Experimental Results on Centrifugated GFRP Poles for Electric Lifelines

In this paper the results of an experimental investigation on glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) centrifugated transmission utility poles are discussed. The study is principally aimed to analyze the effect of manufacturing process on the mechanical properties of the poles. The results of the experimental investigation are especially concerned with the analysis of some parameters that mostly affect the tensile behavior of the poles in terms of stiffness and strength; among these, physical parameters such as glass percentage and thickness, and mechanical parameters such as longitudinal modulus and tensile strength are considered. The analysis evidenced the high quality of the manufacturing process in providing a product that has low tolerances in the experimental values of dimensional and tensile properties of the poles. An effective stiffness is defined to model satisfactorily the experimental tensile response and to provide a design tool for the mechanical properties of the poles. This parameter, which directly includes the dependency on glass content and thickness values, appears an effective tool in the prediction of the poles' structural response.