TS2018-Midas Gen/Civil 2018 Link

June 2018

Release A

Copyright: Harpaceas Srl,

Viale Giulio Richard, 1
20143 – Milano (MI) - Italy
www.harpaceas.it
Table of contents
System requirements ...................................................................................................................... 2
Actual features of TS2018-Midas Gen/Civil 2018 Link ...................................................................... 3
Unit of measurement ....................................................................................................................... 4
Environment management .............................................................................................................. 4
Section management ...................................................................................................................... 5
Twin profiles ................................................................................................................................ 5
Cross section data table ............................................................................................................... 6
Material management...................................................................................................................... 6
Member axis location in the analysis model of Tekla Structures ........................................................ 7
Export from Tekla Structures to Midas Gen/Civil .............................................................................. 8
Import/export of MGT files in Midas Gen/Civil ................................................................................. 11
Import in Tekla Structures of MGT file exported from Midas Gen/Civil ............................................. 13
Example of 2D element data transfer from TS to Midas Gen ........................................................... 16
Panel with holes ......................................................................................................................... 16
Panel without holes + Property element analysis class = “Wall – Shear wall” ................................ 17
Slab without holes ...................................................................................................................... 18
Slab with holes........................................................................................................................... 19

System requirements
In order to work properly, you need to guarantee the following system requirements:

 Tekla Structures 2018

 Midas GEN 2018 or Civil 2018
 OS: Windows 10

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Actual features of TS2018-Midas Gen/Civil 2018 Link
ELEMENT TYPE TS → Midas Gen/Civil Midas Gen/Civil → TS
Column
vertical yes (beam element) yes (column element)
inclined yes (beam element) yes (beam element)
Beam
straight yes yes
a curved beam is divided
curved N/A
into straight beams
Slab (3 or 4 nodes w/o openings) Plate element N/A
Contour transferred as
Slab (more than 4 nodes w/o openings) N/A
peculiar beam element
Slab (with openings, independently Contour transferred as
N/A
from the number of nodes) peculiar beam element
Panel (4 nodes without openings & Contour transferred as
N/A
Analisis class ≠ "Panel - Shear Wall") peculiar beam element
Contour transferred as
Panel (4 nodes with openings) N/A
peculiar beam element
Panel (4 nodes without openings &
Wall element Wall element
Analysis class = "Panel - Shear Wall")
Concrete panels and slabs (more than 4 Contour transferred as
N/A
nodes) peculiar beam element

MATERIAL TS → Midas Gen/Civil Midas Gen/Civil → TS

MidasMaterialMapping.cnv MidasMaterialMapping.cnv
concrete
(*) (*)
MidasMaterialMapping.cnv MidasMaterialMapping.cnv
steel
(*) (*)
wood and other types user defined user defined
Material user defined user defined user defined
(*) the availability of materials conversion depend on the used Tekla Structures Environment
and on the used Midas Standard of material.

BOUNDARY CONDITIONS TS → Midas Gen/Civil Midas Gen/Civil → TS

support Ok Ok

beam end release Ok Only for new elements

Centroid Centroid
or or
section offset
Reference axis position Reference axis position
(*) (*)
beam end offset N/A N/A
elastic link, type rigid Only between beams N/A
(*) Depending on Tekla Structures analysis options; Reference axis position N/A for truss
elements.

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 MERGE OPTION TS → Midas Gen/Civil Midas Gen/Civil → TS
new element yes yes
new element that divide other elements yes yes
topology changes yes yes

GET RESULT FROM MIDAS TS → Midas Gen/Civil Midas Gen/Civil → TS

yes +
section change yes UDA TS-MIDAS_status =
Modified
yes +
new element outside original yes UDA TS-MIDAS_status =
New
yes +
new element inside original yes UDA TS-MIDAS_status =
New
Warning: “Missing” +
delete element yes UDA TS-MIDAS_status =
Deleted
divide element yes N/A
change only the offset yes N/A
yes +
change only the rotation yes UDA TS-MIDAS_status =
Modified
yes +
Material change yes UDA TS-MIDAS_status =
Modified

Unit of measurement
The TS-Midas link allows the use of different units of measurement in the two softwares.

Environment management
The link uses different sections & material databases, depending on the used Tekla Environment. These
configurations are stored in the “MidasEnvironmentStandards.cnv” contained in the following folder:
C:\<Tekla Structures installation folder>\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
The typical paths are reported below:
C:\Program Files\Tekla Structures\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
C:\Tekla Structures\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
The content of “MidasEnvironmentStandards.cnv” is reported in the next page.

