NOTE

Load testing of prestressed concrete transmission pole and its concrete footing
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R A MS. GHOSHA N D GEORGE

A. S E N K I W
Division, Otlt(lrio Ijytlro, Torotlto, Otit., Cot~trtloM8%5S4
RBSL,(II.L./I
Received June 29, 1977
Accepted Febmary 10, 1978

Full-scale load tests on a centrihrgally spun, prestressed concrete pole installed in a reinforced
concrete footing indicate that this s t r u c t ~ ~can
r e be ~lseclfor transmission lines if some dimensional
changes are made to increase the torsional capacity of the pole to withstand broken-conductor
loading conditions. The results also show that the strength and behaviour of the pole can be
predicted analytically if the actual dimensions and propertiesof the materials are known. Strains
in the reinforced concrete footing are very low and, in this case, indicate no neetl for reinforcing
steel to resist stresses due to exterior loading. Where reinforcement is r e q ~ ~ i r efor d the control of
clxcksdue to temperature and shrinkage. it need be included only in the upper part of the footing.

Des essais d e chargement rialisks s u r u n prototype d e pyl6ne en beton prtcontmint centrifilg6

et encastre dans un massif d e fondation en beton ont montre que cette piece structuralepeut &re
~ltiliseecomme element d'une ligne d e transport d'energie B condition que soient apportees
q ~ l e l q ~ lmodifications
es propres B accroitre la capacite en torsion du pyl6ne appele resister ~ L I X
sollicitations resultant du blisd'unconducteur. Lesessaisont egalenient montrequ'il est possible
For personal use only.

de calculer I21 resistance et le comportement du pyl6ne si les dimensions exactes et les proprietks
du matkriau constitutif de ce dernier sont connues. Les deformations se sont rCveIees tres fuibles
dans le massif d e fondation en beton arme; on peut donc dans ce cas conclure qu'il n'est pas
necessaire d e prevoir des armatures P O L I ~resister aux contraintes engendrees par les charges
exterieures. Lorsque lecontr6ledes fissuresduesaux effets d e la tempe~xtureetau retrait imposc
I'emploi d'armatures, celles-ci peuvent Ptre circonscrites i la partie s ~ ~ p e r i e ude
r e la fondation.
Can. J. Civ. Eng.. 5,274-281 (1978)
[Traduit par la revue]

Introduction 33-m nominal length, which has six steel phase-con-

Centrifugally spun, prestressed concrete poles are
an alternative to hollow steel poles, currently used by
Ontario Hydro. T o determine whether concrete poles
of this type are adequate for the support of overhead
transmission lines, full-scale load tests were made
on a fully assembled, installed structure. Additional
objectives of the tests were to: demonstrate whether
analysis can predict the actual behaviour of the pole,
establish the contribution of prestressing to the tor-
sional capacity of the pole and ascertain the signifi-
cance of the orientation of the spiral reinforcement,
and measure the actual stresses in the structure and
its reinforced concrete footing under external loading
t o determine whether the amount of steel reinforce-
ment now used in single-pole concrete footings could
be reduced.
The tests were performed jointly by the Mechanical
and Civil Research Departments of Ontario Hydro
on the premises of the pole manufacturer.
Description of Structure and its Footing
As shown in Fig. 1, the structure comprises a liol-
low centrifugally cast prestressed concrete pole of
ductor crossarms and two steel overhead ground-
cable crossarms.
The pole was tapered from a diameter of 70 cm a t
the butt t o 25 cm at the top, with a minimum wall
thickness of 6 cm. It was reinforced with 13-mm-
diameter, 1849-MPa pretensioning strands having a n
overlay of 3-mm-diameter reinforcing wire spiralled
a t nominal pitch of 18 cm in one direction over the
entire height. The yield strength of the spiral was 994
MPa. The base of the pole contained 48 strands, but
the top contained only 16 since four strands were
terminated every 3 ni between the 6-m and 27-111
levels because of the decreasing diameter. Each
strand was pretensioned t o 80 kN. High-strength
(83-MPa) concrete was used in fabricating the pole.
The prestressing force was released when the con-
crete strength reached 28 MPa. The design of t h e
pole called for a 19-mni cover of concrete over the
prestressing cables. The mass of the pole, without
crossarms, was about 9090 kg.
The concrete footing was constructed by augering
a 1.5-m-diameter hole into soil and rock to a depth of
4.5 m. The soil and bedrock profile consisted of a
 NOTE 275

