convert TEKLA model to other formats

[ImagineerGr]

Hi there,

BASIC IDEA:
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I want to export a TEKLA model (small steel structure with connections etc...) and import it to a FEA program such as ALGOR. I can easily design complex steel structures and connections with TEKLA, so the basic idea is to export the geometry from TEKLA and import it to a FEA program.


I want to export the Tekla model to a format that will be imported from ALGOR (for example .sat , .STEP etc).

I tried to export the TEKLA model to a 3D dwg model but the 3D model is not quite solid, it is structured from closed lines and polylines but this thing is not quite a solid so I can import it to ALGOR.

I tried several programs for this transformation such as TransMagic R7, Cadfix 7.1 without any result.

Any ideas to make this transformation work?

Thanks in advance.

 

[johnhors]

I don't know of anyone who uses DWG for 3D solids , have you tried IGES ? Are you allowed to post the file ?

 

[GBor]

IGES should work so long as it is trimmed surface (144 entities?). I have also successfully imported .sat and .step files.

It depends a great deal on how TEKLA (not familiar with that software) writes the export geometry no matter which FEA package you are reading in to. Complex surfaces are not generally well-described. I recommend you build a very simple model in TEKLA and once you find an export format that works, slowly make the model more complicated.