Today, I would like to introduce you to Tekla, the software developed by Trimble. Tekla Structures was originally created by Teknilline Laskenta, a Polish company founded in 1966. The name “Tekla” is an abbreviation for the company’s commercial software and was officially adopted in 1980. Initially, Tekla focused on Automatic Data Processing (ADP) consulting, software development, engineering calculations, and training.
In 2011, Tekla was acquired by Trimble, a company established in 1978 that specializes in GPS (Global Positioning System) equipment and technology. Trimble expanded into engineering industries starting in 1982, and the acquisition of Tekla in July 2011 helped strengthen its project management capabilities and support the growing demand for Building Information Modeling (BIM) solutions.
Tekla released its first engineering computation planning software in 1990, known as the “X” product series. This lineup initially included Xroad for road design and Xcity for urban planning. In 1993, the company launched Xsteel, a software dedicated to steel structure design. Over the years, Tekla Structures evolved from Xsteel’s 3D steel structure design foundation and was officially launched in 2004.
Today, Tekla Structures offers standard design modules widely used for general design tasks. These include steel structure detailing, precast concrete detailing, and reinforced concrete detailing, all tailored for structural engineers. Additionally, Tekla provides a building management module that supports project classification, construction planning, management, conflict and collision detection. It also offers API integration, enabling compatibility with various data types and other system information.
Tekla is extensively used in construction engineering for steel structure design, allowing for detailed structural modeling. It supports tasks such as conceptual review of steel components, detailed steel reinforcement layouts, interference checks, and combined model analysis. The software can generate material quantity lists and simulate model changes throughout different project phases.
Tekla supports a wide range of CAD formats, including DWG, DGN, and XML, which are commonly used in the industry. However, a dedicated facility management and maintenance software for Tekla has not yet been developed. The software also includes IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) input and output functionality, primarily used for comparing design changes based on IFC models.
That concludes this introduction to Tekla by Trimble. I hope this overview has been helpful to everyone interested in this powerful engineering software.
Must log in before commenting!
Sign Up