Wind induced vibrations of pole structures

A user friendly, interactive computer program was created to provide a better understanding of street light structures used by Manitoba Hydro. The need for such a program arose after several failures of such structures. In order to understand these failures, an understanding of two wind conditions w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Flather, Wayne
Format: Others
Language:en
en_US
Published: 2007
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1993/1113
Description
Summary:A user friendly, interactive computer program was created to provide a better understanding of street light structures used by Manitoba Hydro. The need for such a program arose after several failures of such structures. In order to understand these failures, an understanding of two wind conditions which possibly caused the failures was required. The two wind conditions of interest are low speed laminar winds, causing vortex shedding, and gust winds causing vibrations parallel to the direction of the wind. Forcing functions were developed, based on common fluid dynamic theories, which are used to model the forces exerted on the pole due to these wind conditions. A mathematical model was built in order to determine the response of a pole subjected to these types of wind conditions. The model is analyzed using the finite el ment method and common mathematical routines. The computer program allows the user to vary parameters relating to both the pole structure and the wind conditions. By varying the parameters and observations of the graphical display of the expected pole vibrations, an in depth understanding of the pole's structural behavior can be achieved. This study can be applied to the future design of pole structures as well as to continued maintenance and monitoring programs.