[CCoE Notice] Master's Thesis Defense Announcement

[Khator, Suresh]

FATIGUE FAILURE AND CRACKING IN HIGH MAST POLES

Raka Goyal

Thesis Defense Committee Members
Mina Dawood, Chair, CEE Department
Hemant Dhonde, CEE Department
Gangbing Song, ME Department

August 11th, 2011, 2:00 PM
Civil and Environmental Engineering Conference Room

This thesis presents the findings of a comprehensive research project to investigate the fatigue cracking and failure of galvanized high mast illumination poles (HMIP). Ultrasonic inspection of poles throughout the state has revealed the presence of weld toe cracks at the shaft-to-base-plate connections of some galvanized poles owned by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). However, the effect of these cracks on the fatigue life of the poles has not been clearly defined.  The first phase of this research involved extensive review of published and unpublished data, to identify key factors that contribute to galvanization induced cracking. Best fabrication practices to minimize such cracking are recommended. In the second phase, a comprehensive reliability analysis of several TxDOT pole configurations was conducted to predict the fatigue lives of the cracked poles. Critical pole configurations and locations are identified to facilitate cost-effective decisions related to inspection, repair, and replacement of poles.


_______________________________________________________
Suresh K. Khator, Ph.D., P.E.                         Phone: 713-743-4205
Associate Dean, College of Engineering    Fax: 713-743-4214
University of Houston                                     Email: skhator at uh.edu
E421 Engineering Bldg 2                                www.egr.uh.edu/ie
Houston, TX 77204-4008

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