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The Structural Engineer, Volume 64, Issue 8, 1986
Suddenly applied loads A year ago, we published a letter from Mr N. W. Sutton in New Zealand. He asked for help in resolving what he considered to be an anomaly in the standard solution for the effect of a suddenly applied load on a beam. We received a variety of replies, which ranged from incredulity that the letter should have been published to the more academic, pointing out the limitations of the usual textbook solution that the deflection is twice that under static loading. In retrospect, the value of the contributions appears to have justified the appearance of the letter. Verulam
The recent history of Codes of Practice for structural concrete work in the UK has hardly been happy. For evidence of this, one need look no further than the sorry case of CPllO1, which was introduced as a new Code in 1972 and withdrawn in 1985, while the predecessor it was meant to replace, CP1142, is still in use today. It is widely accepted that CPllO did not live up to expectations, earning a reputation of being cumbersome to use and requiring over-complex calculations for simple problems. CP110’s successor, BS8110, has been a long time in preparation- partly because a completely new text was prepared, with the intention of producing a more acceptable document. Has it succeeded? Despite its substantial improvements in presentation, the omens are not promising. Already, a ‘design manual’ has been published by the Institution and a draft revised CP114 has been published by the Campaign for Practical Codes of Practices, both claiming to be simpler to use and more in line with practising engineers’ needs. Only time will tell whether BS8llO wil gain the general acceptance that eluded its predecessor. A.N. Beal
The Institution has always supported the production of practical Codes of Practice. It was for this reason that no action was taken on the withdrawal of CP114 until after the publication of BS8110 and the Institution’s Manual for the design of rein forced concrete building structures which it is hoped will be accepted, in due course, as an approved document. The Institution has already started the drafting of design manuals for steelwork and masonry structures.