Repair and rehabilitation of wood utility poles with fibre-reinforced polymers

Abstract

All wood utility poles require an effective maintenance program to ensure safe and reliable service. The end of a wood utility pole's useful life can be attributed to several factors, including decay, mechanical damage, weathering, and changing design requirements. Pole life can be extended through an effective preservative treatment and maintenance program, but all poles will reach a point when they are no longer suitable for their intended use. With the increasing cost of quality wood for use in poles, along with environmental concerns regarding pole disposal and chemical treatment of existing poles, new innovative methods are required to restore and maintain the structural integrity of existing wood poles. This paper presents results from a research program carried out at the University of Manitoba to develop a repair and rehabilitation technique for wood poles using fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP).Key words: wood, utility poles, fibre-reinforced, polymers, FRP, repair, rehabilitation.