Investigation of Failure Modes for Traffic Light Poles Using Pushover Analysis

Traffic light poles, which play a key role in urban traffic management, are increasingly being damaged by higher wind loads associated with climate change, increasing the likelihood of secondary accidents. In this study, the wind-resistance performance of single-direction traffic light poles was evaluated based on pole type and basic wind speed using nonlinear static pushover analysis. The influence of corrosion-induced local cross-sectional reduction on the yielding location and failure mode was also investigated. Field damage cases were collected and classified into representative failure modes. Comparison with the pushover analysis results enabled the identification of the governing failure modes and their associated vulnerability factors for each failure type.