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 !tekla env steel mat concr mat sections
Europe EN05(S) EN(RC) UNI
AISC CNS(S) CNS(RC) CNS91
India IS(S) IS(RC) IS84
Japan JIS(S) JIS(RC) JIS2K
Korea KS08(S) KS01(RC) KS
UK BS04(S) BS(RC) BS4-93
usimp ASTM(S) ASTM(RC) AISC2K(US)
usmet ASTM(S) ASTM(RC) AISC2K(SI)
france EN05(S) EN04(RC) UNI
Germany DIN(S) EN04(RC) DIN
switzerland EN05(S) EN04(RC) UNI

Section management
In order to create a biunique correspondence between Tekla Structures and Midas Gen/Civil section
databases, the link uses a mapping file named “MidasSectionMapping.cnv”. This file is contained in the
following folder:
C:\<Tekla Structures installation folder>\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
The typical paths are reported below:
C:\Program Files\Tekla Structures\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
C:\Tekla Structures\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
A section of “MidasSectionMapping.cnv” file is reported below. The user can update/change the file.

TS name MIDAS name MIDAS DB name

!UNI] UNI]
!![Shape: L]
L15*3 L15x3 UNI
L20*3 L20x3 UNI
L20*4 L20x4 UNI
L25*3 L25x3 UNI
L25*4 L25X4 UNI

NB: Some section mappings cannot be modified: e.g. Midas L-shaped profiles are converted in TS L-shaped
profiles if the material is steel (L profile with fillet radius), or in LC profiles (available in Tekla Warehouse) if
the material is concrete (L profile without fillet radius).

NB: If the link can’t find a mapped section name, the link tries to transfer a parametric section compiling
automatically the section parameters.

Twin profiles
Actually, the export of twin profiles from TS to Midas is partially supported by the link (see “Cross section
data table”).

NB: To export Twin profiles, set “Consider twin profile” option to “Enabled” in “Analysis Model Properties”.
If the option is set to “Disabled” [default value] Tekla Structures exports Twin Profiles as two single elements.

The import of twin profiles in Tekla Structures is not supported.

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Cross section data table
Section type Tekla S section Code Midas section Code
HEA HEA
HEB HEB
H HEM HEM
IPE IPE
INP IPN
L (Concrete) LC parametric L
L (Steel) L L
UNP Channel - User section
C
C profile C
T (Concrete) TC parametric T
T (Steel) T parametric T
Solid Rect side1*side2 side1*side2
Solid round D D
Pipe CHS Pipe - User section
Box RHS Box - User section
Twin profile L, 2L

Double angle (*) Twin profile L, 2L

Twin profile L,
General Section (I, A)
other cases
Twin profile UNP, 2C
Double channel (*) Twin profile UNP,
General Section (I, A)
other cases
(*) Twin profile can only be exported from Tekla Structures

Material management
In order to create a biunique correspondence between Tekla Structures and Midas Gen/Civil material
databases, the link uses a mapping file named “MidasMaterialMapping.cnv”. This file is contained in the
following folder:
C:\<Tekla Structures installation folder> \<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
The typical paths are reported below:
C:\Program Files\Tekla Structures\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
C:\ Tekla Structures\<Version>\nt\bin\plugins\Tekla\Link_TS_Midas
Two sections of “MidasMaterialMapping.cnv” file are reported in the next page. The first section is referred
to concrete, the second one to steel. The user can update/change the file.

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 TS name MIDAS name MIDAS standard
!EN(RC)] EN(RC)]
C12/15 C12/15 EN(RC)
C16/20 C16/20 EN(RC)
C20/25 C20/25 EN(RC)
C25/30 C25/30 EN(RC)
C30/37 C30/37 EN(RC)
C35/45 C35/45 EN(RC)
C40/50 C40/50 EN(RC)
C45/55 C45/55 EN(RC)
C50/60 C50/60 EN(RC)

TS name MIDAS name MIDAS standard

!EN05(S)] EN05(S)]
S235JR S235 EN05(S)
S275JR S275 EN05(S)
S355JR S355 EN05(S)
S450JR S450 EN05(S)
S275N/NL S275N/NL EN05(S)
S355N/NL S355N/NL EN05(S)
S420N/NL S420N/NL EN05(S)
S460N/NL S460N/NL EN05(S)
S275M/ML S275M/ML EN05(S)
S355M/ML S355M/ML EN05(S)
S420M/ML S420M/ML EN05(S)
S460M/ML S460M/ML EN05(S)
S235W S235W EN05(S)
S355W S355W EN05(S)
S460Q/QL/QL1 S460Q/QL/QL1 EN05(S)

Member axis location in the analysis model of Tekla Structures

The TS-Midas link can handle the following options:

a. Neutral axis  The neutral axis is the analysis axis for all parts. The location of the analysis
axis changes if the profile of the part changes.
b. Reference axis  The part reference line is the analysis axis for all parts. This option
can’tbe used if there are truss elements in TS model.

