See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283487870 New design procedure for FRP composites poles Article · January 2009 CITATIONS READS 2 1,298 3 authors: Slimane Metiche Radhouane Masmoudi University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene Université de Sherbrooke 11 PUBLICATIONS 41 CITATIONS 135 PUBLICATIONS 594 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Hussien Abdel Baky 32 PUBLICATIONS 326 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Behavior of CFFT columns View project Flexural Behavior of FRP Poles for Utility Applications View project All content following this page was uploaded by Hussien Abdel Baky on 08 December 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. SEE PROFILE New Design Procedure for FRP Composites Poles S. METICHE, R. MASMOUDI AND H. A. EL BAKY ABSTRACT Earlier research progress on using fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite poles for transmission lines revealed that the use of these poles is economically viable and industrially reliable. While this promising alternative technique is coming to be widely accepted in practice and evolving to become the future of the construction in transmission lines, the development of appropriate design guidelines that deal with detailed analysis of such poles has lagged behind. Design approaches for conventional steel/wood poles were influential in providing safety and robustness to these poles. However, little advanced approaches focused on the design of FRP poles. This is the focus of the present paper. The available design procedures of FRP poles are based on the allowable stress design theory of composite material under various states of stress. However, various experimental results show that cracking and early failure of FRP poles are normally controlled by the relative location of the hand-holes from the base of the pole. Most of the design guidelines ignore such effect and accounts only for the effect of these holes by considering their influence on the abrupt reduction in the cross-sectional area of the poles. These guidelines do not give a specific attention to the impact of the handholes on the generated stress concentrations in their vicinity. Furthermore, local buckling at a nearby area of the hand-holes generally dominates the mode of failure of such poles that requires more attention to the relative locations of the hand-hole. A new design approach is introduced to advance the design of FRP poles. The accuracy of both the developed design procedures and that of existing design approaches are verified by comparison with documented test results of an early experimental program of the authors. Key words: Fiber Reinforced Polymers, FRP Structural Shapes, FRP poles, Flexural behavior, Filament Winding, Design procedure. __________ Slimane Metiche, NSERC Industrial-Postdoctoral Fellow, FRE Composites (2005) Inc., 75 Wales Street, Saint André d’Argenteuil, Québec, J0V1X0, CANADA, and Department of Civil Engineering, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K2R1, CANADA. Department of Masmoudi, Materials Engineering AMPEL, University of of British Vancouver, Radhouane P.E., PhD., &Professor, Department Civil Columbia, Engineering, UniversityBC, Canada of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K2R1, CANADA Hussien M. Abd El Baky, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1K2R1, CANADA. INTRODUCTION The mechanical behavior of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials is a topic that has attracted several researchers in recent years. These materials have very high strength-to-weight ratios, and they are steadily being selected over metal alloys in a variety of structural applications [1]. The resulting material is referred to as a composite material when two or more distinct materials are combined in a macroscopic scale. The basic constituents of such a material are usually combined to enhance the mechanical characteristics of the materials. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) technology gained its roots during World War II with the need of light structural products. Composite structural elements are used today in a variety of components for automotive, aerospace, marine, architectural structures, and sports equipment. The majority of the existing electrical poles in Canada as well as in the world are made from traditional materials such as wood, concrete or steel. The limitation in length of wooden poles and the vulnerability of steel or concrete poles to climatic aggressions have motivated the manufacturers and researchers to find alternatives. While studies have addressed the material failure and buckling of thin-walled sections such as I-beams, box beams, etc., made from composite materials [2], very few studies have been conducted on the Behavior of tapered FRP sections [3]. The Behavior of scaled FRP models of transmission poles under