Recent failures of high mast luminaire poles have showcased the vulnerability of these structures due to wind loading. High mast luminaire poles are long and slender structures with low damping and highly susceptible to the vibrations caused by wind. These vibrations add up to a large number of cycles during the structure life cycle and can result in fatigue failures. These structures have various components which include: base plate, anchor bolts, reinforced cut-out hand holes, weld details, and the hollow tubular pole supporting the luminaire. These components involve a number of design parameters which can affect the support structure's fatigue failure susceptibility. This study focuses on the fatigue life of the base connection and the tube-to-hand-hole connection under wind loading. For this purpose, a model for the fatigue assessment is developed for the base connection and the tube-to-hand-hole connection. Fatigue analysis is carried out for these structures in the static load ranges to determine the hot spots for the respective static loads with complete stress reversal. Wind time histories are generated for different mean wind speeds and are used to analyze the fatigue performance in terms of stress cycles to failure and damage indices. The range of mean wind speeds that were simulated have a probability of occurrence for a given mean wind speed and direction. The results can provide a general framework to help designers and fabricators in better determining the impact of various design parameters on the fatigue life of high mast luminaire poles.
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