Author: Engelund, Anker
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Engelund, Anker
The Structural Engineer, Volume 17, Issue 2, 1939
THE test was carried out on the portal frame girders for Kidlington Canal Bridge, Oxfordshire, by the staff of the Building Research Station, Garston, on behalf of the Oxfordshire County Council. It took place at the Chepstow Works of the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Limited, the makers of the girders. The object was to find out how far the thrust, stresses and deflections observed agreed with those calculated in the course of design. It is believed to have been the first test of its kind carried out. J.J. Leeming and S.C. Redshaw
Although at first sight the design of a concrete road slab may appear to be one of the simplest of engineering problems, it is, in fact, extremely difficult and complex. Even after many years' research both in this country and abroad there is still insufficient information available to enable the design to proceed in the usual manner for engineering structures, namely, on the basis of an adequate knowledge of the maximum stresses to which the road slab will be subjected. Important factors in the problem are the loads imposed by traffic, temperature and moisture changes, and the supporting conditions supplied by the subgrade and the adjoining slabs. F.N. Sparkes
The CHAIRMAN (Lt.-Colonel H. S. Rogers, C.M.G., D.S.O., M.I.Struct.E.) welcomed the large audience which filled the lecture hall and overflowed into the Council and Committee rooms on the ground floor (which had been connected by loud speakers with the microphone on the reading desk) and included representatives from the Home Office, the War Office, the Air Ministry, the London County Council and Scotland Yard, as well as the immediate past President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was highly gratified that so many had come to listen to the paper and it was evident that the subject which the lecturer was to deal with aroused widespread interest, amongst engineers. A telephone message had been received from Sir John Anderson (the Lord Privy Seal, and Minister for Civil Defence) expressing regret that a debate which was taking place at that moment in the House of Commons prevented his being present. He understood that Mr. Helsby had condensed his paper in order to allow time for a discussion, and he therefore introduced the lecturer without further preamble.