An Approximate Method for Calculating the Elastic Critical Loads of Multi-storey Plane Frames

Mr. Gordon Rose's dilemma in establishing the capacity of load-bearing walls of old buildings to the satisfaction of Authority (April) has drawn further comment; Mr. Stephen Revesz (F) considers it is timely to air this issue and offers practical, commonsense suggestions drawn from experience. He writes: We have had to deal with similar problems when converting existing buildings. In most cases the floors were found to be just adequate for domestic loading (1.5 kN/m2) but had been in use as offices for a considerable number of years. The owners had controlled storage of papers or office machinery to avoid overloading by commonsense. Verulam

Soon British reinforced brickwork design will shift from a permissible stress approach to a limit state approach similar to that already accomplished for reinforced concrete. For the limit state shear design of reinforced brickwork beams, ultimate shear stress values must be defined as a function of the main shear parameters. The main parameters, similar to the case of reinforced concrete beams, were assumed to be the ratio of shear span to effective depth a/d, and the percentage of tensile reinforcement p. Since a review of published evidence provided little systematic data on the influence of a/d and p on reinforced brickwork strength, the authors carried out a systematic experimental investigation involving a/d and p. Results indicate a significant increase in ultimate shear stress with decreasing a/d values similar to the case of reinforced concrete beams, but, in contrast to the case of reinforced concrete beams, a virtual independence of p on ultimate shear stress. G.T. Suter and A.W. Hendry

I shall confine myself to fairly obvious generalities when dealing with the subject of housing. But the fact that a generality is obvious does not mean that it is universally perceived. It is one of the features of British life that the more obvious a generality, the less likely it is to be noticed. Lord Goodman