Weather loads have a significant impact on tension loads developed for the structure to support, plus to a lesser extent, loads on the structure itself.

Line Design Software should support the needs of the Designers to meet code and utility standards compliance. To the extent and degree that the software makes this task easy, should be measured and comparably reported. These should include:

  1. Support for deterministic weather loads, defined by national codes or utility standards
  2. Support for various types of weather loads, in addition to the above. Limits of how many weather loads by type should be reported.
  3. Support for adjusting weather loads by height on the structure. 
    1. If enabled, which method is used for determining wind loads by height. A reference for the method is required.
    2. Is ice density fixed or available for adjustment. If fixed, what is the rationale.
  4. Will all weather load cases be used for each span/structure of a project, or will they only be used for ruling span calculations.