cantilever loading conditions was investigated by Zhi-Min [4]. The four specimens tested were of prismatic circular hollow cross-section. The outside diameter of the poles was 76 mm and the wall thickness was 6 mm. These were fabricated by filament winding strips of pultruded sheets arranged in circular pattern. According to the test results, a linear Behavior of the FRP poles was observed up to failure. Shakespeare Company [5] provided a report of lateral loading test on 10.65 m length fiberglass pole. This report shows the minimal effective loss of strength due to the row of 22.23 mm diameter holes drilled in the side wall to climb the pole. The inner diameters of the specimen at the base and the top ends were 216 mm and 127 mm, respectively. A total of 22 holes were drilled and spaced by 305 mm. The first one was drilled at 2.13 m far from the base-end of the pole. Experimental and analytical studies were carried out [3] to validate the predicted ultimate loads for tapered filament wound FRP scaled poles subjected to cantilever bending. The specimens were 2500 mm in length; the inner diameters at the base and the top ends were 100 mm and 74 mm, respectively. The wall thickness varied depending on the number of layers, the results of this study show that the stiffness and the strength of FRP poles as well as the mode of failure depend mainly on their wall thickness. While a local buckling failure is observed for thin walled samples, compression and tension failures were observed for samples with more significant thicknesses. The fiber orientation has a significant effect on the performance of FRP poles. The same performance of FRP poles having high fiber volume fraction can be achieved by using less fiber volume fraction but with changing the fiber orientation towards the longitudinal direction [3] and the incorporation of circumferential layers tends to increase the critical ovalization load [6]. More tests, however, are required to determine the optimum values of fiber angle and fiber volume fraction. A research project is currently carried out at the University of Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada). The main objective of this research project is to study the full-scale flexural Behavior of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) tapered poles manufactured by the filament winding process, in order to optimize the design and to propose improvement of the manufacturing process [7], [8], [9]. This paper presents a design method for GFRP poles based on experimental results. The proposed design method allows to determine for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of an FRP pole, the ultimate bending moment, the maximum pole top deflection, the ultimate longitudinal compression and tension strains at the base and the ultimate longitudinal tension strain at the service hand hole level. In the ratio (E I) / (L ρ), E is the longitudinal modulus of elasticity, I is the moment of inertia, L is the cantilever height of the pole and ρ is the linear mass of the fibers. EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM Test prototypes Mechanical bending tests under lateral loading were performed on 22 full-scale prototypes of FRP poles with length ranging from 5 to 12 m. The FRP poles having hollow circular cross section and variable wall thickness were produced with the filament winding process, using epoxy resin reinforced with E-glass fibers. Each type of the poles tested in this study is constituted by three zones where the geometrical and the mechanical properties are different in each zone. The difference of these properties is due to the number of layers used in each zone and the fiber orientation of each layer. The mechanical and physical properties of the fibers and the epoxy resin are presented in Table I. The characteristics and configuration of the tested poles are presented in Table II. All test prototypes have been tested in flexural bending up to failure. Two types of fibers (Type A and Type B) are used to evaluate their effects on the flexural behavior. Note that the only difference between both types is the linear density, as shown in Table I. All the prototypes are identified as follows: From the left to the right: the first number indicates the total height of the pole in feet, the first letter indicates the type of fiber, the second number indicates the supported length in feet and the second letter indicates the hole positioning (in compression or in tension, the number zero means that the pole was tested without any hole above ground line), the latest number (in parentheses) indicates the test number under the same parameters. TABLE I. PROPERTIES OF FIBERS AND RESIN Properties Glass fibers type A Glass fibers type B Epoxy resin Tex (*) (g/km) 1100 2000 3 Density (gm/cm ) 2.6 2.6 1.2 Modulus of elasticity (GPa) 80 80 3.38 Shear modulus (GPa) 30 30 1.6 Poisson’s ratio 0.25 0.25 0.4 (*) : In