Live Loads that are applied to sloping framing areas should be assigned magnitudes equivalent to their projected area loads (for Surface loads) and projected length loads (for Line loads). Live Loads specified in most building codes are already specified as projected area loads, so no modification by the engineer is necessary. Dead Loads should be input as the actual weights (unmodified for slope); the program will then transform the loads to account for the slope. Figure 12 shows how beam Live loads, for example, are dealt with in the RAM Structural System. Figure 12 (A) shows the load as applied by the user. The load is then transformed to calculate the load per unit length along the member, as shown in Figure 12 (B). The load is transformed again to calculate both the perpendicular and axial components along the member, as shown in Figure 12 (C). In the RAM Steel Beam Design module the beams are designed only for the perpendicular component shown in Figure 12 (c); the axial component is ignored. In RAM Frame both the perpendicular and axial components are considered.

Roof Live Loads specified in the International Building Code (IBC), Uniform building Code (UBC), Standard Building Code (SBC), and the BOCA National Building Code (BOCA) are reducible in some cases based on the tributary area and the slope of the roof. The RAM Structural System automatically considers both parameters when calculating the Roof Live Load Reduction. When the Roof loads are specified by the user, the magnitude of the load should be that given as the basic Roof Live Load value, not the reduced value to account for slope or area. For example, in the UBC, SBC and BOCA the Roof Live Load charts list 20 psf as the basic roof load for tributary areas less than 200 square feet and slopes less than 1:3. This is the value that should be specified by the user even if the roof is sloped. The program will calculate the slope and the tributary area and use the corresponding table value. If a value other than 20 psf is specified by the user, the program will use the same Live Load Reduction percentage as calculated for a 20 psf load, but will apply it to the specified value. Columns and girders may be supporting members that support various areas of differing roof slope. In that case the program uses a weighted average slope in the calculation of the Roof Live Load Reduction factor.