4/07/2011

OTHER POLE CONSTRUCTION

CONCRETE & COMPOSITE POLES

Ross McLennan
Busck Prestressed
Concrete Ltd
rossm@busck.co.nz

CONCRETE AND OTHER POLE TYPES

• 8.2.3 Concrete poles

• 8.2.5 Fibre reinforced polymer poles
• 8.2.6 Other materials
(composite materials are used in pole elements,
such as fibre reinforced resin or
polymer, fibre reinforced concrete, using
fibreglass, carbon or steel microfilament fibres )

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8.2.3 Concrete poles

• Concrete poles shall be designed
and manufactured in accordance
with the requirements of AS/NZS
4065, NZS 3101 or AS 3600 where
appropriate.
• Further guidance is given in
Appendix I.
Note: AS/NZS 4676 not mentioned

• Concrete poles produced in New

Zealand are either designed as a
normal reinforced concrete cast
product based on calculated
design
or
• as a prestressed concrete cast
product that has a proprietary
design correlated and supported
by extensive testing.

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Appendix I.
(Informative)
• Concrete pole design and manufacture should comply
with the requirements of AS/NZS 4065, AS 3600 or
NZS 3101.
• The design strength of the concrete pole should be
able to resist the axial force, bending moments
including any additional bending moments induced
by slenderness effects.
• For typical distribution poles the design given in this
Appendix may be used.

AS/NZS 4065 – Concrete Utility service poles

• This Standard is not intended to serve
as a complete technical specification
for the supply of concrete poles, but
may form the basis of such a
specification.
• For structural design requirements
refer to AS/NZS 4676.

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AS/NZS 4065 (cont)

Clause 2.3 MANUFACTURE – sets important
requirements
• 2.3.1 Formwork
• 2.3.2 Reinforcement and tendon placement
• 2.3.4 Protection and curing
• 2.3.5 Stressing of tendons and protection of
tendons and anchor
• 2.3.6 Surface finish
• 2.3.7 Tolerances (Dimensional details of finished
pole product )

Appendix I.
Clause I 2 STRENGTH
• I2.1 Characteristic or specified
compressive strength
• The characteristic or specified
compressive strength at 28 days
should not be less than 40MPa.

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I 2.3 Combined bending and

compression strength
Where a pole is subjected to combined bending and
compression load effects, the diameter should be such that
the following is satisfied:

æ M * ö æ N c* ö
ç ÷+ç ÷ £1
è f M f
ø è cøN

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I 3 STRENGTH CAPACITY FACTOR

• For poles designed by load testing in accordance with
Clause 8.5, the strength capacity factor (φ) should not be
taken as greater than 1.0.
• For poles designed by calculation, φ should be taken as not
greater than the following values, as appropriate for the type
of action effect being considered:
(a) Bending, 0.9.
(b) Compression, shear, or torsion, or any of these in
combination, 0.8.
(c) Bearing, 0.7.
(d) Combined bending and compression 0.9.

Durability and Control of Cracks

The most important requirements
for concrete pole designs apart
from strength are
• concrete durability and
• control of deflections and
related crack widths.

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• Deflection of pole elements with permanent bending

stresses should be checked and assessed for potential
cracking that may exceed the specified limits.
• Even though bending stresses may be low, concrete
strain/creep over time can result in crack widths that
may not effectively autogenously self seal.
• This type of cracking may take 6 – 9 months of exposure
to permanent load to develop discernable creep related
cracking

Crack Widths

• Clause I 4.3 requires that crack widths at the

serviceability limit state should not exceed 0.30mm.
• All concrete will develop barely measurable minute
cracks and most self seal.

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• Mass reinforced concrete poles will develop minute

cracks before the reinforcing starts working. These
normally will remain visible specially when the pole
is wet
• Prestressed concrete poles in constantly under
compression and cracks should not appear until the
pole reaches it’s serviceability limit state. Cracks in
prestressed poles will self heel

• Appendix D of AS/NZS 7000 also sets out the following crack

width recommendations in relation to design service life
requirements for a range of general exposure classifications:
(1) Width <0.3 mm Exposure Classifications
A1, A2, B1.
(2) Width <0.2 mm Exposure Classification B2.
(3) Width <0.1 mm Exposure Classification C.
• The crack width limit of 0.25mm is therefore set to provide a
conservative but important serviceability standard for
concrete poles.

