Issue 10

Computers and programs can be wonderful. Their misuse, however, can have enormously distressing consequences that may not be detected for years, and even then may not be fully realised. Please consider the following incidents, of which I have personal knowledge. J. Nayler

Miss Margaret Law (Ove Arup): I should like to comment on the fire engineering design for this building, since the structure under discussion does not have any fire cladding. It might seem surprising that a theatre holding 750 people which has no structural fire protection at all was deemed acceptable. In our development of the fire safety measures for the Royal Exchange Theatre, we adopted a design approach to fire safety, by setting out our objectives explicitly, rather than trying to meet the letter of the building regulations. For example, it was by no means clear whether the theatre or the Great Hall should be defined as the 'building' for the purposes of the regulations.

The President: The steel hull has been with us for a long time, and I understand that no disasters can be identified as resulting from lowered buckling resistance caused by welding or any other distortion. What use. then, will be made of the facts that Dr. Carlsen has discovered? Will they simply permit us to carry on as we always have, albeit with a greater sense of security? Will they require extra measures to be taken to avoid the dangers in question? Or will they enable us to design hulls with adequate security at lower thicknesses and, presumably, lower cost?

This paper considers the causes of masonry flue lining failures, mainly from tensile cracking of the outer face and/or compressive collapse of the inner face. Suggestions are offered as to both the most likely primary causes of failure in a range of commonly used lining materials, and ways of avoiding (or at least reducing the risk of) future failures, i.e. designing for durability. For freestanding linings operating within their tensile strength (very few), a series of design charts has been prepared to enable the maximum freestanding height of lift to be determined to avoid compressive collapse and failure. K.R. Jackson

American Petroleum Institute recommendations for the design of tubular steel struts are represented in a series of convenient graphs. The graphs are intended for use in the initial stages of design, where various configurations are under consideration, and rapid weight estimates are required. R.S. Lamb

The Technician Education Council was established in 1973, but only now are its aims being understood and appreciated. This paper reviews the general patterns set by the Council and the particular programmes available for those seeking Associate-Membership of the Institution. It discusses entry requirements, activities of the technician, recent developments, and indicates the degree of flexibility available within the system for those colleges who strive realistically to meet the needs of industry and the ambitions of students. Kenneth Severn

Fire protection regulations Mr. M. P. Ashmead drew attention to the disparate requirements of local authorities for fire protection design of steel frameworks (June l979), and his views in this respect, although not his proposals in their entirety, were shared by Mr. J. A. Tanner (September 1979). Mr. P. Nickson also disagrees with Mr. Ashmead's proposed applied loads when he writes: Further to the letter of Mr. M. P. Ashmead, regarding different cases for consideration for the design of stanchions in single-storey buildings and their fire protection, I feel that an addition to his four design methods is necessary. Verulam