2 - m GROUND-CABLE ARM
7 formed bars encircled by 13-mm-diameter spiralled
STRAIN DYNAMOMETER
bars at a pitch of 15 cm, was lowered into the excava-
3 - m CONDUCTOR ARM tion. Before the placing of the concrete, the rein-
forcing cage was instrumented with strain gauges.
Soil-pressure cells were also installed at various loca-
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A L L DIMENSIONS ARE IN tions in the excavation. T h e concrete (28 MPa) was

METRES UNLESS OTHERWISE
INDICATED
poured t o within 38 cm of the ground line to facili-
tate cleanup and reinstatement of the site on com-
pletion of the tests.
The pole was tested 20 days after placing the con-
NORTH
crete footing. The strength of the concrete in the
__C
footing a t the time of testing was 24 M Pa.

Strength Analysis
The pole was analysed for ultimate strength in
accordance with the basic assuniption and require-
PULL L I N E T O WINCH ment given in the American Concrete Institute (1971)
LOCATED 93m DUE
EAST OF POLE Standard 3 18-7 1 , Builclilirlg code requirements ,for
reinforced concrete. The analysis for torsional
moment capacity was based on the tensile strength
of the concrete only. For the bending moment capa-
TRANSIT
DUE SOUTH city the pole was analysed a s a tapered member with
combined axial load and bending moment. The anal-
For personal use only.

ysis indicated that the maximum torsional moment

capacity a t the ground-cable arm level and the rnaxi-
mum bending moment capacity at the ground line
would be I I and 1 169 kN.m, respectively. Although
the pole was not expected t o withstand all of the re-
quired loading combinations for compact 230-kV
FIG. 1 . Arrangement for load tests on concrete transn~ission two-circuit transmission lines given in Table 1, it was
pole and footing. decided t o test the pole in order to achieve the ob-
surfacial layer of firm reddish brown silty clay over jectives mentioned earlier.
shale bedrock beginning at a depth of 1.5 rn. T h e
bedrock was a red calcareous shale with occasional Test Program
reddish grey and grey-green calcareous fine-grained The test program was performed in two stages.
siltstone interbeds. A steel reinforcing cage, 1.4 m in Stage A consisted of a combined torsional, bending,
diameter and consisting of 25 35-mm-diameter de- and vertical loading sequence applied a t the end o f
1. Design requirements for compact, 230-kV, two-circuit transmission line (height
TABLE
of pole above ground assumed to be 29.3 ni)
-

Load conlbinations Maximum force due to combined loads

-
Wind
Ice buildup pressure Temperature Moment Shear Torsion Axial
(cm) (kPa) (L'c) (k~.m) ( k ~ ) ( k ~ . m ) (kN)
5.1 nil -1 0 0 0 307
nil 1.15 16 1196 57 0 151
1.9 0.48 - 18 945 41 0 171
nil 0.24 16 1559* 54* SO* 151
5 . It nil -1 0 0 0 216
1.97 0.48 - 18 609 27 0 135
Double twist: 0 0 107 151
'Includes effect of 47.6-kN tension on one g r o u n d cable in addition to load combinations cited.
ton phase conduc1ors of one circuit only.
tFrom failure of t w o opposite conductors, one on each side of polc.
 C A N . J . CIV. ENG. VOL. 5. 1978

FALSE ARMS LOCATION O F STRAIN GAUGES

COMPRESSION TENSION
FACE FACE
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SURVE';.
RODS

SCALES 1 DIRECTION
-
For personal use only.

