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Utility Pole Foundation

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StewardMM

Civil/Environmental
Mar 5, 2012
37
Can STTAD software be used for designing the foundation of a utility pole structure?
 
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Do you mean STAAD? It would be difficult. You would have to model the soil as a series of "compression only" springs. STAAD has compression only springs, but unless you have purchased the "Advanced Analysis Engine" any iterative analysis (e.g. tension/compression only) is not possible. Even if you have purchased it it's very tricky to implement. Read the help file closely to make sure you get it right. You'd also need to know a lot of Geotechnical information about the soil's lateral force/deformation relationship. That usually doesn't come in most Geotechnical reports unless you request it.

What type of foundation are you designing? I'm assuming you have a drilled pier. I've always designed those using IBC Section 1805.7. This section has a fairly simple procedure that checks the soil pressures against fairly conservative assumed values. Then you just design the reinforced concrete pier for the combination of moment and axial load. Drilled piers are pretty simple to design under normal soil conditions and loading.
 
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