Opening the Snow/Wind Load dialog and clicking the General parameters tab displays the following dialog.
The dialog has the basic options required by the national snow/wind load code selected in the Job Preferences dialog. When you select an option, its diagram displays in the upper-right corner of the dialog.
The dialog is divided into several fields with certain option groups. The following options are at the top of the dialog:
- Exposure category: B, C,or D
- Risk category - I, II, III, or IV
- Altitude above the sea level - Specifies the altitude above sea level at which a structure is located.
The Structure dimensions field has the following option:
- Structure height - Specifies the height of a structure, which is used to calculate wind pressure.
The Change of loads from uniform to nodal field has the following options:
- For all envelope bars - When selected, snow and wind loads generated for all bars of a structure envelope are changed to nodal loads.
- For bars from the list - When selected, snow/wind loads generated for selected bars of a structure envelope are changed to nodal loads. The selected bars must be entered in the List field. The list of bars can be selected manually (by specifying their numbers) or graphically. Snow and wind loads for selected bars are generated at bar nodes.