Tekla Portal Frame Designer is now an integrated part of the Tekla software family. Integrating seamlessly with Tekla Structural Designer or acting as a stand alone application, Tekla Portal Designer is packed full of features and functionality that enable efficient and rigorous design to create cost effective design solutions for steel portal frame buildings. Trusted by UK Structural Engineers for portal frame design for over 30 year the product retains its unique elastic-plastic analysis approach to efficiently create single and multi-bay portal frame designs. Automated checks for sway, member stability and snap through are included along with automated loading for wind, snow, cranes, ties and parapets. Final designs can be communicated through clear and concise documentation that includes drawing and calculations.

Analysis and Design features:

• Easily produce both preliminary and detailed portal frame design options.
• Understand hinge history of the frame including hinge reversal and spurious mechanisms.
• Fully interactive member stability checks.
• Automate frame sway stability checks (including SCI P292 full second order elastic-plastic analysis).
• Integrate eaves, apex and base plate connections to BCSA/SCI Green Book.

Modelling features:

• Build your own steel portal frame.
• Choose from symmetric, asymmetric, propped, monopitch, mansards or flat top portal frames.
• Include valley beams, ties, cranes, floor beams and parapets as required.
• Select from pinned, fixed or partially fixed base conditions.
• Optimise haunches from rolled sections or plated sections.

Loading features:

• Apply dead and imposed load cases automatically.
• Calculate wind loading and snow loading to BS6399 automatically
• Easily apply notional horizontal loading for sway stability.