OF PULL

GROUND
LINE

STRAIN
GAUGES

PRESSURE 4
FIG.2. Instrumentation for load tests on concrete pole and footing.

the south 2-m ground-cable arm at the 28-rn level.
Masses of 340 kg from each ground-cable arm and
910 kg from each conductor arm were suspended
in order to simulate the mass of the overhead ground
cables and phase conductors, respectively. The loads
on the ground-cable arm were applied in 2.2-kN
increments until failure.
Stage B comprised a combined bending and ver-
tical loading sequence applied directly t o the pole a t
the 20-m level. Stage B tests were performed with
masses of 910-kg suspended from the lowest con-
ductor arms. The load was applied t o the pole in
4.5-kN increments to failure, with the load cycled
back to zero at the 27-, 36-, 41-, and 50-kN levels.
 NOTE 277

Stage A partially simulated the design require-

ment of the fourth loading condition in Table 1 and
stage B simulated the second loading condition.
The torsional and bending loads were applied by
means of a 134-kN-capacity truck-mounted winch
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stationed 93 m directly east of the pole, as shown in

Fig. 1. In both stages the direction of the pull line
was at right angles to the lengths of the arms of the
pole. The loads were monitored by a strain dyna-
mometer at the point of load application and
checked by a spring dynamometer at the winch.
Instrumentation
The concrete pole was instrumented for taking
displacement readings, both lateral and torsional,
and strain readings, a t the locations shown in Fig. 2.
Pole deflection was measured by means of a transit
and graduated scales. The scales were attached to the
pole at about 3-m intervals and the transit was set
31 m directly south of the pole. A pair of false arms
was fastened to the pole immediately above the
ground-cable arms and oriented towards the transit.
Surveyor's rods were attached to the ground-cable
For personal use only.

arms and to the pair of false arms to measure the

torsional and lateral displacement of the top of the
pole in stage A of the test program. Movements of
the pole a t the base were measured by dial gauges.
Surface strains were measured by an extensometer
and resistance-type strain gauges installed on the
pole surface at the locations depicted in Fig. 2. The
extensometer had a gauge length of 10 cm.
Translation and rotation of the footing were mea-
sured by dial gauges. Pressure cells between the
footing and the adjacent rock recorded the stresses in
the bedrock during the tests. Longitudinal and cir-
cumferential strains within the footing were mea-
sured by resistance-type strain gauges.
Test Results
Stage A
In the stage A test, failure of the top portion of
the pole, just below the ground-cable crossarms,
occurred suddenly at a load of 6.7 kN in the inclined
pull cable. This produced a torque of 12 kN.m, a
maximum tensile strain of 87 x and a maxi-
mum rotation of the pole at the location of the failure
of 11 x rad. The horizontal component of the
load in the cable was used in calculating the twisting
moment, tensile strain, and angle of twist. Diagonal
cracks (Fig. 3) in the concrete due to the combined
torsion, bending, and shear extended downward, far
beyond the point of failure, almost to the lowest pair
of conductor arms (about 9 m). The load was applied
in the opposite direction of the spiral reinforcement.
FIG.3. Diagonal cracks due to combined torsion, shear, and
bending in stage A test.
Stage B
The strain distribution across the base of the pole
and the deflection measurements of the pole for stage
B loading are given in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively.
After the cracking load was reached the tensile strain
readings were erratic and meaningless owing to bond
failure causing slip of the prestressing steel.
First cracking was observed at 35.2 kN, which
produced a moment of 678 kN.m at the ground line.
The cracks closed completely upon release of the
loads, which would preclude moisture ingress and
possible corrosion of the prestressing steel. The
spacing of the cracks was 20 cm. Sudden flexural
failure as seen in Fig. 6 occurred at 5 m above the
footing at a load of 58 k N in the cable. This load
produced a bending moment of 1158 kN.m at the
ground line and 893 kN,m a t the location of failure.
Both the horizontal and vertical components of the
load exerted by the inclined pull cable were con-
sidered in arriving at the bending moment. Just prior
 COMPRESSIVE STRAIN
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x MECHANICAL GAUGE READINGS

ELECTRICAL GAUGE READINGS

--- THEORETICAL
For personal use only.

