Reliability Assessment of Electrical Overhead Distribution Wood Poles

Wood poles are widely used for overhead distribution system, and constitute an important component of utilities' assets. Since they are usually designed based on deterministic approach stipulated by utility's own design practice or relevant nation standard, the reliabilities achieved are often unknown. This paper presents a study on structural reliability of distribution wood poles selected according to the Canadian deterministic design requirement. Structural reliability of tangent wood poles selected at 15 locations across Canada are evaluated and discussed