Transforming technology to industry
In the line of duty, Australia’s timber utility poles are subjected to the harshest of conditions: battered by wind, soaked by storms and beamed on by the relentless and powerful sun. Maintaining the health of this infrastructure is vital because failure, even of a single pole, can threaten public safety, result in liability issues and lead to huge economic and productivity losses.
According to Professor Jianchun Li, Head of Structural Materials Engineering at UTS, the lack of reliable information concerning the in-service condition of timber poles, including the degree of deterioration or damage below ground level, makes it extremely difficult for asset managers todecide how best to manage them.
The project brief was to create a non-destructive, timber pole testing process that could quickly and easily test the entire pole. The impressive team at UTS was able to achieve this.
— Bill Woods, former Manager T&D Mains Engineering (responsible for R&D in Wood Pole Testing and Treatment) Ausgrid
“Traditional methods for assessing pole integrity involves visual inspection, drilling and sounding tests, but this process damages the pole and can be inconclusive and inaccurate as they depend on an individual inspector’s interpretation of the information. This, in some cases, leads to both pole failures and the costly and unnecessary replacement of poles,” explains Li.
With an estimated $175 million needed annually in Australia to maintain poles, erect new poles and replace defective poles over the next decade, Li says UTS was only too thrilled to collaborate with Ausgrid on an ARC Linkage project to revolutionise how poles are assessed. Ausgrid is the largest supplier of electricity on the east coast of Australia and is responsible for 500,000 of these timber poles.
“As an outcome of the ARC Linkage project, we have been able to create a novel screening prototype that comprises an innovative sensor array and machine learning technology. It is non-destructive and only takes one person with a device a few minutes to assess an entire pole and upload the data to the cloud,” explains Li.
“This project increases the safety and reliability of testing, while simultaneously reducing costs and labour. In addition, the database accumulated from historic information will improve testing accuracy and safety in the future,” he continues.
Ausgrid's Program Manager for the R&D in wood pole testing and treatment during the ARC Linkage project has stated that the motivation was to look after the interests of the public and Ausgrid’s employees by maintaining the safety of the overhead network while minimising costs, effort and resources.
“The project brief was to create a non-destructive, timber pole testing process that could quickly and easily test the entire pole. The impressive team at UTS was able to achieve this,” he says.
“They were easy to work with, enthusiastic and responsive throughout the project and always provided the expertise and focus required to move the project through its various phases.”
UTS and Ausgrid are currently discussing the parameters for the next stage in the project, which is likely to result in a diagnostic tool (which has been conceptually proven but needs more development), to improve the situation even further.
“While the screening tool is able to give basic information about whether the pole is safe or not, our diagnostic tool should be able to precisely identify damage location, type and severity, so we can accurately evaluate the remaining strength of the pole,” continues Liu. “We hope very much to be working with Ausgrid on that in the near future.”
Training field operators
Research team
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Head of Discipline, Structural and Materials Engineering, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering -
Yang YuResearch Fellow, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
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Peter BrownSenior Project Engineer, Civil and Environmental
Research centre
- UTS Tech Lab
Funded by
- Ausgrid
- ARC Linkage funding