the fiber industry, it is common to specify fibers in units of tex, which indicates the weight in gram of a 1000 m long single fiber (linear density). TABLE II. CHARACTERISTICS AND CONFIGURATION OF THE TESTED POLES Principal hole Pole Id. And Bottom-Top (AGL)** h Total* h Supported* samples diameters (mm) (mm) Dimensions Location (mm) Positioning (mm) (mm) 17-B-3-C 17-A-3-C 18-B-3-C 18-B-3-T 20-B-4-C 33-B-5-C 35-B-5-C 40-A-5-C 40-B-5-C 40-B-5-T 29-B-5-C 18-B-4-C 18-B-4-T 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 5093 5093 5398 5398 5994 10 058 10 566 12 090 12 090 12 090 8738 5398 5398 914 914 914 914 1219 1524 1524 1524 1524 1524 1524 1219 1219 150-76 150-76 155-76 155-76 164-76 261-114 270-114 291-114 291-114 291-114 247-114 155-76 155-76 64x127 64x127 102x305 102x305 102x305 102x305 102x305 102x305 102x305 102x305 64x127 102x305 102x305 610 610 762 762 1372 1219 1219 1219 1219 1219 457 457 457 Comp. Comp. Comp. Tension Comp. Comp. Comp. Comp. Comp. Tension Comp. Comp. Tension (*) h Total: Total length of the pole, h Supported : Supported length (**) AGL: Located Above Ground line. Each type of pole tested in this study is constituted by three zones, where the geometrical and the mechanical properties are different in each zone. The difference of these properties is due to the different number of layers used in each zone and the fiber orientation of each layer (Figure 1). The stacking sequence as well as the average thickness and length for the three zones of poles are presented in Table III and Table IV, respectively. The fiber content of each prototype, expressed in volume ratio Vf was determined experimentally by pyrolysis tests [10] and is presented in Table IV. It should be mentioned that all the prototypes presented in this study are single segment and were fabricated with extra reinforcing provided around the principal holes except for the prototypes 17-B-3-C and 17-A-3-C. On the other hand, there was no extra reinforcing provided around the hole located under the ground line. All the holes were cut at the manufacturer site, after the poles were fabricated. Total length Principal Hole Embedded hole FRP pole Zone I Zone II Zone III Figure 1. Zones and Thickness of FRP poles. TABLE III. STACKING SEQUENCE FOR THE THREE ZONES OF THE POLES Zone I (Degrees) Zone II (Degrees) Zone III (Degrees) Pole ID 17-B-3-C [-70/70/-60/60/(-15/15)2/-60/70] [(-60/60)2/(-15/15)2/-60/70] [±15/15/-30/-60/70] [-60/±60/(±15)2/-60/70] [±15/-70/70] 17-A-3-C [-60/±70/60/±30/-60/70] [90/(-15/15)2/-60/90] [25/-25/-75/75] 18-B-3-C [-60/60/-30/±30/-60/70] [90/(-15/15)2/-60/90] [25/-25/-75/75] 18-B-3-T [-60/60/-30/±30/-60/70] [90/-60/60/15/-15/-60/60] [±15/-60/70] 20-B-4-C [-60/60/-25/25/-70/70] [90/±15/70/-80] [±15/90] 33-B-5-C [70/-80/±20/70/-80] [90/±70/±15/70/-80] [±70/-10/-10/+10/70/-80] 35-B-5-C [70/-75/±20/70/-80] [90/-20/20/±70] [±70/-10/10/±70] 40-A-5-C [±70/±30/±70] [90/-75/-15/+15/70/-80] [80/-70/±10/70/-80] 40-B-5-T [±75/±20/30/70/-80] [90/-75/-15/+15/70/-80] [80/-70/±10/70/-80] 40-B-5-C [±75/±20/30/70/-80] [90/(-15/15)2/-60/90] [25/-25/-75/75] 18-B-4-C [-60/60/-30/±30/-60/70] [-60/60/-30/±30/-60/70] [90/(-15/15)2/-60/90] [25/-25/-75/75] 18-B-4-T TABLE IV. AVERAGE THICKNESS AND LENGTH FOR THE THREE ZONES OF THE POLES Zone I Zone II Zone III Vf Average Average Average Prototypes Length Length (%) Length thickness thickness thickness (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) 49 2133 4.78 2219 4.30 740 5.18 17-B-3-C 49 2133 4.78 2219 4.30 740 5.18 17-A-3-C 51 1220 3.27 980 7.20 3198 3.04 18-B-3-C 51 1220 3.27 980 7.20 3198 3.04 18-B-3-T 50 2000 2.81 1200 6.73 2794 2.84 20-B-4-C 59 2200 4.56 1000 8.35 6858 5.97 33-B-5-C 57 2200 3.87 1000 9.69 7366 5.37 35-B-5-C 51 2200 4.72 1000 9.80 8890 6.70 40-A-5-C 55 2200 5.54 1000 10.44 8890 7.73 40-B-5-T 55 2200 5.54 1000 10.44 8890 7.73 40-B-5-C 51 1220 3.27 980 7.20 3198 3.04 18-B-4-C 51 1220 3.27 980 7.20 3198 3.04 18-B-4-T Test setup A new test-setup (Figure 2) was designed and built according to the recommendations of the Standards ASTM D 4923-01 [11] and ANSI C 136.201990 [12] as well as the Proposed California Test 683-1995 [13]. This test-setup consists mainly of three parts: a "ground-line support", a "butt support" and a "lifting jaws". This fixture provides a practical way to test all types of utility poles. The ground-line support or front support is used with wooden saddle to support the pole at ground line and is designed to allow a vertical and/or horizontal translation to anchor the various possible diameters of the poles. The pole butt support or rear support is used with wooden saddle to support the lower end of the pole and is designed to allow longitudinal translation to test various burial lengths of the poles. The lifting jaws constitute the load application point on the pole and consist of two quarters of a metallic tube assembled so as to form two jaws (Figure 2). After the