The additional functional requirements of design required by the above Amendment, which became effective from 1 April 1970, are being studied by a Working Party of the Council, set up under the Chairmanship of Mr. A. J. Harris CBE. The Working Party is considering the effect of the Amendment on various forms of structure and it is anticipated that a paper will be completed for consideration by the Council at its meeting on 25 June. The Council may then decide to circulate the paper as a draft to corporate members and offer it as a basis for discussion at a meeting or series of meetings (dependent upon demand) which can be arranged to be held at the Institution in July. In the light of the wishes of members generally the paper may thereafter be published as an Institution Report. Members will be kept advised of progress in this work. For the information of all members an extract is given below from Hansard for Tuesday 7 April 1970, when Mrs. Renee Short MP asked two questions of the Minister of Housing and Local Government.
Mr. Gordon Rose: ‘It is now six months since we had the opportunity of speaking about this topic at another place, and it certainly seems that things are improving in detail. The latest suggestion that we should consider four types of failure, from five years to 100 years, is the sort of approach that is needed.'
Mr. A. T. B. Shand: ‘I suppose it is unusual for the prisoner to go first, but here I am. I feel a little more uneasy speaking of claims in this august Institution than I might do in other places. I have always thought that if someone changes his mind in structural engineering-be he client, consultant or contractor-he really should not have done so. He should have known what he was going to construct before he started. In other forms of civil engineering, particularly when we go down into the ground, it is impossible to preclude the finding of the unexpected. However, I imagine that changes and variations will always be a part of our working life. We must expect this and not put our heads into the sand. Nor must the formation and submission of claims on our side be put into your pending baskets, and, more important to me, the adjudication of these claims put into your pending baskets. I am, of course, speaking to both sides and I imagine I am not exactly in the majority tonight.'
These reports upon the performance of candidates in the Institution Parts 2 and 3 examinations held in January 1970 are based upon the comments of examiners. The review is offered as a guide to those who are preparing for future examinations and to those members and others responsible for the teaching or training of potential candidates.
The response to the invitation to members offered in The Structural Engineer in 1969 has been sufficiently encouraging for the Council to approve a pilot scheme of Special Study Groups.
The paper first describes the existing method of testing brick masonry discs to establish the diagonal tensile strength of brickwork. B. Stafford Smith, C. Carter and J.R. Choudhury
The formulation of an epoxy mortar is related to existing knowledge of the design of resin mortar mixes. The results are given of several series of tests on this mortar and on joints made with it. These show that it is suitable for use in structural joints in precast concrete that transmit combined shear and compression, and that its flexibility and creep are little greater than those of concrete, and an order of magnitude less than those of the epoxy resins previously tested. R. Paul Johnson