Moment, bracing and splice connections

Beam ends are not the only connections a building has. Design connection also lists the moment ends, the vertical bracing, the horizontal bracing and the beam and column splices in your open Tekla model, and designs each of them to AISC 360-16 in the same designer as a beam end.

Find them

1. Click Structure → Design connection.
2. The strip across the top names the kind of joint: Beam ends, Moment ends, Vertical bracing, Horizontal bracing, Splices and Base plates. Pick one.
3. Each row is a typical: one detail, and every place in the model it serves.

Tab	What is listed
Moment ends	Every beam end a plan marks as a moment connection, grouped by beam, support and how it frames. A fixed end is listed here and not under Beam ends.
Vertical bracing	Every brace end at a column and a beam (a corner gusset), or at a beam where a second brace meets it (a chevron gusset).
Horizontal bracing	Every plan brace end at a column or a beam (a plan gusset).
Splices	Every place where two beams meet on one line with nothing under them, and every place where one column stands on another.

┌───────────┬─────────────┬──────────────────┬────────────────────┬─────────┐
│ Beam ends │ Moment ends │ Vertical bracing │ Horizontal bracing │ Splices │
└───────────┴─────────────┴──────────────────┴────────────────────┴─────────┘

W18X50 to W14X90 column flange   4 places  B-12, B-14   FPB   [Locate] [Detail] [View / redesign]
W21X44 to W14X90 column flange   2 places                not settled   [Locate] [Detail] [Design]

A row whose sizes Fablnx cannot design says why on its Design button — for example a brace section the engine has no gusset for, or a column with no size in the model.

A moment end comes from the drawings

A beam end is a moment end when the plan marks it as one — the triangle where the beam meets its support. Run Detect moment connections on the plan, or set the end yourself in the scene, and it moves from Beam ends to Moment ends.

Design one

Click Design on a typical. The designer opens on the members your model states, with a conventional connection as a starting point.

• Connection, at the top of the left side, picks the family. Only the families that suit this joint are offered — a moment end at a column flange is offered welded flanges, bolted or welded flange plates and an end plate.
• Below it are the values you can change: the loads, the members, and the plates, bolts and welds the family has. A box appears only when the family uses it.
• The design runs as you type: every check that applies runs as soon as you stop changing a value, and the drawings, the 3D model and the checks follow — no button to press.
• Alternatives, under the drawing, lists the nearby changes that make the connection pass — bolt rows and sizes, plate and gusset thicknesses, and the beam's shear connection inside a moment or brace design. Apply puts one in.
• Report builds the calculation, check by check, ready to print.

Enter the forces the engineer of record gives you — the moment, the shear, the brace forces. The values the designer opens on are a starting point, not loads from your job.

Settle it

When the design passes, press Settle. The design is kept on the typical, so every place it serves takes the same connection. The row then shows its family code, and View / redesign opens it again as it was settled.

Only a design that passes can be settled. Moment, bracing and splice connections do not go into the connection package — the package holds beam-end connections.

Put it in the model

Press Detail on a settled row. Fablnx writes the design into the open Tekla model at every place of the typical, and tells you what it built.

Design	In Tekla
Moment end plate at a column flange — flat (not haunched), fillet-welded, four bolts at each flange	Built, as the end plate moment connection (component 144)
Bolted flange plates at a column flange	Built, as the bolted flange plate moment connection (component 134)
Bolted flange plate beam splice	Built, as the bolted beam splice (component 77)
End plate beam splice — two end plates bolted face to face	Built, as joining plates (component 14): both plates as deep as the beam, the flanges groove-welded (CJP) or filleted as designed, the web filleted. A splice between two beam sizes, or with a gap between the plates, is not built.
Bolted flange plate column splice, with or without inner plates	Built, as the bolted column splice (component 132)
Directly welded column splice — flanges and web groove welded (CJP)	Built, as the column site weld splice (component 137): one groove weld round the section. Tekla adds its own erection lugs; they are erection aids, not part of the design — agree them with the erector. A welded column splice with web plates is not built.
Welded flange plate moment connection at a column flange	Built, as the moment connection (component 181)
Column web doubler of a moment design	Built, as the doubler plate (detail 1022) on the column web, one or both sides, between the column flanges and between the stiffeners, every edge welded with the doubler weld you state. A doubler that extends past the stiffeners is not built: the design gives no length for it.
Column base plate	Built, as the base plate (detail 1004) at the foot of each column, with the plate washer on each rod (the one you state, or the Table 14-2 one) under a nut and washer of the rod size. Rods larger than 1-1/2 in are not built: Tekla has no nut for them.
Corner brace — an HSS brace on a bolted knife plate, at a column flange	Built, as the corner tube gusset (component 56), then checked as built (below)
Corner brace — a WT bolted by its flange, or a single angle, at a column flange	Built, as the corner bolted gusset (component 57), then checked as built (below). An unequal-leg angle is built only when its short leg is the bolted leg.
Chevron — two HSS braces on knife plates under a beam	Built, as the tube gusset (component 20), then checked as built (below)
Plan (horizontal) brace — a single angle or a WT bolted to a gusset welded to both webs, where a beam frames into a girder	Built, as the corner bolted gusset (component 57) laid flat just under the top flanges, the brace hanging below it, then checked as built (below). A plan gusset bolted to the top flanges, and an HSS plan brace, are not built.
Every other moment, bracing and splice design	Designed in Fablnx, not built. The report after Detail says why for each one.

A brace is checked on the gusset Tekla built

Tekla's corner gussets work out the size of the gusset themselves, from the bolts and plates Fablnx gives it. So after Detail, Fablnx reads the gusset back from the model and checks your settled design on the gusset that was actually built. The brace row shows the result:

• As built: 2 gussets pass — every gusset Tekla built carries the design.
• As built: 1 of 2 do not pass — hover it to see which gusset, its size, and the check that governs. Redesign the typical (a thicker gusset or more bolts) and press Detail again.

Any other brace is designed in Fablnx and not built; model it in Tekla from the design and its report.

Ask the copilot

The copilot can do every step here: list the typicals of a category, open the designer on one, fill in the values from the drawings, design it, and settle a design that passes. Ask it, for example, "design the moment ends at grid C from the moment table on S-501".