Engineering at Oxford University is the responsibility of a unified Department of Engineering Science. We believe that the unified approach has major benefits for both research and teaching, since the absence of traditional subject boundaries allows an emphasis on the themes common to all disciplines and enables cross-disciplinary projects to thrive; several examples of such projects are given in this article. M.S. Williams
Mr G. T. Harding (F) Perhaps I may preface my comments by referring to the slide Brian Neale showed us which depicted a collapsed wall. It reminds me that we have to be very careful about what decisions are taken as to risk assessment. Reference was made to the possible need for a traffic barrier to guard against the boundary wall becoming damaged, but in view of the juxtaposition of the adjacent buildings and the wind loading referred to, one would probably conclude either that the central pier was built on the wrong side of the wall or that the pier should have featured on both sides of the wall. My contribution to Verulam in February 1993 discusses this subject.
This paper identifies 10 structural safety topics currently under study in North America. These topics are of increasing concern, as evidenced by ongoing committee activities by the Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE) of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and by frequent reference in papers published in the ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities. Professor K.L. Carper
BS 8002 - Earth-retaining structures Mr B. N. Sharp, who is a member of various BS committees and working parties addressing maritime structures, has written from Ealing, London W5, also referring members to the PIANC Report by a Working Party on ‘Recommendations for the construction of breakwaters with vertical and inclined concrete walls - Report of Subgroup C’. He continues: It has not been explained that BS 8002 does not apply to maritime structures. This is of great concern, as water loads can greatly exceed that of submerged soil, and we therefore now have no BS guidance at all. The Subgroup C subreport, and the full sections covering this topic, and a summary section, elucidates guidance as requested by your contributors - and would at least merit public comment. It will eventually be summarised in a published reprint by PIANC, of which the main subject is, of course, wave and hydrodynamic loading and structural stability in relation to probability and wave loading.