Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013

Truss Cambering Tool

1. Purpose and description
Trusses are often fabricated with their boom beams pre-cambered. Once a truss is erected
and subject to dead and working loads, its booms deflect into resting position and the lacing
beams are compressed.

Using this component, the user may create a cambered truss from an existing truss in the
model. It allows the truss to be modeled in its theoretical position, whilst having the output
describe the truss in the fabricated un-deflected state. From user-specified cambers for the
top and bottom booms, appropriate Shorten UDA values are set on each lacing member
connecting between booms.
After a truss is cambered using this tool, the companion Truss Cambering Diagram plug in
can add a cambering diagram to any assembly drawing of the truss.

2. System requirements
Tekla Structures
.NET Framework version: 4.0
Environments: Default



3. Installation
To install the extension:
1. Close Tekla Structures.
2. Install the extension using the appropriate 32bit (x86) or 64bit Truss Cambering
Tool installation package.

















Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013
4. Usage

To use the Truss Cambering Tool component:

For the tool to be used, it is assumed that the beams in the truss are already added to the
model, and that all the neutral axes of these beams share a vertical plane (up to certain
tolerances, which may be adjusted in the dialog.) Each beam must be either part of the top
boom, part of the bottom boom, or a lacing beam connecting the top boom to the bottom
boom.

1. Open the Component Catalog (Ctrl + F).
2. Either use 'Search' or browse the 'Plugins' category to find the Truss Cambering Tool
extension.
3. Double-click on the icon to open the dialog and set the preferred parameters in the
normal way. (Use 'Save As' to save defaults).
4. When it starts, the tool will prompt the user to select beams and points in the following
order:
4.1. The beams making up the top boom. When these are selected, press the middle
mouse button or Enter.
4.2. The point at which the top boom camber, as specified in the dialog, should be
applied.
4.3. The beams making up the bottom boom. When these are selected, press the middle
mouse button or Enter.
4.4. The point at which the bottom boom camber should be applied.
4.5. The lacing beams between the top and bottom: these are the beams that will receive
the calculated Shorten UDAs. When these are selected, press the middle mouse
button or Enter.
At any point, the command may be terminated by pressing Esc or selecting Interrupt.

The easiest way to view the results is to use add Camber and Shorten UDAs to Part labels in
model views:



Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013


(Remember to use the template names "cambering" and "xs_shorten" for these UDAs).

To change the camber values for a truss already cambered, double-click its component icon
(or right-click and select Properties), edit the cambers, and click Modify.
5. Component properties
The dialog can be used to set the tool attributes. These give the boom camber distances at
the defined points, and tolerances that guard against unsuitable use.
Property Description
Top boom camber At the top boom camber placement point, this is
the distance that the top boom will drop.
Bottom boom camber At the bottom boom camber placement point, this
is the distance that the bottom boom will drop.
Boom out of 2D truss plane tolerance If a neutral axis end point of a boom beam is
greater than this distance from the vertical plane
of the truss, an error is assumed.
Lacing end to boom tolerance If a neutral axis end point of a lacing is greater
than this distance from any boom beam, this will
be assumed invalid as a lacing.
Maximum slope for camber UDA A boom beam will receive a camber UDA only if
its slope is less than this angle and is the only
beam in the boom. Otherwise the camber UDA is
set blank.


Copyright 2013 Tekla Corporation January 2013
6. Calculation of lacing shortenings
A standard approximation for estimating the drop distances along the length of a truss boom
is that they follow a parabola. The tool uses this to estimate the drop distance of each lacing
end. From these, it calculates the length each lacing should be fabricated, and suitable
shorten values.

For both booms, the tool calculates
its solid extents,
the ratio along the boom of the camber placement point, and
the maximum camber.

For each lacing end point, the tool calculates
the ratio along the closest boom,
its drop distance, and
the point at which the erected lacing end would be.

The lacing shorten values is then the difference in lengths of the modelled beam and the
erected beam.


7. Additional information
All lacings must connect the top boom to the bottom boom. It does not handle spliced
lacings.
If you do need to move a truss cambered with tool, the camber placement points will
not move with the beams. One can "Save as" from the dialog, delete the component,
and then apply the tool again.