**4. Conclusions**

Fatigue tests conducted on aluminum light pole samples containing a variety of welded hand-hole details revealed that there were no significant increases in the fatigue life with changes in the treatment of the hand holes or changes in the detail geometry. A total of 8 tests were conducted resulting in 15 data points, all subjected to nearly the same stress range and loading rate. Fatigue test results indicated that while there was some deviation in the results when plotted by itself, the changes made did not have a drastic effect on the fatigue life of the specimens. The finite element models show how an initial crack effects the stress concertation around the handhole. From the results, it can be seen how the stress "pools" at the location where that initial cracks were observed. This was consistent with the results in the lab.
