Issue 1

This paper describes the design and construction of a 3.2 km-long overhead structural steel monorail track. The project was dominated by the 16 week programme to design, fabricate and erect 820 t of steelwork on 88 separate foundations, and by the design intricacies of dealing with thermal movement of the fully-continuous structure. J.M. Roberts

A major research project has been carried out by the Universities of Manchester and Salford in which the behaviour of steel portal frames up to failure was investigated. The project was concerned principally with the testing of three full-scale portal frames and the development of a non-linear finite element analysis program. Supplementary studies included second-order elastic-plastic frame analysis and the effect of stiffeners on connection flexibility. Professor J.M. Davies, P. Engel, T.T.C. Liu and L.J. Morris

The paper describes the design of one of the largest religious buildings in the world, featuring extensive use of reinforced in situ and precast concrete, structural aluminium, and vitreous enamelled steel cladding panels. Great consideration was given in the design to speed of erection and longevity of materials. S.R. Atkinson

Before the advent of extended full-time tertiary education, the traditional training grounds for young would-be members of this institution were in the offices of steelwork fabricators or reinforced concrete contractors. Young school-leavers usually entered the profession as apprentices where they received excellent practical training in structural engineering during the day, supplemented by study at evening classes. Since then, we have seen radical changes in the education system, particularly the increased number of places available at universities and polytechnics, coupled with the Engineering Council’s edict that would-be engineers must have completed a full-time degree course. This has resulted in fewer opportunities for 16-year-olds compared with 30 years ago. A.S. Booth Though the traditional meth

This paper describes the essential features of the receipt & storage facility which forms part of the THORP nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield. G.W. Jordan and A.P. Mann