Colloquium Tower Bridge

Mostly micros The use of microcomputers in structural engineering, which was raised in this column several months ago, has attracted considerable interest among our readers; the correspondence this month has been concerned predominantly with their application and the resulting implications for many of us. Verulam

The real behaviour of structures in contact with ground involves an interactive process beginning with the construction phase and ending with a state of balance after a period of adjustment of stresses and strains within the structure and within the ground influenced by the structure. S. Thorburn

Box spine-beam bridges in prestressed concrete have become a widely used form of construction for spans in the range 20 m to 150 m. However, if inclined webs are adopted with prestressing tendon profiles parallel to those webs, the effects of longitudinal prestressing can give rise to significant transverse forces in the top and bottom slabs. R.M. Spiller, R.E. Kromolicki and M.I. Danglidis