An investigation into the cause of damage to the Severn Railway Bridge

The paper suggests an analytical method for evaluating the tensile stresses present within a short end block and in the web of the adjacent I-beam section. It is intended primarily for use with beams prestressed by external cables, but is not confined to these. J. R. RYDZEWSKI and F. J. WHITBREAD

The Index of Computer Programmes now maintained in the Institution’s Library contained, at the end of 1962, about 150 items, under the following headings: aircraft and ships (3), arches (3), bridges (13), chimneys (2), composite action (7), continuous beams (7), general mathematical (lo), jetties (3), piles (3), piping (4), plane frame structures (47), plates and slabs (4), properties of sections (9), shells (6), soil mechanics (7), stairs (2), tanks (2), vibration (3) and miscellaneous (10). The compilation of the Index was recommended by the committee responsible for the Institution Report on ‘The Use of Digital Computers in Structural Engineering’, published in May 1962. (Copies of this report are still available price 10s. 6d. post free.)

Brief reference is made to existing theoretical analyses and experimental data relevant to the problem of the stress distribution in end blocks. The programme of experimental work undertaken on end blocks is then defined and the essential information concerning the test specimens and actual tests is given. R.E. Rowe