pole were mounted and leveled on the test fixture, a bridge crane was positioned with its hook centered above the lifting jaws, 305 mm far from the top of the pole. Instrumentation A 225 KN load-capacity cell was used while the displacement rate of the bridge crane was 12 mm/sec (Figure 2). The deflection of the FRP poles was measured with a draw wire transducer (DWT) at hc/4; hc/2 as well as under the load application point (Figure 2), where hc is the cantilever length or free length of the pole. Electrical strain gages were mounted on the two faces (compression and tension) near the ground line support, at hc/4; hc/2; 3/4hc as well as around the hole. The strain gages were used to monitor the deformations in the longitudinal, circumferential directions and at 45 degrees from the longitudinal axis of the pole. Two LVDTs used to measure displacement at the pole base were positioned against either the test fixture or the lower wall of the pole. LVDT # 1 was centered on the underside of the pole at the ground line. LVDT # 2 was centered on the topside of the FRP pole above the wooden support on the rear pole butt support. Two other LVDTs were positioned laterally in order to measure the possible ovalisation of the pole near the ground line support. An automatic data acquisition system was used to collect the load, LVDTs, DWTs and strain gages data. Load direction Steel cable Chain Ground line support FRP prototype Lifting jaws DWT DWT DWT Ground line Load cell h Cantilever Web strap Rubber lined wooden support saddle bl Pole butt support h Supported Figure 1. Schematic drawing of the full- scale test setup. Winch binder Lifting jaws Ground line support FRP pole Pole butt support Figure 2. Full- scale test setup. PROPOSED DESIGN PROCEDURES A new design approach is introduced to advance in the design of FRP poles. The proposed design method allows to determine for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of an FRP pole, the ultimate bending moment, the maximum pole top deflection, the ultimate longitudinal compression and tension strains at the base of the FRP pole. In the ratio (E I) / (L ρ), E is the longitudinal modulus of elasticity, I is the moment of inertia, L is the cantilever height of the pole and ρ is the linear mass of the fibers. The following relationships (Equation 1 to Equation 3) [14] were used to determine the modulus of elasticity E in the longitudinal direction at the base of the pole. n E = ∑ { (Pi ) E xi } i =1 (1) Where E xi = And 1 ⎛ 1 cos 4 θ i sin 4 θ i ν ⎞ + + cos 2 θ i sin 2 θ i ⎜⎜ − 2 tl ⎟⎟ El Et Et ⎠ ⎝ Glt ν tl Et = ν lt (2) (3) El Where Exi is the Young’s modulus in the longitudinal direction of the ith layer, (n) is the total number of layers at the base of the pole,νtl and νlt are the Poisson’s ratios, θi is the fiber angle of the ith layer evaluated experimentally by a pyrolysis test, Pi is the rate representing the ith layer of the laminate constituting the base zone of the pole. The percentage representing each layer was evaluated by determining the thickness of each layer using scanning electron microscope. Figure 3 presents the curve of the ultimate bending moment (Mu,b) at the base of an FRP pole for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of the pole. The ultimate bending moment (Mu,b) was induced by the ultimate load (Fu). Figure 3 presents the prototypes that failed at the base. Equation 4 was obtained from the curve presented in the Figure 3 with a coefficient of regression (R2) of 0.99. The coefficient of regression (R2) indicates the rate of correspondence between the trend curve and the experimental results. Figure 4 presents the curve of the ultimate bending moment (Mu,o) at the principal hand hole of an FRP pole for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of the pole. The ultimate bending moment (Mu,o) was induced by the ultimate load (Fu). Figure 4 presents the prototypes that failed at the principal hand hole. Equation 5 was obtained from the curve presented in the Figure 4 with a coefficient of regression (R2) of 1.00. Failure at the base : M u ,b = 1496 EI Lρ (4) Failure at the principal hand hole 3 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ M u ,o = 13.9⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 390.59⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 2957.5⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ (5) Figure 5 presents the prototypes that failed at the base and the prototypes that failed at the principal hand hole as well as the respective trend curves. Figure 5 shows that for a ratio (E I) / (L ρ) greater than 23.5 kN.m2/g, the failure occurs at the base of the pole. By the same manner, the design curves of the maximum deflection (Δmax) at the loading position of an FRE pole were determined for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of the FRP pole. Figure 6 presents the prototypes that failed at the base and the prototypes that failed at the principal hand hole as well as the respective trend curves and coefficients of regression (R2). Equation 6 and Equation 7 were obtained from the curves presented in the Figure 6 respectively for a failure at the base and a failure at the principal hand hole with a coefficient of regression (R2) of 0.89 and 0.96 respectively. ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎟⎟ + 187.79 Δ max = 715.07 Ln⎜⎜ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ Failure at the base : Failure at the principal hand hole (6) 2 Δ max ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ = 16.093⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 396.2⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 2640.7 ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ (7) Figure 7 presents the ultimate longitudinal compression strain (εCx,b) at the base of an FRP pole for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of the pole. The ultimate bending moment (Mu,b) will be determined from the curve of Figure 5 or by using the Equation 4. Figure 7 presents the prototypes that failed at the base. Equation 8 was obtained from the curve presented in the Figure 7. Failure at the base : ε xC,b M u ,b 3 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ = 0.054⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 4.6647⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 129.13⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 1342.7 (8) ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ Figure 8 presents the ultimate longitudinal tension strain (εTx,b) at the base of an FRP pole for a given ratio (E I) / (L ρ) at the base of the FRP pole. The ultimate bending moment (Mu,b) will be determined from the curve of Figure 5 or by using the Equation 4. Figure 8 presents the prototypes that failed at the base. Equation 9 was obtained from the curve presented in the Figure 8. Failure at the base : ε xT,b M u ,b 3 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ = −0.0483⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 4.5078⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 136.04⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 1477.1 (9) ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ The design curves presented in figure 7 and Figure 8 show that the ration (εCx,b) / (Mu,b) (respectively the ratio (εTx,b) / (Mu,b)) decreases when increasing the ratio (E I) / (L ρ) for values of (E I) / (L ρ) less than 17 kN.m2/g. For the values of (E I) / (L ρ) greater than 17 kN.m2/g, the ratio (εCx,b) / (Mu,b) (respectively the ratio (εTx,b) / (Mu,b)) is almost constant. FAILURE AT THE BASE 70 Fu Mu,b (AT THE BASE) (kN.m) EI Lρ M u ,b = 1496 60 50 2 R = 0.9869 L 40 30 Mu,b E,I, ρ Poles that failed at the base 20 10 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 E I / (L ρ) AT THE BASE (kN.m2/g) Figure 3. Design curve - Ultimate bending moment (Mu,b) at the base – Failure at the base. FAILURE AT THE HAND HOLE 35 3 M u ,o Mu,o (AT THE HAND HOLE) (kN.m) 30 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎟⎟ ⎟⎟ + 2957.5⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 390.59⎜⎜ = 13.9⎜⎜ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ Fu 2 R = 0.9962 25 20 L 15 Mu,o Poles that failed at the principal hand hole 10 E,I, ρ 5 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 2 E I / (L ρ) AT THE BASE (kN.m /g) Figure 4. Design curve - Ultimate bending moment (Mu,o) at the hand hole – Failure at the hand hole. 3 Fu Fu M u ,b = 1496 100 L 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎟⎟ − 390.59⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 2957.5⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ M u ,o = 13.9⎜⎜ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ 120 EI Lρ Failure at the hand hole L 2 R = 0.9962 Mu (kN.m) 80 Mu,o Mu,b 60 40 Failure at the base 2 R = 0.9869 20 Poles that failed at the base Poles that failed at the principal hand hole 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 E I / (L ρ) AT THE BASE (kN.m2/g) Figure 5. Design curve - Ultimate bending moment. 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ Δ m ax = 16.093⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 396.2⎜⎜ Lρ ⎟⎟ + 2640.7 L ρ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ 12000 2 R = 0.9625 Poles that failed at the base Poles that failed at the principal hand hole 10000 Fu Failure at the hand hole 8000 Δmax (mm) Δmax 6000 ⎛ EI ⎞ Δ m ax = 715.07 Ln⎜⎜ ⎟ + 187.79 Lρ ⎟⎠ ⎝ 2 R = 0.8857 4000 E,I, ρ 2000 Failure at the base 0 0 10 20 30 40 E I / (L ρ) AT THE BASE (kN.m2/g) Figure 6. Design curve – Pole top deflection. 