Spida™ Web Software
www.spidawebsoftware.com

Stand alone comprehensive structural loading application

• Easy to use intuitive graphical user interface
• Multi pole
• Incorporates pre-built RUS Construction Standards. These standard can be added to or modified to meet your needs
• OS platform independent. SpidaCalc has been developed with the Java programming language. This technology was specifically chosen because of its flexibility. With little or no modification it will run on Windows, Mac, or Linux. With the advent of more and more small mobile devices the flexibility to be platform independent will allow your investment in this tool to be ported to whatever technology you may be using in the future.
• Provides a means for using standard NESC load cases or user defined cases. These additional cases could be used to examine conditions in hypothetical scenarios such as extreme ice and wind loading

Attachments to your poles. If only your utility had attachments on your poles, life would be so much simpler. Structural loading and who is contributing to that loading would be much less significant than it is. You need to be able to account for each and every attachment to your field inventory and be able to measure the impact these attachments have on the reliability of your overall infrastructure.

• Communication company, Joint Use attachments can be included in the structural analysis. In many cases your distribution lines were designed long before CATV came along. Now many of your poles may have Joint use attachments that were not included in the original engineering design. What impact has this had on your systems reliability. Any new line designs should account for the addition of communication attachments.
• SpidaCalc provides the means to easily include these third party attachments in the analysis. It also provides you with invaluable data that shows how much each attacher is contributing to the overall structural load on a pole.
• Span guys, line taps, service drops, and even line angles can be accounted for in the analysis.

Everything that is attached to your poles adds to its structural load. Just the normal list of equipment can be very expansive. Transformers, regulators, capacitors, cutouts, arrestors, and even lights. Then consider that much of this equipment may come in many different sizes. With SpidaCalc the impact that even these attachment have on your poles can be measured.

• Any type of equipment you want be included in your analysis can be included
• Standard manufacturer specifications can be used for the analysis.
• Manufacturer specification can be modified to meet what ever needs you and your engineers feel necessary.
• Allows for the addition of user defined attachments or equipment
• Provides the means for multiple equipment attachments to be simply included in the analysis.

The most difficult aspect of structural analysis is that of guying. In fact the most complex portion of the SpidaCalc analysis engine is that which relates to down guys and anchors. Even the hand calculation process for down guys provided by NESC as a guideline is anything but easy. But there is probably no more important an aspect in line design than the proper effective guying of your poles.

• SpidaCalc allows for the easy and quick inclusion of complex guy and anchor arrangements
• Instant feedback on the effectiveness of a down guy on a structure.
• Can be used in conjunction with slack spanning for controlling structural stress and the direction of that stress.
• Can be used to counter severe line angles.
• A properly guyed structure is very unlikely to fail.

SpidaCalc provides comprehensive structural loading based on wind, ice, Construction grade, load case, attachment weights (equipment, wires), wire tensions, guys and anchors. The analysis is based on a 360 degree snapshot of the pole and all contacts to the pole. Additional information about the analysis is available here

Easy to understand 3-D graphical representation of analysis results. The results include representations of NESC loading, wind, deflection, and shear. Result projections can be viewed in combination or individually.

Includes usage report showing the percentage of use based on all companies that may have attachments on your poles.

During the design process of the SpidaCalc analysis engine it became apparent early on that there needed to a large degree of flexibility built into the application. Different utilities do things differently. Even though 2 utilities might be using identical equipment or conductors neither may use the manufacturers recommended values for tension, weight, or even sail area. Included with SpidaCalc is the Engineering Data Editor. It is used for customizing specification values for conductors, anchors, guys, poles and any equipment that might be attached to a pole. This allows for design engineers to fine tune the analysis as they might deem necessary. A good example of this might be account for aging in the field units and materials.