Author: Anchor, R D
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Anchor, R D
The Structural Engineer, Volume 74, Issue 6, 1996
Where wind blows... Members have responded to the letter from Rollo Reed (Verulam, Vol.74, No. 2, 16 January 1996). Bill Hyde writes from Worcester: No doubt in a hurricane there are downdraughts, but I suggest that, if all of the purlin damage in Rollo Reed's photographs had been caused by downward forces, the roof coverings would still be in place. May it be that failure occurred upwards, and that the failed purlins are now simply sagging under their own weight? Verulam
In March 1995 new rules were introduced governing the specification of structural softwoods. The changes are designed to ensure that the moisture content of the timber is appropriate to the inservice conditions for which it is specified. The permitted stress grades are set out in BS 4978. The amendments to this standard require all structural softwood less than 1OOmm thick for internal applications such as roofs, floors and walls in housing and other buildings to be graded at a moisture content of 20% or less. The timber must bear a stress grade stamp indicating that it is DRY or KD (kiln dried). Softwood for use in high moisture environments (principally fully exposed outdoors) will be marked WET, indicating that it is not suitable for internal uses. M. Milner The importance of
A computer analysis is being developed whose objective is to predict the response of steel framed buildings to fire conditions. This is now capable of analysing 3-dimensional structures, including a representation of the restraint to thermal expansion provided by concrete floor slabs. The analysis has been used to model the first of the fire tests conducted on the full-scale eight-storey composite test frame at Cardington, which took place on 19 January 1995. In this test a 9m secondary composite beam was heated to steel temperatures in excess of 800°C. C.G. Bailey, I.W. Burgess and Professor R.J. Plank