Fireproofing in Tekla Structural Designer

With Structural Engineers typically concerned primarily with the strength and stiffness of a structure, it can be difficult to give the necessary attention to secondary aspects such as Fireproofing and how this affects the structure. Not only does Fireproofing add additional weight to the structure, but it will also change the surface area of the members. Often the additional weight aspect is handled via area loading, but this can often lack accuracy and be over-conservative. Worse yet, simply applying additional area loading does nothing to account for the adjusted surface area which can have a significant effect on how Open Wind Loading is applied, specifically for industrial structures. To better account for this and provide a more accurate solution, Tekla Structural Designer (TSD) now offers the ability to apply fire-resistant insulation material to the surface of structural members! This new feature adds the facility to apply such fireproofing to all 1D members in the model with the definition of its distribution, thickness and density. The fireproofing increases both the weight and surface area of members. The additional member self-weight is automatically calculated, reported and included in the analysis, and the resulting enlarged surface of the member is also considered by the new Open Structure Wind Loading feature. View the short video above to see Fireproofing within TSD in action!