If the user ticks the “Beam offset” checkbox in the export phase, the section offset is set in
one of the 9 permitted reference axis positions (cyan grips in the below image) accordingly
to the reference line of the part.
If the user doesn’t tick “Beam offset” checkbox, the section offset is set in the centroid.

If “Neutral axis” is selected, the user should not check the “Beam offset” option during the export phase.

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Export from Tekla Structures to Midas Gen/Civil
1) In “Analysis & design” tab click on “A&D models”
2) Click on “New” button

3) Choose the correct Analysis application: “Midas 2018 – Rel.x” and eventually tick the “Set as
default” option
4) Choose the settings that best suit to your case. We suggest to use the creation method “By selected
parts and loads” and/or use a filter that excludes all the secondary elements and connections.
5) Choose the proper Member axis location (for more details, please refer to “Member axis location in
the analysis model of Tekla Structures” section)

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6) Once clicked on “OK” button you should see the analysis model created according your settings. You
can now check the correctness of the model. The user can modify the position of the analysis
elements manually.

7) To export the analysis model, click the “Export” button

8) If there are no load combinations, the software will ask if you want to create load combinations.
We suggest to answer “No” and create load combinations directly in Midas software.

9) By clicking on the OK button you’re declaring that the analysis model you’re exporting is in
accordance with the physical model.

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10) Choose the file format (Midas Gen or Midas Civil) and click on the “Continue” button

11) Select what needs to be managed by the link. By ticking “2D Elements”, the link will export the
perimeter of planar elements, including also holes inside them – if holes are considered in the
analysis model –. The perimeter is exported with peculiar elements characterized by
a. section number = 999999
b. section name = Contorno
c. Profile: Round bar D=0.05mm
Please consider that the “2D Elements” tick will not affect panels whose Analysis member property
class is equal to “Wall – Shear wall”. These panels are transferred in Midas as wall elements.

12) Once created the MGT/MCT file, the link informs the user that the process was completed.

13) You can find the MGT file in “<Model Folder>\Analysis\<Analysis model name>” folder.

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Import/export of MGT files in Midas Gen/Civil
In Midas Gen you can import the MGT file exported by Tekla Structures (click on the Midas Gen Icon 
Import  midas Gen MGT file). In the following picture you can find the import process result.
Beam elements are colored in white, wall elements in light blue and plate elements in pink. You can see
that for planar elements with openings and planar elements with more than 4 nodes only the perimeter is
transferred.

The user can easily select the perimeters and perform the mesh of the 2D elements.

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In this example some changes are made in Midas Gen:
a. A new floor is added
b. The height of all the beams of the penultimate floor is increased from 600mm to 800mm
c. The cross section of the column of the first two floors is increased from 400mm x 400mm
to 500mm x 500mm

To export the MGT file, click on the Midas Gen Icon  Export  midas Gen MGT file

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Import in Tekla Structures of MGT file exported from Midas Gen/Civil
1) Overwrite the MGT file contained in the folder <Model Folder>\Analysis\<Analysis model name>
with the MGT file received from the Structural Engineer.
2) Open Tekla Structures and activate the CTRL+5 view mode
3) In “Analysis & design” tab click on “A&D models”
4) Click on the proper Analysis model name and click on “Import”

5) Choose the File format and click on “Continue” button

6) Select what the link should manage in the import process and click on “Continue” button. Please
consider that 2D plate elements cannot be imported in Tekla Structures.

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7) Once the link has finished analyzing the MGT/MCT file, you’ll see a window with info on “New
members”, “Profile changes”, “Warnings”. Select the elements that you want to accept and click on
“Accept selection” button.
NB: Selecting an element in the “Profile changes” section will highlight the correspondent part in
the model (see picture below).

8) After clicking on the “Accept selection” button you can close “Analysis & Design Model” window.
You’ll see that the model has updated the model with the latest accepted changes.

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9) In order of looking at a glance what’s changed, a new representation filter has been created:
“TS-Midas_status”.
This filter works on the “TS-MIDAS_status” UDA:
 New items are colored in green
 Modified items are colored in yellow
 Deleted items are colored in red
 Items not changed in Midas are colored in grey (70% transparency).

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Example of 2D element data transfer from TS to Midas Gen
Panel with holes

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Panel without holes + Property element analysis class = “Wall – Shear wall”

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Slab without holes

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Slab with holes

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