Tekla Structures in Practice: "4 Temps Commercial Centre"

Tekla is a leading international software company whose innovative software solutions make customers’ core businesses more effective. Tekla’s software products and related services are used mostly in building and construction, but also in energy distribution and by municipalities. Tekla Corporation has area offices and partner organizations worldwide. International operations account for 75 percent of net sales. Founded in 1966, Tekla is one of the oldest software companies in Finland.

Case Study

The monumental Quatre-Temps shopping mall at La Défense is one of the most frequented centers of its kind in the Paris region. It has been extended by 8,000 sq mt and linked, via a walkway, to a cinema complex. This extension has been achieved by expanding upwards above the Place du Dôme with the aid of an 800 ton metal framework. The company Gagne used the Tekla Structures software to model these complex frameworks (3 items modeled simultaneously), thus ensuring highly effective detailing and optimised fabrication of this exceptional structure.

The new section for the shopping mall, housing the restaurant area, is an expanse of glazed facades decked with awnings and includes two light wells covered with glass canopies. The larger is in the shape of a truncated cone, 31m in diameter, which appears to be suspended from a tapered mast emerging obliquely 11 meters above the opaque canted section which tops the glass canopy. Weighing 90 tonne, this freestanding structure is shaped like a circular crown made of plate web girders supporting tubular Vierendeel girders, themselves supported at the top by the opaque disk fabricated from underpinned H girders. The 34-meter long central mast is stayed top and bottom and skims a pool at its lowest point. The whole has been installed as a single assembly. The second glass roof, which is 19 meters in diameter, is based on the same principle but with no central mast.

Tekla Structures offers several highly desirable functions for this type of projects. The first is management of anchor bolts and multilevel assemblies, taking into account their location and load. Thus any modification to elements requiring connection means that the corresponding anchor bolt is automatically updated and a record of the modification retained. The second function is the possibility to integrate the results of structural calculations obtained via other software packages directly into the 3D model, after validation. The third function is automatic definition of the anchor bolts based on simple principles, such as the loads or stresses calculated by the software or the attributes of the elements to be connected. For example, a table defining the selection of anchor bolts based on admissible loads in the profiles can be used. The detail designer can therefore concentrate on the essential part of the work, avoiding tedious and time–consuming operations. The data can then be transferred directly to numerically–controlled machines as the 3D software guarantees absolute reliability of the information. This also means that data can be routed upstream to guarantee increased efficiency at the fabrication stage, for example, according to the materials available, the tools used, etc.

3D models are generated using Tekla Structures.

• Once defined, the 3D model may be enhanced by each of the contributors according to his area of competence.
• The model can quickly be viewed remotely via a rapid internet interface.
• The 3D model can be viewed from any angle using the zoom option.
• Each group of elements can be identified by a particular color to facilitate assembly.
• The model allows variants to be tested and the results foreseen.
• A section can be taken of any part of the model, with the option to vary the position and angle of the section drawing.
• The zoom option shows the finer details, up to the pins or assembly bolts, which have their own integrated references. Definition of anchor bolts may also be automated.