How Does Pole Base Perform in High Winds?
Pole Base precast concrete light pole foundations host light poles in some of the harshest wind environments in the continental United States.
Engineers Trust Pole Base to Do the Job
Pole Base performs in regions with high winds, including weather hotspots like Florida and other coastal locales. Pole Base design and embedment recommendations have been established based on wind gusts of 90 mph (40 m/s) over three seconds at 33 ft (10 m) above the ground. The engineer working on your project can easily design Pole Base units using site-specific wind loads, including very large loads where needed. Your local Pole Base producer can manufacture longer bases to offer additional wind support in some instances through increased embedment.
Consult the Pole Base Technical Guide
Additional wind tolerance information, including design charts, can be found in the comprehensive Pole Base Technical Guide. This resource can help with preliminary estimating and concept development, including embedment depths with certain assumed conditions.
Design Wind Speed for Your Project Location
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) offers its Hazard Tool, an interactive platform that can design wind speeds for specific locations and also provides access to key design parameters specified in their most recent design standard. When utilizing the Hazard Tool to design wind speeds for most projects, we recommend using the following settings:
Design Standard: ASCE 7-22 (the most recent design standard) Risk Category: 1 (typically used for light poles and signage) Site Soil Class: D (used for most soil types) Load Type: Wind