Studies, calculations and reports are an integral part of Polartek's activities as a consultant for domestic energy utilisation. The company has replaced homemade spreadsheets with quick-to-use report templates from Tekla Tedds.
Polartek Oy was established in 1975. The company is headquartered in Oulu, with branches in Varkaus, Jyväskylä, Kotka, Kokkola and Helsinki, and subsidiaries in Kemi and Oulu.
- Polartek provides consultancy services for the challenges of domestic energy utilisation, says Jorma Hopia, Head of Design in the company's Structural Design Unit, who has strong Tekla experience from his previous career and also develops components for the manufacturing industry.
- "All our structural design is done on the basis of data models and, as a rule, with Tekla Structures," Hopia continues. Tekla Tedds was introduced at Polartek in 2018, when the company established a structural design unit through a business acquisition. Before that, we pretty much used our own Excel spreadsheets and clunky programs that gave us immediate results by entering output data. Tekla Tedds has the same idea of rapid action, plus parameterised functionality.
- The implementation of Tekla Tedds in the company is consistent, and each dialogue is quite clearly guided. We use the predefined calculation bases that come with the software, and we also have dimensioning bases developed under the supervision of the engineering department," says Hopia.
Tekla Tedds makes it quick to check that the output and calculation parameters are correct from the start
- As consultants, we sell our time, but for some reason, the practical design work is always very busy," says Hopia. "The fast calculation of wind load calculations is a major benefit, and another benefit is that the calculation report provides a really agile and clear printout of the input data for the post-calculation. Tasks are chained and staged for different designers, and Tekla Tedds saves time in the review process. The software makes it quick to check that the output and calculation parameters are correct from the start.
Tekla Tedds shows the formulas and norm points used in the calculation. This facilitates third-party verification, as the calculation process can be followed very accurately.
- We use Tekla Tedds pretty much on a daily basis, for example in the calculation of various warehouses and other steel frame structures. Further development is still needed for perimeter distribution calculations. The program provides agile printing of wind pressure pressure maps and load cases, but the parameterisation needs to be further developed, as the actual analysis is done with other programs. The independent verification of structural design pays attention to the loads at which the analysis is performed, and without documentation the loads can be forgotten, leading to discrepancies at the verification stage; the final result will not match the original calculations," Hopia points out.
- The calculation report must have references and the actual check must have the calculation basis, and the calculator is responsible for ensuring that they correspond to the correct item and year.
Tekla Tedds is an affordable software that adds value to your business
- Certain tasks require certified software, and Tekla Tedds is so far more of a self-service standard-based calculation report, where we enter the parameters ourselves and the results are checked more thoroughly than usual, says Hopia. "For the Finnish market, it would be good to ensure that the reports made with the software are definitely approved in the verification process. Dimensioning sheets for concrete and steel structures could bear the verification stamps of the relevant national associations. In any case, our aim is to further refine the Tekla Tedds calculation templates tailored to our own operations and to abandon the xls templates altogether.
- Tekla Tedds is an affordable program that doesn't cost thousands, but adds value to the company, Hopia sums up. "For us, one of the biggest benefits is definitely the fast printing of reports. The calculation reports quickly include enough project-specific information to easily identify what the calculation is about. The user interface guides the progression of the calculation steps so that the calculation process itself can be grouped consistently in a clear logical order that suits the engineer, including geometry classes, loads, durability conditions and results. Tekla Tedds is suitable for an operator who is able to maintain his own calculation bases, although the predefined bases that come with the software can be used to cover the costs. The greatest benefit is gained by developing a little on your own, and this is where we hope Trimble will provide training.
Tekla Tedds 3 calculation bases without which a designer cannot get by:
1. Wind loads 2. Sensor setups 3. Retaining wall calculation
Try Tekla Tedds for free for 30 days.
See our Tekla Tedds webinar "Make your structural calculations more efficient".
Read the article "Tekla Tedds - An indispensable but forgotten product for structural engineers".
