. The moment work has to be repeated or analysis carried out across different products or platforms, the risk for human error or data silos becomes a very real concern.
It is for this reason that multi-material software like Trimble’s Tekla Structural Designer can be so valuable, placing the emphasis firmly on connectivity, productivity and accuracy, providing teams with confidence in the completed model.
Staged construction analysis
Recognising the changing state of a structure over time, staged construction analysis (SCA) is particularly relevant for taller concrete buildings, whereby the building is constructed in clear storey-based stages. SCA blends the strengths of traditional subframe analysis with modern 3D analysis, identifying that loads, stiffness, and member behaviour do not appear all at once but instead evolve with each new pour, connection or floor.
While it offers greater accuracy and insight into how a building behaves during and after construction, managing the complexity manually can be time-consuming. Tools like Tekla Structural Designer integrate SCA directly into the core analysis and design workflow, making it an accessible and valuable strategy for modern structural engineering projects. Engineers can define construction stages, apply time-dependent loading and analyse the structure's response all within a single model environment.
Footfall Analysis
Footfall is a major source of vibration in buildings, so assessing its impact is especially important for commercial spaces, such as offices, hospitals or laboratories. Tekla Structural Designer offers rigorous footfall analysis, allowing the dynamic evaluation of floor performance and comparison of different scenarios, without needing to remodel the floor.
One of its standout features is the ability to integrate footfall analysis seamlessly into the overall structural design process. Engineers can model complex structures and perform footfall assessments without needing to export data to external programs, saving time and reducing the risk of errors.
Grasshopper Live-link
Parametric or algorithmic modelling is a growing area within engineering, whereby you can use APIs to push geometry in and pull results out. Instead of a person manually modelling in Tekla Structural Designer (for example), a computer script sends the same instructions to the software: create node, create member, set section and run analysis.
Tekla Structural Designer offers a well-supported and valuable live link to Grasshopper, a powerful programming plug-in. Combined with modelling tool Rhino, it allows users to easily create and manipulate complex 3D models, offering a visual programming language – similar to a flow chart. This makes it a good entry point to coding and script writing. Scripts are becoming more relevant, a design and modelling approach that is expected to expand significantly with the rise of coding agents.
Try Tekla Structural Designer for 30 days FREE, here: https://bit.ly/4h2PAO7