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Concrete Cover
• Clause I 5 - sets out minimum cover requirements for
varying exposure conditions, reinforcing bar, concrete
aggregate sizes and water absorption limits.
ie cover to reinforcement (including tie wires) and tendons
should be not less than the greatest
• of—
(a) the maximum nominal aggregate size;
(b) three-quarters of the nominal diameter of the bar, wire
or tendon to which the cover is measured; or

(c) when tested in accordance with Appendix O,

if—
(i) absorption ≤5.5%, cover = 9 mm;
(ii) 5.5% < absorption ≤6.5%, cover = 19 mm;
(iii) absorption >6.5%, cover as per AS 3600 or
NZS 3101.1

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Refer notes in OHL Manual

• Dimensions tolerance of +/- 2 mm is sometimes
difficult to achieve during high mechanical
compaction of concrete.
• More than likely that at some locations on a
pole element tolerances of +/- 3 mm occur
i.e. 19 mm nominal cover could be reduced to
possibly 15 mm and durability then becomes a
significant issue.

I6.2 Poles designed by load testing

• For poles designed by load testing in accordance with

Section 8, exceptions apply to the requirements for
reinforcement and tendons specified in AS 3600 or NZS
3101.1:
(a) The minimum clear distances between parallel bars
(b) Lateral restraint of compression reinforcement.
(c) Enclosure of bundled bars, or bundled tendons,
(d) Shear reinforcement
If the tested prototypes tests demonstrate that the design strength
can be achieved without failure.

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8.5.2 Pole type structures

• Full-scale load testing of prototype poles may be used
as an acceptable alternative to strength calculations to
verify flexural bending and shear capacity strengths for
pole type elements.
• Routine sample poles shall be tested to determine
whether structurally similar poles are deemed to
comply with the requirements for strength and
serviceability of this Standard.
.

8.5.2.3 Testing and acceptance

• Test loads shall reproduce at
critical cross-sections not less
than the design action effect at
the relevant limit state,
multiplied by the appropriate
factor given in Table 8.1

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Handling Stresses
• AS/NZS 7000:2010 does not cover the area of
handling stresses
• The normal approach is for construction and
transport induced stresses to be restricted to be
less than normal design stresses.
• However where longer concrete pole elements
are used - transport and handling stresses can
result in pole damage.
• Consider a possible separate design load case

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29.0m poles on extended tray

Large diameter heavy wall

segmented poles

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• Crack widths from handling stains and

construction or other flexural loadings <0.25
mm are acceptable for average exposure
conditions

8.2.5 Fibre reinforced polymer poles

8.2.6 Other materials
• Fibre reinforced polymer poles shall be designed in
accordance with the Structural Design of Polymer
Composites, EUROCOMP Design Code and Handbook,
and the European Structural Polymeric Composites
Group, 1996.
• NOTE: Further guidance is given in Appendix J and
Recommended Practice for Fiber-Reinforced Polymer
Products for Overhead Utility Line Structures, ASCE
Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice No. 104,
2003.

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• Where composite materials are used in pole

elements, such as fibre reinforced resin or
polymer, fibre reinforced concrete, using
fibreglass, carbon or steel microfilament
fibres; the design and performance
characteristics of the pole element shall be
supported by load tests
( as for concrete poles)

APPENDIX J
COMPOSITE FIBRE POLES
• Special attention should be given to use of fire
resistant materials in rural/semi rural applications.
• Composite fibre poles are thin walled structures
and typically fail due to buckling.

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• Pull through strength on the wall of the pole

applied by bolts may be limited with use of
standard washers and large curved plates
may be required for surface bearing
considered in the design.
• It is recommended that for serviceable loads,
the maximum deflection of the pole is 5% of
pole height above ground.

Questions?

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