Bamboo-Reinforced Concrete Two-Way Slabs Subjected to Concentrated Loading

In structural testing, it is important to ensure that the loading that is applied to the test piece is that which is intended. If unintended constraints or instabilities arise, these will often lead to errors. The paper proposes a method of assessing the kinematic state of a test setup and enables suitable systems to be designed. R.C. Corless and Professor P.B. Morice

Dr. 0. Vilnay (University College, Cardiff): For a long time, the stability of masonry arches has been confused with the problem of equilibrium and strength. It was generally assumed that, where it is possible to establish a thrust line lying wholly within the arch, the arch is stablec. However, this situation indicates only that the load is sustained by internal compression and does not indicate anything about the stability of the arch.

Tests were carried out to investigate the behaviour of two tall, narrow diaphragm walls under varying levels of prestrm and subject to varying magnitudes of lateral loading. The main and primary objective was to evaluate the massive increase in lateral load resistance of such walls, of well over a 100 times, compared to traditional walls of similar cross-sectional area. A number of secondary objectives such as creep, elastic contraction, princbal tensile strength, shear lag, and the general behaviour of full-scale plain diaphragm walls, were also examined. It was found that prestressing not only immensely increases brickwork’s bending strength; it also increases the stiffness of elements and changes brickwork behaviour from brittle to ductile. It may not be an exaggeration to state that it is a ’new’ structural material and bears no comparison, structurally, with traditional brickwork. W.G. Curtin