Comparative Costs of Single-Storey Steel Framed Structures

Joints in steel frames In April Mr Denis Wall queried the detailing of knee joints in portal frames, with reference to the BCSA publication, Details of single-bay single-storey portal frame sheds. Mr L. H. Lewis of Banstead, Surrey, has now provided us with the following commentary: If we consider the column alone, with the rafter removed, and we replace the rafter with the forces it imposes on the column, we have the arrangement shown in Fig 1. Verulam

Despite the recent publication of new, revised and draft Codes of Practice for the structural use of various materials, the debate over the most suitable form for such documents does not lessen. To a degree, there is always likely to be argument as long as one document seeks to meet a range of contrasting requirements of, for example, designers and checkers, comprehensiveness and limitation of scope, continuity of approach, and response to new knowledge and developments. J.F.A. Moore

The third weekend visit of the Institution’s ‘History of Structural Engineering’ Study Group took place in the Newcastle area on 4-7 July 1985. The arrangements were made locally by R. W. (Bob) Rennison and, as previously, by Julia Elton and John Bancroft from London. On the first evening we had an excellent biographical talk by Bob Rennison on ‘Engineers of the north-east’. His list of engineers was long, the connections with the region varied, and the names often (but not always) well known. Smeaton, the two Stephensons, Fairbairn, and William (Lord) Armstrong, have been amply recognised by posterity but, for instance, Chapman, Harrison, the Greens, and Blackmore, are less well known.