Issue 20

A Standing Conference for the Construction Industry is presently involved in an initiative, the main aims of which are: (1) to make a statement of required competence for technical, professional and managerial occupations within the construction industry; (2) to assess the effectiveness of present education and training systems which are directed towards achieving such competence; (3) to compare the results from (1) and (2) and make recommendations. Professor I.A. MacLeod

A comparison has been carried out between the design of rectangular hollow-section columns in BS 5950 and BS 5400. The numerical results of the study are presented with a view to illustrating the increase in the carrying capacity of bare steel rectangular hollow sections when they are filled with concrete. H. Shakir-Khalil and M.Mouli

An application of high strength steel tubes is presented for a 20.5 m cantilever roof structure over Salt Lake Stadium in Calcutta, having a capacity for 125 000 persons. Considering the environmental requirements, flo-coat tubes with high strength and high resistance against corrosion were selected for this stadium, which is one of the largest integrated stadia in the world. 3-dimensional analyses for this space deck using trusses, purlins, bottom runners and tetrahedron bracing elements, etc., were carried out. Troughed aluminium sheets were used on the roof. Structural arrangements had to accommodate special requirements for the lighting. Fabrication, including joint details and sequence of erection, is presented in detail. Use of high strength and thus light tubes has been found to be very effective in reducing erection time. It is concluded that the application of high strength flo-coat tubes for the stadium was ideal in reducing construction time and overall cost. K.K. Gangopadhyay, D. Guha and P.V.N. Reddy

Steel connections - who should design them? Various detailed aspects of the design of structural steelwork connections have frequently formed topics for discussion in Verulam and elsewhere in the journal. Mr R. E. Densley, of Plymouth, raises again the more general question of how the responsibility for designing connections should be apportioned: I work for a firm of consulting engineers, and we have on many occasions been asked by local steel fabricators to carry out calculations for steelwork connections, the steel sizes, loads and moments being shown on other consulting engineers’ drawings. Verulam