Discussion on Albert Dock - Structural Survey, Appraisal and Rehabilitataion. Restoration of Albert

Norwegian legislation requires that sensitive areas of offshore oil platforms are protected against accidentally dropped objects. Typical of these is a drill collar weighing as much as 3.5t and dropped from 15 m. Conventional design against such an event usually involves stiffened steel plate of large thickness, of high strength material or special quality steel, such as armour plating, and is therefore very costly. An alternative method of design and construction is described here, which is of sandwich form and uses ordinary mild steel enclosing a softwood infill. A simple design procedure is described which has been validated by both model- and full-scale tests. A.D. Gandekar, A.L. Yettram and W.A. Fletcher

Better men than I have told you of the engineering side of Oleg’s life. But, I am only one whom Shakespeare described as a ‘rude mechanical’ and will tell you of the time when Oleg did not give engineering a single thought and intended to be a lawyer-cum-politician like his father. Alas, we arrived in England more or less penniless, and it was financially impossible to pick and choose. Gleb Kerensky

In common with most Branches, the Wales Branch holds a series of Ordinary Meetings through the autumn, winter, and spring. In addition we have a dinner/dance, a Students’ evening, and a committee dinner. This type of calendar is, I believe, a traditional format which has remained unchanged for many years and was originally devised to serve a much smaller, and perhaps more involved, membership. H.D. Wright