Reminiscences

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

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

Mr R. Rumbold (F) (Chief Engineer, Merseyside Development Corporation): On behalf of the Development Corporation, I would like to thank and congratulate the authors of both papers. Their splendid accounts of the structural investigations and restoration works on the Albert Dock buildings record the very substantial contribution by structural engineers to one of the most significant steps in the regeneration of Liverpool’s waterfront. I thought that John Tallis was a little modest at the beginning of his address when he was describing the other works of desilting and dock gate construction; they were, in fact, also carried out on behalf of the Development Corporation by Ward, Ashcroft & Parkman.