Quick Pole Verification

Both the CSA and NESC (and likely others) state that the foundation of the pole must be able to withstand the loads transferred to it by the pole. Neither provide much guidance however as to how to evaluate this requirement. To that end we offer some discussion.

The pole experiences various vertical loads plus lateral forces and moments from possibly any direction. The Soil Foundation is an important part of the restraining mechanism for the structure. Without it, the pole would simply fall over.

From a modeling perspective, almost all Pole Line Design software tools evaluate the pole structure without regard to its foundation. For those software tools that do consider the foundation's ability to support the pole, the required Soil Reactions are usually calculated assuming that the Soil Foundation is very rigid.