T E N S I L E STRAIN

FIG.4. Strain distribution across base of pole in stage B test.

circumferential strains were 55 x and 25 x

lo-" respectively, as shown in Fig. 7.
Comparison between Test Results and
Theoretical Calculations
The calculated twist at the tip of the pole for the
maximum torque was 10 x rad compared to
the observed value of 11 x rad. The estimated
maximum diagonal tensile strain was 68 x
compared to the actual value of 87 x A homog-
enous uncracked concrete section was assumed in
arriving a t the angle of twist and strain.
F o r comparison, the theoretical curves for strains
and deflections for two instances during stage B are
- ACTUAL
presented in Figs. 4 and 5. For the calculation of
--- THEORETICAL strains concrete was assumed to take n o tension and
for the deflection, the flexural cracking along the
length of the pole was ignored. A hollow tapered
tubular section was assumed for estimating both de-
I I I I I flection and angle of twist. A comparison of the cal-
25 50 75 100 125 1
culated and actual ultimate moments for the pole a t
DEFLECTION IN CENTIMETRES
the ground line and at the location of failure are
FIG.5. Deflections of pole in stage B test. given in Table 2.
The maximum longitudinal and circumferential
to failure, the pole deflection was 1.8 m at 20 m above strains in the footing, at the level of the top set of
ground. strain gauges were estimated to be 93 x and
During the tests, virtually no rotation and lateral 48 x respectively. The actual values were
movement took place in the concrete footing and, at 55 x and 25 x respectively, that is,
failure of the pole, the maximum longitudinal and about one half the estimated values. For the theoret-
 NOTE
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For personal use only.
FIG.6. Failure of pole in stage B test.
ical calculations, the pole was assumed held in posi-
tion at the base by a cantilevered 1.2 111 long stub
cylinder, that is, the concrete footing with outside
diameter 1.5 m, inside diameter coinciding with the
outside diameter of the pole, and one end built in
the rock.
Discussion
It can be seen from Figs. 4 and 5 that, even at high
loads, the correlation was close between the measured
and calculated strains and deflections in the pole.
Agreement between the calculated and observed
torsional moment, angle to twist, diagonal strain,
and bending moment was also good.
As discussed next, both the torsional and flexural
failures were very explosive in nature.
Torsional Failure of Pole
The torsional failure, in particular, was very sud-
279
TABLE
2. Coniparison of calculated and actual ultimate
moments
- -
Calculatcd Actual
Property (kN.ni) (kNm)
Ultimate torsional moment II 12
Ultimate bending moment at the
ground line 1 169 11%
Ultimate bending moment at the
location of failure 90 1 893
Cracking moment 62 1 678
den and gave no warning, the reason being attributed
to lack of properly oriented and spaced spiral rein-
forcement.
The prestress failed to increase the cracking torque
capacity probably because of inadequate transfer
length. In calculating the theoretical torsional
moment capacity and strain, the effect of prestress
was not included; only the tensile strength of the
concrete was considered. The capacity would have
been 1.7 times that calculated had the prestress been
effective. The theoretical torsional moment capacity
of the prestressed pole was calculated by assuming
an effective precompression of 17 M P a in the con-
crete cross section. T h e shear and bending stresses
introduced into the section by the horizontal load
were insignificant and therefore ignored.
The bolt holes and the stress concentration at them
probably contributed significantly towards reducing
torsional resistance of the section, and i11 all likeli-
hood the failure originated at a bolt hole.
The problem of torsion in a prestressed concrete
pole, especially when combined with shear a n d
bending, is quite conlplex, and is further com-
pounded by the presence of bolt holes and inade-
quate transfer length of the prestressing steel rein-
forcement. In fact, n o design code is available at
present for designing prestressed members subjected
to torsion.
Flexural Failure of Pole
The explosive nature of the flexural failure, the
strain distribution across the section, and the load-
deflection curves indicated that the pole was over-
reinforced. Because of creep and shrinkage, the
magnitude of the pretension cannot be calculated ac-
curately and hence the cracking moment can only be
established approximately. However, during the test
it was possible to observe the load a t which cracking
occurred and hence determine the actual cracking
moment. The value obtained agreed well with the
predicted value. For a short-term monotonic load
test, the cracking load may also be determined from
the actual load-strain o r load-deflection curves since
 -
C A N . J . CIV. E N G . V O L . 5. 1978

