THE CHAIRMAN introduced Professor MAGNEL, who then summarised his paper. At the conclusion, he said he did not claim that we had arrived at the final stage of the developments discussed. But, pointing to the necessity for economy in steel, in view of the large quantities needed for re-armament, he said the Americans were putting a lot of people out of work because there was not sufficient steel available for buildings, and so on, and in his own country and ours the situation would be the same. As a sound policy to effect saving in steel he suggested, first, that we should use much more reinforced concrete than steel; secondly, we should use more and more prestressed concrete instead of reinforced concrete; and thirdly, for big spans, where prestressed concrete could not do the job, we should try to use prestressed steel.
Gabled rigid frames are becoming increasingly common in single-storey factory construction, but where there are two or more bays the analysis by the usual methods of structural theory presents considerable difficulties in computation. This paper presents a method, based on the general conception of moment and thrust distribution, which greatly simplifies such problems. It is particularly advantageous where the structure consists of a large number of bays, where the roof members are in several straight portions or are curved, and where the members are of variable cross-section. It is also applicable to multi-span portal frame bridges. A.J. Francis