Book Review

Johnson, R.P. Composite structures of steel and concrete: beams, slabs, columns, and frames for buildings. 3rd. ed. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, ISBN 1-4051-0035-4, £39.50

This is the third edition of a very useful book written by an acknowledged authority on its subject, which has advanced greatly in recent decades.

The book first appeared in 1975 under the aegis of the former Constructional Steel Research and Development Organisation, whose function is now served by the Steel Construction Institute. The preface to the first edition (by the late Professor M. R. Horne) noted then that no limit state code of practice was as yet available for steel or steel-concrete composite structural design. Indeed, the two published parts of CP 117 for composite construction then covered only simply-supported beams in buildings and beams for bridges (and these were not supported by explanatory handbooks). The book - clearly-written and comprehensive - was therefore a valuable tool for many practising engineers, particularly with the resurgence of steel-framed building construction in the early-mid 1980s. For this, composite beams and composite slabs with profiled metal decking quickly became the norm.

By the time the second edition appeared in 1994, composite beam and slab design was covered by sections of BS 5950 published in 1990 and 1982 respectively. The text of the book however was based on the ENV (draft) Eurocodes, which were already appearing.

This third edition takes the full plunge and is based on EN 1994, the multi-sectioned Eurocode for composite design, and other supporting EN documents, due for publication soon. The reader, too, must take the Europlunge and get to grips with terms such as 'action', 'resistance', and 'execution' (the latter meaning construction), as well as with generally unfamiliar and extended sets of notations and symbols. (Five pages of the book are needed to define symbols, terminology, and units.) Professor Johnson has been heavily involved in the drafting of the composite Eurocode, and notes in his Preface that he is a co-author of the Designers' Guide being drafted to be read alongside EN 1994-1-1, which covers general rules and rules for building. So one can have confidence that this book provides authoritative guidance. We have yet to see the published National Annexe, which has the scope to adopt or amend what will appear in the EN as 'recommended' values for partial and combination factors and other constants; the author reassuringly advises that "very few of them are being changed", and those that are will presumably be highlighted in the Annexe.

The new edition follows closely the layout of its predecessors. The first chapter provides a general introduction to composite design philosophy and methods of design and analysis. The second deals with shear connection, a key concern when designing both composite beams and composite slabs. Chapters three and four cover simply-supported and continuous beams and slabs respectively. There is considerably expanded coverage of fire resistance, reflecting extensive recent studies carried out on this important subject to give better understanding and hence lead to both safe and economical designs. The final chapter looks at composite columns and frames. An Appendix provides the derivation of partial-interaction formulae for use in shear connection design. References are cited in full.

Throughout the book are worked examples which, like much of the text, have been extensively revised to reflect the changes in code recommendations. The author, however, has managed to keep the volume to much the same size as the first edition.

This book should prove very helpful for those who, either willingly or reluctantly, are soon going to be using Eurocodes to design composite structures.

Michael Bussell