LOAD

I]
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I TENSION 1 TENSION
[ I

I I
COMPRESSION ' I 1 TENSION

I I
I I
I \ - F A C E "A"
I I
I I

'/I j
1 I
I I
\ \ \\I

I I -60 -40 -20 0 -20 0 b20 +40

CIRCUMFERENTLAL LONGITUDINAL LONGITUDINAL CIRCUMFERENTIAL
STRAIN O N FACE "B" STRAIN ON FACE " B " S T R A I N ON FACE "A" S T R A I N O N FACE "A"
(X I O - ~ ! ( X 10.6) ELEVATION ix 10-6; (X

t TENSION
- COMPRESSION
For personal use only.

UPPER GAUGE WAS NOT FUNCTIONING.

COMPRESSIVE STRAIN DISTRIBUTIONS
SHOWN ARE B E S T E S T I M A T E S .

Frc. 7. Strain distribution in concrete footing in stage B test.

this is the load at which the curves deviate from the
straight-line relationship.
Behaviour of Footing
In deriving the theoretical strains in the footing,
the resistance offered by the overburden soil was
ignored. However, the soil resistance seems t o have
reduced the strains quite significantly. From the re-
sults of strain measurements in the footing, rein-
forcing steel for structural purposes is unnecessary
under these particular conditions. However, some
nominal reinforcement may be required, but only in
the upper part of the footing, t o control cracking of
the concrete by thermal o r drying shrinkage. The
percentage of such 'temperature' reinforcement,
which is usually lx of the concrete area, should be
calculated only on the outer periphery of the footing
as this is the only area in tension when the concrete
cools initially. Although eventual contraction of the
interior mass might tend t o propagate the surface
cracks, the steel will limit their width and therefore
not jeopardize the structural behaviour of the foot-
ing. No temperature and shrinkage reinforcement
would be required where the footings are constructed
using the principles and practices of crack-controlled
mass concrete.
Design Improvement
The tests demonstrated that although this par-
ticular transmission pole withstood the maximum-
shear-force design requirement given in Table I for
compact 230-kV two-circuit transmission lines, it
withstood only 75'%,of the required bending-moment
capacity and only 10% of the required torsional-
moment capacity. It would appear that the torsional
moment requirement of 107 kN.m would be the most
difficult to meet with a concrete pole. However, if the
steel spiral reinforcing is installed a t a reduced pitch
in both directions, the torsional capacity would be
greatly improved.
Preliminary calculations indicated that a pole
having a t o p diameter of 51 cm, a butt diameter of
81 cm and a minimum wall thickness of 6 crn would
satisfy all the design requirements. However, the
adequacy of any new design would need t o be con-
firmed by further tests, especially for torsional capa-
cities.
 NOTE
Conclusions and Recommendations
It was concluded from the tests that the actual
strength and behaviour agreed well with the ana-
lytical predictions, provided that the dimensions and
properties of materials are known. However, t o meet
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the design requirements, additional changes are
needed. Further tests are required t o confirm the de-
sign, particularly to determine torsional resistance.
Based on the analysis and test results, there was
virtually no need for reinforcing steel in this footing.
For personal use only.
28 I
Where required to minimize cracking due to thermal
or drying shrinkage, o r for other reasons, reinforce-
ment should be confined to the t o p and the outer
periphery of the footing. Further testing of other rein-
forced concrete footings under different foundation
conditions is proposed.
AMERICAN CONCI<II I-I~JII:. 1971. Building code re-
I: INS-I
quiscments k ) ~winforced
' concrete. Stanclarcl3 18-71,