50 60 FAILURE AT THE BASE 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 (με / kN.m) 0 -200 ε xC,b x εx,b Compression / Mu,b -400 M u ,b Fu 3 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎟⎟ − 1342.7 ⎟⎟ + 129.13⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 4.6647⎜⎜ = 0.054⎜⎜ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ 2 R = 0.9484 -600 Poles that failed at the base L -800 ε x,b Compression : Ultimate longitudinal compression strain at the base of an FRP pole. Mu,b : Ultimate bending moment at the base of an FRP pole -1000 Mu,b E,I, ρ -1200 E I / (L ρ) AT THE BASE (kN.m2/g) Figure 7. Design curve – Ultimate longitudinal compression strain (εCx,b) at the base. FAILURE AT THE BASE ε xT,b 1400 εx,b Traction / Mu,b (με / kN.m) M u ,b 1200 3 2 ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ ⎛ EI ⎞ = −0.0483⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 4.5078⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ − 136.04⎜⎜ ⎟⎟ + 1477.1 L ρ L ρ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ ⎠ ⎝ Lρ ⎠ 2 x R = 0.9354 Fu 1000 Poles that failed at the base 800 εx,b Traction : Ultimate longitudinal L tension strain at the base of an FRP pole. Mu,b : Ultimate bending moment at the base of an FRP pole. 600 400 E,I, ρ Mu,b 200 0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 E I / (L ρ) AT THE BASE (kN.m2/g) Figure 8. Design curve – Ultimate longitudinal tension strain (εTx,b) at the base. 45 CONCLUSION Design approaches for conventional steel/wood poles were influential in providing safety and robustness to these poles. However, little advanced approaches focused on the design of FRP poles. This is the focus of the present paper. The available design procedures of FRP poles are based on the allowable stress design theory of composite material under various states of stress. However, various experimental results show that cracking and early failure of FRP poles are normally controlled by the relative location of the hand-holes from the base of the pole. Most of the design guidelines ignore such effect and accounts only for the effect of these holes by considering their influence on the abrupt reduction in the cross-sectional area of the poles. These guidelines do not give a specific attention to the impact of the hand-holes on the generated stress concentrations in their vicinity. Furthermore, local buckling at a nearby area of the hand-holes generally dominates the mode of failure of such poles that requires more attention to the relative locations of the hand-hole. A new design approach is introduced to advance in the design of FRP poles. The accuracy of both the developed design procedures and that of existing design approaches are verified by comparison with documented test results of an early experimental program. Different types of FRP poles, having different geometrical properties and made of two different types of glass fibers were subjected to full scale flexural static testing. Each type of the poles tested in this study is constituted by three zones where the geometrical and the mechanical properties are different in each zone. The difference of these properties is due to the different number of layers used in each zone and the fiber orientation of each layer. The following conclusions can be drawn: • For a ratio (E I) / (L ρ) greater than 23.5 kN.m2/g the failure occurs at the base of the pole. • The ratio (εCx,b) / (Mu,b) (respectively the ratio (εTx,b) / (Mu,b)) decreases when increasing the ratio (E I) / (L ρ) for values of (E I) / (L ρ) less than 17 kN.m2/g. For the values of (E I) / (L ρ) greater than 17 kN.m2/g, the ratio (εCx,b) / (Mu,b) (respectively the ratio (εTx,b) / (Mu,b)) is almost constant. The contribution of this research work lies mainly in the characterization of new fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite poles and describes a new design approach to advance in the design of FRP poles. LIST OF SYMBOLS E Young’s modulus in the longitudinal direction of the lamina which constitutes the pole’s base zone (N/m2). El Modulus of elasticity in the fiber direction (unidirectional layer) (N/m2). Et Modulus of elasticity in the transverse direction (unidirectional layer) (N/m2). Exi Young’s modulus in the longitudinal direction of the ith layer (N/m2). Fu Ultimate applied load (N). Glt Shear modulus (unidirectional layer) (N/m2). I Moment of inertia at the base of the pole (m4). L Cantilever height of the pole (m). Mu,b Ultimate bending moment at the base of an FRP pole (kN.m). Mu,o Ultimate bending moment at the principal hand hole of an FRP pole (kN.m). n Total number of layers in the pole’s base zone. Pi The rate representing the ith layer of the laminate constituting the base zone of the pole. Vf Fiber volume content (%). ρ Linear mass of the fibers (g/km). See Table I. εCx,b Ultimate longitudinal compression strain at the base of an FRP pole (με / kN.m). εTx,b Ultimate longitudinal tension strain at the base of an FRP pole (με / kN.m). Δmax Maximum deflection at the loading position of an FRE pole (mm). Fiber angle of the ith layer. θi νlt ; Poisson’s ratios. 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