Seilaplan

Cable-based technologies have been a backbone for harvesting on steep slopes. The layout of a single cable road is challenging because one must identify intermediate support locations and heights that guarantee structural safety and operational efficiency while minimizing set-up and dismantling costs. Seilaplan optimizes the layout of a cable road by Seilaplan stands for Cable Road Layout Planner. Seilaplan is able to calculate the optimal rope line layout (position and height of the supports) between defined start and end coordinates on the basis of a digital elevation model (DEM). The program is designed for Central European conditions and is designed on the basis of a fixed suspension rope anchored at both ends. For the calculation of the properties of the load path curve an iterative method is used, which was described by Zweifel (1960) and was developed especially for standing skylines. When testing the feasibility of the cable line, care is taken that 1) the maximum permissible stresses in the skyline are not exceeded, 2) there is a minimum distance between the load path and the ground and 3) when using a gravitational system, there is a minimum inclination in the load path.