ProSteel - Substation Structural Solution

Introduction:

The primary purpose of the solution is to offer a complete structural solution to Chinese power design institutes. Many of these institutes are already using STAAD.Pro for structural analysis and design and Bentley Substation for electrical design. But, the workflow was not integrated, requiring manual data exchange. The solution offers complete solution by integrating three major components of the workflow.

1)Structural modeling of substation structures along with connection detailing and fabrication drawings

2)Structural analysis and design as per Chinese design standards

3)Placing structural models in Bentley Substation and auto creation of hook points to layout cables

As name suggests, this solution is mainly focused on structural components of substation design. After surveying many engineers and conducting extensive research, we formulated a solution which we think should offer the followings:

1)A physical modeling system for all structural frames and components

2)Use trusted structural analysis and design programs

3)Latest guidelines and design standards

4)Inbuilt library of standards frames and connections

5)Automatic drawing generation along with bill of materials

6)Use of real structural frames inside Bentley Substation

7)Auto generation of hook points

8)Design of foundations

Bentley’s ProStructures product was chosen to address modeling as well as detailing and drawing requirements. STAAD.Pro along with SSDD were the default choice for structural analysis and design requirements including substation specific load generations and design checks. Finally Bentley Substation was updated to host structural frames generated in ProStructures.

1)ProStructures: physical modeling of structural frames, connection detailing, drawing and BOM

2)STAAD.Pro: three dimensional frame analysis

3)SSDD: wind and seismic load generation, load combination, design checks and optimization

4)Bentley Substation: electrical design of substation infrastructure

Workflow Diagram:

Structural Synchronizer or ISM was used to integrate all the products to create an efficient workflow. The following diagram describes the workflow.

Structural frames can be modeled in ProStructures by using smart wizards or manually. ISM is used to transfer physical model to STAAD.Pro. A simplified new version of SSDD is now available to cater very specific requirements of Substation design, based on Chinese design standards. Wind load, seismic load and load combination generation wizards are implemented to apply loads. Frame members are resized during code checks and final sizes are exported back to ISM repository. ProStructures imports final model and adds steel connections to the physical model. Different drawings including fabrication drawing can be generated using inbuilt powerful drawing center.

STAAD Foundation Advanced imports STAAD.Pro model for foundation design. It supports Chinese concrete design standards to design common foundations like isolated footing, combined foundation, pile cap and mat foundation.

The final ProStructures model can be placed in Bentley Substation to generate hook points and layout flexible cables between hook points.

Suggested step by step workflow:

A new ‘Substation” group now hosts 24 frames and connections to play the central role in “Substation Structural” workflow. The frames and connections are listed below. For detailed description, please review the relevant section of the help file. Substations frames and trusses support dual model status, “Physical model” used for the detailing and “Analytical model” for the data exchange with STAAD.

  1. Model substation components without connections

  2. Prepare model to be transferred for analysis by running the convert command. This command automatically
  3. Switches substation frames & trusses from physical to analytical model and adds connecting shapes where supporting points are required between trusses and frames.
  4. Splices on frame legs are relocated to create a connection point with horizontal members.
  5. Readjust truss brace members to center of gravity line while ignoring gaps and offsets.
  6. Disable editing of substation components in analytical model state
  7. Send to ISM or Structural Synchronizer
  8. Import ISM model into STAAD.Pro, apply changes if required and update ISM model.
  9. Note: only size changes are accepted for this solution to insure data synchronization integrity between ProStructures and STAAD.Pro models.

  1. Wind load and load combinations are generated in SSDD as per Chinese design standards

  1. Perform design check and optimize member sizes in SSDD, update member sizesin STAAD.Pro and finally update ISM repository

  1. Updating ProStructuresmodel from ISM, automatically updates any/all shape size changes for trusses and frames.
  2. Convert Analytical model to Physical model and continue modeling by adding connections
  3. At any time ProStructuresmodels can be attached as reference to Bentley Substation projects and hook point are inserted by detecting PS truss load points from the reference model
  1. Drawing and BOM can be created using traditional ProStructurestools and methods

List ofProStructures connections

The following substation specific standard connections are now added in ProStructures for connection modeling, detailing and drawing generation.

