Structural Aspects of the Extension of a Hangar for the BOAC at London Airport

Recent changes in the design of the American office-block indicate a trend towards simplification of its layout and shape. At the same time the demand for larger and higher skyscrapers is still increasing. A new structural system meets these requirements. The traditional framework with its curtain-wall cladding is being superseded by a structure which consists of two concentric tubular walls, the hull and the core, with the floors spanning between them. Both walls are load-bearing and wind-resisting at the same time. During the past few years several such 'hull-core structures' have been built in the United States by leading American architects. Various external treatments in both steel and concrete have been employed. Although some of the structural problems concerning stability, stress distribution and stiffness are often complex, the hull-core structure appears to have a great potential for future development. E.W. Hirschmann

In order to efficiently design a battened strut under an eccentrically applied load, its two main members can be chosen to have different properties of cross section. This paper presents a theoretical analysis for the determination of the critical load of such unsymmetrical battened struts under axial as well as eccentric loads. An expression is deduced for the direct determination of this critical load which, when inserted in one of the approved design formulae, will give the required failure load. The analysis showed that the critical load of battened struts, different from solid struts depend on the eccentricity of loading. Comparison with existing experimental data is found to be satisfactory. M.E. Mohsin