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:
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A physical modeling system for all structural frames and components
Use trusted structural analysis and design programs
Latest guidelines and design standards
Inbuilt library of standards frames and connections
Automatic drawing generation along with bill of materials
Use of real structural frames inside Bentley Substation
Auto generation of hook points
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.
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ProStructures: physical modeling of structural frames, connection detailing, drawing and BOM
STAAD.Pro: three dimensional frame analysis
SSDD: wind and seismic load generation, load combination, design checks and optimization
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
a. Switches substation frames & trusses from physical to analytical model and adds
connecting shapes where supporting points are required between trusses and frames.
b. Splices on frame legs are relocated to create a connection point with horizontal
members.
c. Readjust truss brace members to center of gravity line while ignoring gaps and offsets.
d. Disable editing of substation components in analytical model state
3. Send to ISM or Structural Synchronizer
4. Import ISM model into STAAD.Pro, apply changes if required and update ISM model.
a. Note: only size changes are accepted for this solution to insure data synchronization
integrity between ProStructures and STAAD.Pro models.
b. Wind load and load combinations are generated in SSDD as per Chinese design
standards
c. Perform design check and optimize member sizes in SSDD, update member sizes in
STAAD.Pro and finally update ISM repository
5. Updating ProStructures model from ISM, automatically updates any/all shape size changes for
trusses and frames.
6. Convert Analytical model to Physical model and continue modeling by adding connections
7. At any time ProStructures models can be attached as reference to Bentley Substation projects
and hook point are inserted by detecting PS truss load points from the reference model
8. Drawing and BOM can be created using traditional ProStructures tools and methods
List of ProStructures connections
The following substation specific standard connections are now added in ProStructures for connection
modeling, detailing and drawing generation.
Connection Name
Combination horizontal brace
connection
Description
This connection can also be
used on any pipe or hollow HSS
tubes as supporting shapes, and
equal or unequal angles as
connecting shapes
Representative image
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 Structure is 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
Single Frame is 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 preoffset 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, AFrame 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.
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 Connector
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 Aframe parametrically
Brace Support Plate
This tool is used to generate
brace support plates on
Symmetric A Frames, Vertical A
Frames and 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
a. Automatically recognition Truss Beam, A-Frame and Lightning Rod;
b. User can assign the rules when recognition member type, for example, use can assign
the group name to recognition:
i. LightningRod prefix means Lightning Rod
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ii. FrameColumn prefix means Column
iii. TrussBeam prefix means Beam
Wind load generation
a. The wind load wizard in SSDD can generate all the wind load types based on DL/T 54572012
b. Generation four directional wind load, these wind load cases will be used in automatic
load combination
Load combination generation
a. SSDD can automatically generate load combination as per DL/T 5457-2012
b. Use key words to separate different load case type
c. Auto load combination can generate two kinds type of load combinations, one for forces
check, the other for displacement check
Design parameters templates
a. Program includes default design templates for A-Frame, trestle, truss member, lightning
Rod, Truss Beam etc.
Design checks
a. Perform design checks as per GB 50017-2003
b. Member Stability check as per DL/T 5457-2012
c. 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 Hook Points from Load Points:
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: it represents 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
 Y Offset: load point offset in Y direction, where Y axis is vertically up
 Z Offset: 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
3. ProStructures model may include truss builder along with load point information. Bentley
Substation program can reference that model and can generate hook points
4. 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:
Add Load Point in
ProSteel
Reference
model in
B.Substation
Map load point,
Generate hook
point automaticlly
Edit hook point
property in
B.Substation
Refresh Hook point:
The model changed in
SubStation structural
the Load point
coordinate
changed
Reference
model in
B.Substation
Refresh hook
point
automaticlly
by command