Fiber-reinforced polymers poles were on the increase because they were lightweight, have high strength-to-weight ratios, provide corrosion resistance, can be customized to meet strength and deflection requirements, and have a low life-cycle cost of construction and maintenance. This research presents a comprehensive review of all significant research and existing case studies to review the present knowledge concerning fiber-reinforced polymers poles. The main summary covers 70 works focusing on fiber poles to summarize recent activities on selected relevant topics and highlight possible future implementations. In this context, this study discusses fiber-reinforced polymers poles in six aspects: (i) introduction; (ii) methodology; (iii) Materials properties of FRP poles; (iv) manufacturing techniques of FRP poles; (v) testing of FRP poles (static and dynamic flexure test as cantilever beam); (vi) modeling of FRP poles. Therefore, this critical review will demonstrate an overview of FRP Poles manufacturing techniques (Pultrusion, filament winding, centrifugal process, and hand lay-up) and which Pultrusion technique is the best suited for FRP Poles. Static modeling was the most used of other techniques.

Centrifugal-manufactured GFRP pipes are widely used today as lighting and low-power transmission poles due to their lightweight, high electrical insulation, low cost, and corrosion resistance. Despite these advantages, GFRP poles suffer high deflection problems due to their low elastic and shear moduli values. In order to overcome this disadvantage, three techniques were suggested to control the lateral deflection of the GFRP poles: an extended internal steel stub, external steel angles, and internal steel bracing bars. The main objective of this study is to determine the optimum strengthening technique to improve the serviceability of GFRP poles in terms of lateral deflection according to ASTM D4923. An experimental research program containing five full-scale GFRP poles was carried out to determine the optimum strengthening technique and the effect of connectors opening near the base and compare it to previous research. The results indicated that flexural stiffness was increased by 44%, 66%, and 38% for the extended stub, steel angles, and bracing bars, respectively. Besides that, the reduction in flexural stiffness due to connector opening was about 8%. The measured deflections showed good matching with simplified mathematical calculations, and the division was about ±10%. The external steel angle technique showed the best efficiency in Stiffness behavior. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2023-09-06-07 Full Text: PDF