Mr C.C. Banks (M) (Maunsell Ltd) The design and detailing of the joints is one of the most difficult problems in the design of small and medium-sized bridge decks, which make up the bulk of a bridge designer’s workload. Therefore, the author is to be thanked for addressing this topic in such a comprehensive way, with so many excellent illustrations. However, all design is a matter of choices: choosing which of the conflicting design criteria to emphasise in each individual case (e.g. buildability, maintainability, aesthetics, cost).
Almost a quarter of the century ago, Mr Rickard graduated from Surrey University with an MSc with distinction and a set of what he now, 24 years, three jobs and one successful consulting company later, regards as somewhat naive ideas about engineering life.
Assessment of the remaining capacity of corrosion-damaged steelwork is normally carried out by visual inspection, followed by full structural analysis of degraded sections. A simplified method for quantifying the initial visual inspection is proposed, using minimum capacity curves. These are derived for the remaining capacity of steel universal beams of sections currently available in the UK. The curves take account of the principal modes of failure, together with the possibility of the critical mode changing as the thicknesses qf the webs and flanges reduce with corrosion. The proposed corrosion model is based on measurements of a small sample of corroded beams obtained from a chemical works. By using these curves it should be possible to avoid unnecessary closure of any plant or equipment following a negative visual appraisal of its supporting steelwork. V. Sarveswaran and J.W. Smith
Designing with less common engineering materials Giles Waley has written from Stirling in Scotland: I was struck by the contrasting commentaries in the Journal of 4 May which included references to structural design in two engineering materials that are both ‘non-mainstream’. The thought-provoking report on glass as a structural engineering material discussed the ‘...importance of using technology in the right way and considering the totality of the underlying form...’.