Electric Substation Structure Analysis, Design and Detailing Using – STAAD.Pro, STAAD.foundation, and ProSteel Integration By Bentley Structural Group August 31, 2009 STAAD. wind. The following Bentley products are discussed in this document: 1. and bill of materials. The design loads may most probably include dead. and seismic loads. Introduction Substation and switchyard structures are used to support the above grade components and electrical equipment such as cable bus. weight of conductors and electrical components. and strain bus conductors. assemble and deliver the parts to the project site. ProSteel – Structural steel detailing and drawing production 2 . rigid bus. insulators. This detailing information is sent to structural steel fabricators to manufacture. and other equipment.Pro – Structural analysis and design 2. This document shows how engineers can design and detail electric substation structures using Bentley products. STAAD. connection details. snow/ice.foundation – Foundation analysis and design 3. Detailing of a standard A‐Frame structure shown on the right in the above picture includes preparation of part and engineering drawings. surge arresters. Electric substation structures have to be designed as per the applicable steel design code and using the analysis data obtained from design loadings. switches. 3 . On the electrical engineering side. Bentley products such as Bentley Substation V8i can be efficiently used to produce the following elements of an electric substation design: One‐Line diagrams 3D Physical models Protection and control schematics Panel layouts Wiring diagrams Bill of materials and other reports Bentley Substation is not discussed in this document. Structural Analysis STAAD. Substation geometries can be created using the STAAD. OpenSTAAD. or ProSteel. Figure 1 illustrates an A‐frame substation structure that was designed and analyzed using STAAD. Figure 1: Substation analysis and design results in STAAD.Pro graphical user interface.Pro.Pro 4 .Pro is a general purpose structural analysis and design tool that can be used for the analysis and design of electric substation structures as per the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) 13th Edition or American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)‐10 transmission tower design code. Figure 2: STAAD.Pro Structural Analysis Models of Substation Structures 5 . e.Pro Structural Analysis Model of an A‐Frame Substation Structure – Deflections and ASCE Design Results STAAD. IBC 2006 seismic loads parameters be generated automatically by simply entering the zip code of the site. Figure 3: STAAD. The member grouping feature in STAAD. frequency calculations using eigenvalue extraction method).Pro can be used to generate ASCE‐7 wind loads on members using the automatic wind load generator feature. response spectrum analysis and time history analysis/harmonic load analysis. can be applied to the members in STAAD. Features such as the floor load generator can be used to apply floor pressure loading on a deck. Wire tension loads.Pro allows users to check which components of the electrical substation structure are failing and redesign them by easily. equipment loads etc.Pro as a point load at a specified length or at a given node point.pro can also perform advanced dynamic analysis on the electric substation structures such as modal calculations (i. STAAD. 6 . If a change is made in the ProSteel Model (e.Pro model without re‐creating it.g a member size changes). The ProSteel user is provided with an intuitive and integrated multi‐material modeler perfectly suited to layout electrical substation structures. STAAD. ProSteel has a two‐way integration with STAAD. 7 . Figure 4: 3D ProSteel Model.Pro through the StructLink option. Any changes made to the design 3D model will automatically update the bill of materials and drawings. Figure 4 shows the ProSteel model generated using the model imported from STAAD. produce shop drawings. This will save the detailer’s and structural engineer’s time to recreate the 3D geometry from scratch in ProSteel or STAAD.Pro can be imported into ProSteel using the Structlink option.Pro. Figure 5 shows a sample bill of materials generated using the ProSteel model. Plans. A model generated in STAAD. sections. the changes can be exported out back to the STAAD. assemble all their connections and manage the bill of materials.Pro A‐Frame model was imported into ProSteel. bills of materials can then be generated using this 3D model and ProSteel’s 2D Detail Center feature. elevations.Pro every time a change is made. Structural Detailing in ProSteel ProSteel is an advanced 3D modeling/detailing environment for steel structures which can work on the AutoCAD and Microstation platforms. Figure 5: Bill of Materials Figure 6 illustrates a sample member 2D detail drawing generated using the ProSteel model. Figure 6: Member Detailing 8 . Figure 7: Plan View ProSteel connection center allows the detailers to quickly assign pre‐defined connection types to the 3D model. plans and elevations) as shown in Figure 7 using the 3D ProSteel model.e. 9 . ProSteel can also be used to create 2D engineering layout drawings (i. Figure 8 shows a preview of the Normal Endplate connection and Figure 9 and 10 illustrate the 3D view and 2D drawings respectively of the endplate connection assigned to the A‐Frame. Figure 8: Connection Center Figure 9: Connection Details 10 . Figure 10: Connection 2D Drawing Generation 11 . plans and elevations) as shown in Figure 11. support node locations and reactions from STAAD.e. and pile cap footings. 12 . and MAT foundations. Foundation Design Typical electric substation structure foundation types can be slab‐on‐grade.Pro (i. drilled‐pier. pile cap.e.foundation). combined. isolated.Pro STAAD. Figure 11: Foundation Layout Drawings for A‐Frame support reactions obtained from STAAD.Pro can be imported into STAAD. It can also be used to create 2D preliminary engineering foundation layout and detailed drawings (i.foundation is a foundation design and management system which can design a wide range of foundations such as isolated. Bentley’s STAAD.foundation is integrated with STAAD. foundation 13 . Figure 12: MAT Foundation Design in STAAD.