The relationship between the calculations which are carried out in structural design and the way in which the real structures behave under load is often not as close as is desirable. The effects of the walls and floors in building structures, for example, may have a considerable influence on the axial loads, shears and bending moments which the members of the frameworks sustain. A long span suspension bridge, however, is one of the 'purest' forms of civil engineering structures. The precise solutions of some of the problems which arise in its analysis are, therefore, particularly valuable and the opportunity of using electronic digital computers to obtain them holds a tremendous appeal.
D. M. BROTTON N. W. WILLIAMSON and M. MILLAR