OpenOHL#

OpenOHL is an open-source, modular platform for the design and analysis of overhead power lines: terrain and LiDAR, conductor sag-tension and finite-element wire systems, loads and structure checks, clearances, thermal rating, spotting, drawings and more — from two desktop applications, a command-line tool or Python, alone or several people on one project.

Names. OpenOHL (OHL: overhead lines) is the project; OHL-Design is the line application (sag-tension, clearances, line layout; the program ohl-design), OHL-Structure the structure application (pylons and their loading; ohl-structure) and ohl the command line. The project was formerly called "OLS CAD"; the old program names ols-cad, ols-structure and ols still run the new ones for a transition period. The file extensions, the format ids inside the files and the Rust crates are named ohl too (.ohl, .ohls, .ohlw…, ohl-structure…, ohl-*).

This book contains:

• the user guide — how to use the tools;
• the theory manual — the engineering behind every calculation, with references;
• the design documents — goals, architecture, roadmap and architecture decisions;
• the development guide — validation cases, plugins, performance rules and the desktop applications' conventions;
• the validation report — the validation cases (published examples, standards or hand calculations) and whether each result is within its tolerance.

The API reference of the Rust crates is generated by cargo doc.

OpenOHL is pre-alpha. What the user guide describes is built and in active development; none of it is approved yet. Engineering results must always be verified by a qualified engineer.