Connection Name / Description / Representative image
Combination horizontal brace connection / This connection can also be used on any pipe or hollow HSS tubes as supporting shapes, and equal or unequal angles as connecting shapes /
CoverPlate connection / This connection can be placed on any horizontal, vertical, sloping or skewed pipes or square, rectangular and circular hollow shapes /
Multi frame connection / This tool lets users generate a series/array of identical Symmetric A Frames, Trestles, Vertical A Frames or Single Frames in one process /
Double brace connection / It can be used on triangular and rectangular substation trusses to connect bracing members with chords. /
Double frame cap / It is used as a cap to be placed on symmetric A-Frames and Trestles /
Double leg brace connection / This tool can also be used on any pipe or hollow HSS tubes as supporting shapes, and equal or unequal angles as connecting shapes /
Horizontal support plate / This tool can be placed along any vertical, sloping or skewed pipes or square, rectangular and circular hollow shapes /
Lightning rod / Lightning Rods can be placed on a Single frame, Symmetric A Frame, Vertical A Frame, Trestle or by specifying a point /
Simple Structure / The Simple Structureis a parametric tool to create simple frames. /
Single brace connection / This tool can also be used on any pipe or hollow HSS tubes as supporting shapes, and equal or unequal angles as connecting shapes /
Single frame cap / Single Frame Caps can be placed on any vertical, sloping or skewed pipes or square, rectangular and circular hollow shapes /
Single leg brace connection / This tool can also be used on any pipe or hollow HSS tubes as supporting horizontal brace shapes, and equal or unequal angles as connecting shapes /
Single Frame connection / SingleFrameis a parametric tool which can be used to create a vertical leg frame /
Symmetric A-Frame / This tool can be used to create a symmetric A-Frame for substation structures /
Trestle frame / This tool can be used to create a Trestle frame for substation structures /
Trestle Cap Plate / This is a parametric tool to connect all trestle legs by a cap plate /
Triple BraceA connection / This tool can be used on any pipe or hollow HSS tubes as supporting shape, and equal or unequal angles as connecting shapes, provided that the connecting shape(s) are pre-offset from the center of the supporting shape by the plate thickness. /
Truss Builder / This tool is used for creating single beam trusses, triangular or rectangular box trusses. Trusses can be created by specifying start and end points followed by the vertical direction of the truss or by selecting substation frames (Trestle, Vertical Frame, A-Frame or Single Frame). When using the frame selection method, both selected frames must be perpendicular or parallel to each other, and their centers should be inline. /
Truss Connector / This tool lets users automatically populate Single, Double and Triple brace connections throughout substation triangular and rectangular trusses.
Users can select a mix of any number of substation triangular and rectangular trusses. /
Truss Support / This tool can be used to generate a truss support parametrically /
Vertical A-Frame / This tool can be used to create a specialized vertical frame where one of the legs is vertical. /
Vertical A-Frame Cap / This tool can be used to generate a cap for vertical A-frame parametrically /
Brace Support Plate / This tool is used to generate brace support plates on Symmetric A Frames, Vertical A Framesand Trestle, or any horizontal shape, preferably pipes or square, rectangular and circular hollow shapes. /

SSDD for Substation

A new program is now created to cater very specific needs of substation design as per Chinese standards. The major features which were added are:

1)Structure type recognition

  1. Automatically recognition Truss Beam, A-Frame and Lightning Rod;
  2. User can assign the rules when recognition member type, for example, use can assign the group name to recognition:
  3. LightningRod prefix means Lightning Rod
  4. FrameColumn prefix means Column
  5. TrussBeam prefix means Beam

2)Wind load generation

  1. The wind load wizard in SSDD can generate all the wind load types based on DL/T 5457-2012
  2. Generation four directional wind load, these wind load cases will be used in automatic load combination

3)Load combination generation

  1. SSDD can automatically generate load combination as perDL/T 5457-2012
  2. Use keywords to separate different load case type
  3. Auto load combination can generate two kinds type of load combinations, one for forces check, the other for displacement check

4)Design parameters templates

  1. Program includes default design templates for A-Frame, trestle, truss member, lightning Rod, Truss Beam etc.

5)Design checks

  1. Perform design checks as per GB 50017-2003
  2. Member Stability check as per DL/T 5457-2012
  3. Displacement check as per DL/T 5457-2012

Bentley Substation enhancements

Bentley Substation program can now reference ProStructures models, so a realistic structural model can be used instead of a place holder. Hook points can be generated using enhanced hook point tool to layout flexible cables between hook points. The new “Update” button in “Hook Points Manager” UI allows user to modify existed hook points by type, color and rotation settings.

Generate HookPoints from LoadPoints:

This feature covers the requirements of generating hook points from load points.

Feature summary:

  1. The Load points can be added in Truss Builder while creating the model in ProStructures
  2. The Load points include coordinates of hook points along with load case information.

User can define load points in the table above. Left table can be used to define load points and their position.In future, we plan to implement the force assignment table to define load case information for every load point. Please note that the relation between left table and right table will be 'one row to multiple rows',

Details of left table:

  • Points: itrepresents load point index and non-editable
  • X Offset: it defines the load point offset position in the direction of the chord length
  • BF column: option to apply load on the front side of the bottom chord
  • BB column: option to apply load on the back side of the bottom chord
  • TF column: option to apply load on the front side of the top chord
  • TB column: option to apply load on the back side of the top chord
  • YOffset: load point offset in Y direction, where Y axis is vertically up
  • ZOffset: load point offset in Z direction, where Z axis is out of plane going into the plane
  • Add: add a new load point
  • Remove button: delete the selected load point
  • Points Count: number of load points
  • Same Offset: reset x, y and z offsets for all load points
  • Show Load Points: toggle to show load points
  1. ProStructures model may include truss builder along with load point information. Bentley Substation program can reference that model and can generate hook points
  2. The Hook Point Manager dialog in Bentley Substation can be used to create hook points based on the load points

Top view:

Front view:

3d view:

Workflow:

Generate Hook point:

Refresh Hook point: