The Education Conference 1989 - an Observer's Report

Overcoming shape bias in timber laminates-and in rounding off errors in finite element shell programs! Mr P. Mawer, from Bude, remarks on a technique by which it is possible to overcome ‘wedging’ effects in the production of timber laminates, and draws an interesting analogy with a numerical device in computing: During manufacture of glued-laminated timber, a little trick is played by the planer operator.

Members in private practice may be aware that the Institution has been investigating whether a ‘mutual’ insurance company might be of interest to some of its members as a means of providing professional indemnity insurance. J.A. Waller

This paper considers the time-varying behaviour of composite beams under sustained service loads. A non-linear method of analysis involving a Newton-Raphson solution procedure is developed and used to investigate the time-dependent response of composite cross-sections. The age-adjusted effective modulus method is used to model the constitutive relationship for concrete, while yielding and residual stresses in the steel joist are also accounted for. At typical service load levels, the effect of creep and shrinkage dominates the time-dependent reduction of stiffness, with the effect of residual stresses being only minor. M.A. Bradford and R.I. Gilbert