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Proposed Methods to Prevent Continuous Collapse of Utility Concrete Poles
Author(s)
Arthit, Petchsasitorn
Atavit, Sujaritpong
Date Issued
January 1, 2020
Type
Conference Paper
Abstract
From the accidental reporting statistics of utility concrete poles in Thailand, they were often found that lots of continuous collapses of more than one pole occurred from cars, storms or cable lines hooked by falling trees or trucks. This type of failure is induced by the tensile forces through the electric cables to the adjacent poles and cause the consequent collapse. Due to the brittle behavior of concrete, the cracked positions were mostly found near the base of poles due to maximum bending moment. Because the tensile force induced in electric cables occurs from weight above the downed position of collapsed pole. Therefore, the proposed method to prevent this collapse was introduced by reducing the mass of pole above the snapped point, leading to the reduction in tensile force to the adjacent poles, then decreasing the number of collapsed poles respectively. The analytical finite element (FEM) models were employed to determine the optimum position on each type of poles in order that the weight induced above those parts would not be able to transfer adequate forces to topple adjacent poles. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and steel plates were then introduced to strengthen the existing poles and the poles in future manufacturing process consecutively. The experiments were conducted and compared to the analytical results. It is indicated that the utility poles were strengthened and the tensile forces induced by the weight above the toppled positions could be reduced significantly.
Citation
Multidisciplinary Technologies for Industrial Applications, 2020