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Steel Detailing for Structural Engineers and Steel Fabricators

Steel Detailing for Structural Engineers & Steel Fabricators
A structural design details plan of any building facility or the infrastructure undergoes several stages of inspection, analysis, and redesigning before it is sent for fabrication of steel and execution on site. Once the plan is finalized, Tekla detailers prepare steel shop drawings to coordinate with the steel fabricator. One thing that is ensured during the transition of drawings from designing to fabrication is that the structural integrity is given the highest importance.

Importance of Structural Integrity in Modern Construction

For most modern buildings have a frame structures, which have columns and beams along with trusses as an integral part of the structural frame and the structural integrity depends on the strength of these elements.

Hence the structural steel detailing becomes crucial. Imparting appropriate strength through an appropriate hybrid of steel and rebar to critical structural members ensures desired load carrying capacity.

Simultaneously, the construction industry has also seen a rage of prefabrication in recent times. Modular housing in the UK has gained a significant importance to solve population-space crises. Structural works have adopted this concept since long by fabricating steel works at a factory to remain profitable and maintain the ease in fabrication. Offsite fabrication activities and on-site assemblies have become the new normal for the industry and this demands the structural drafters to develop structural drawings, fabrication drawings and erection drawings accurate in nature.

Steel Detailing Drawings aid Structural Steel Fabricators

Owing to this increasing acceptance of offsite construction methods, fabricating steel becomes an intricate process. Furthermore, welding, riveting, bolting, straightening, twisting, bending etc. add to the challenges. Also, every fabricator has their specific way of work. To avoid conflicts and collaborating better with the steel fabrication contractor, they use steel shop drawings to establish standards for meeting the exact design requirements.
  • Shop Drawings
  • These shop drawings encompass all the information ranging from first preparations to final operations and packaging for onsite delivery. It goes to the lengths of mentioning the details of the standard specification, steel grades, and purpose of the fabrication (intended application of final product). Steel shop drawings are based on structural plans and structural drafts prepared by the engineer and delivered to fabricators for fabricating steel parts in the structural frame.
  • Erection Drawings
  • Another channel of communication between steel fabricator and structural engineers are erection drawings. They develop a coordination channel between designers, fabricators, and steel fabrication contractors to actually erect the structural components on site. Such drawings warehouse the information about the position of every building component, how it assembles with another and installation instructions. Such steel detailing drawings need higher accuracy, almost 99%.

Two-way Channel for Detailers & Fabricators

When it comes to developing such high-level information drawings upon which the stability of the entire structure depends, they have to be developed with substantial precisions. Structural engineers cannot let the mistakes in interpretation overpower the decisions making. 2D structural drawings and steel detailing information using Tekla are changing the game completely by developing acute needs and establishing an efficient communication channel between design engineer and the shop floor foremen.

In fact, not only design details but the information related to fabrication materials, BOMs, order quantity and much more are included in the Tekla detailing drawings to enable the fabricators to gain more accurate insights.

Additionally, Tekla drafts and steel detailing drawings offer a higher accuracy and pave a path for seamless communication, which can be ensured by partnering a Tekla detailer team or a structural design support partner.

Grandiose Structures and Stability

Steel detailing drawings have always remained a center of importance for structural engineers for a very long time. Brooklyn Bridge in New York is the finest example of the steel structure. It remains the first suspensions bride constructed using steel wire built back in 1883 which carries 150,000 vehicles and humans on a daily basis today. Creating such grandiose structures and the stability it has over hundreds of years is the fact of accurate steel detailing and fabrication methodologies. More than that, the coordination between structural engineers and fabricators plays a very important role. The example of Brooklyn Bridge dates back to the times when engineers dealt with hand drawing. Today, the drawings and designing, as well as the fabrication practices, have evolved and become more sophisticated. Coordinating in a right manner with the design engineer is the key element to make the most of steel detailing drawings for any structural steel fabricator.

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Author TrueCADD

TrueCADD is a leading CAD drafting services and BIM modeling solutions provide company in India. At TrueCADD, we provide high quality and cost-effective CAD outsourcing services to worldwide customers such as architects, designers, engineers, contractors, manufacturers, fabricators and building owners. Our flexible in-house capacity, combined with our vast experience and strong resource base help us understand the requirements of international clients and provide reliable CAD outsourcing services for a wide spectrum of industries.

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