"This project is fascinating! It shows how art and engineering can organically merge to turn an ordinary steel structure from drab to brilliant." said architecture expert Aarni Heiskanen, member of the jury of the 2020 Tekla BIM Global Modeling Competition.
Russian steel design and fabrication company Belenergomash has won the Tekla Award for Best Small Project for its uniquely shaped transmission tower project . Transmission towers are typically steel lattice structures, and most towers around the world look pretty much the same. But there are exceptions, like this one in Belgorod, Russia.
Located on the banks of the Vizelka River, this transmission tower has a striking design that consists of the two main elements of the City of Belgorod's logo: the silver eagle with spreading wings and the yellow lion standing. It is part of a project to improve the city's infrastructure. The tower is 26.3 meters high and illuminates both the city and the sky.
Tekla Structures is at the heart of the work
The tower was designed and manufactured by Belenergomash, a subsidiary of Russian steel giant OMK. Typical examples of the company's work include the Lakhta Center skyscraper in St. Petersburg and five stadiums for the 2018 World Cup. The company has also designed and manufactured other transmission towers with interesting and vivid shapes: one in the shape of a soccer player and another in the shape of a skier (Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics).
Belenergomash employs around 3,600 people, nearly a third of whom are involved in the design and production of steel structures. Since 2008, the company has been using Tekla Structures software to handle the work.
"We use Tekla software to design steel structures and concrete foundations. tekla also helps us create design solutions for calculations." said Dmitry Dolzhenkov, Tekla software technical support specialist at Belenergomash.
"We use Tekla Structures in many of our jobs, including steel deepening, part drawing, creating assembly plans, and exporting DSTV files to our shop." He says, "It's not just our fabricators who use the software; our technicians, planners, and salespeople all use Tekla models in their work. We rely on Tekla at all stages of production. the software also interacts with other programs used by our customers to calculate loads and demands."
Learn more: How Sisttemex uses BIM for steel tower production
Accurate design and fast construction
The Belenergomash team worked quickly through the first half of 2019 to complete the construction of the City of Belgorod's transmission tower in time for its official dedication on August 5, the city's annual day of celebration. Design work began in February, the steel structure was molded in May, fabricated in June, and built in July.
The tower's steel weighs 33 tons and consists of more than 5,800 individual parts. The transmission tower uses a total of 5,869 parts for support, assembly, welding and is connected with 5,805 bolts. The base consists of 28 six-meter reinforced concrete piles assembled together. The entire structure is mounted on a 91 cubic meter reinforced concrete foundation. The steel is protected from corrosion by hot-dip galvanizing technology.
Dolzhenkov said, "We have full confidence in the accuracy of the components produced and assembled by Tekla Structures, and our facility did not need to perform any assembly testing on the transmission tower components before delivering them to the site."
"We exported the IFC model from Tekla with additional attribute information, and the field team used Trimble Connect to identify components and bolts for quick installation. Because of the accuracy of the model and its components, the field team was able to get up and running quickly and according to the assembly plan."
"We have full confidence in the accuracy of the components produced and assembled by Tekla Structures, and our factory did not need to perform any assembly tests on the transmission tower components before delivering them to the site."
Dmitry Dolzhenkov, Tekla Support Specialist at Belenergomash
Dolzhenkov said, "We enjoy working with the world's best BIM software for steel structures, especially for unique, complex geometric projects. This is the first time we have participated in the Tekla BIM Global Modeling Competition and won, and we are proud of that."
