This paper attempts to demonstrate that limit analysis provides a simple, rational and general basis for the ultimate limit state design and evaluation of plain, reinforced and prestressed concrete structures. Key features of the static and kinematic methods of limit analysis and their application to concrete beam and frame and to plate and shell structures are described. In addition, supplementary deformation considerations are presented, including two recently developed models for tension chords and cracked membranes. The signijicance of uncracked and cracked response analyses is pointed out, and it is emphasised that appropriate education and Code developments are prerequisites for a better exploitation of the potential offered by limit analysis. Professor P. Marti
Dr D. Johnson (M) (Nottingham Trent University) In his latest book" Professor Hillerborg notes that'it should be possible to write computer programs based on the strip method, although such programs do not so far seem to have been developed'. The authors are therefore to be congratulated on being prepared to venture where others have apparently feared to tread. It would, however, appear to the writer that their brave attempt to automate the strip method should be regarded as a first attempt rather than a finished product. This suggestion is based on the results for the three case studies presented in the paper, which will be discussed separately.
Two days of intensive debate and discussion took place recently at an international gathering on Glass in Buildings organised by the Centre for Window and Cladding Technology at Bath University. Kathy Stansfield
Glass remains an elusive material for many engineers, distrusted because it is brittle, underused because useful design data is so hard to find. This is especially vexatious because it is a material much sought after by architects. Chris Jofeh
Large buildings in urban areas are of complicated design. They are built on irregular sites containing old buildings which have to be demolished before construction can start. Planning and statutory requirements must be met. Nobody expects the management of one of these projects to be easy. Dr Malcolm Moncrieff
Braehead is a £170 million regional shopping and leisure centre, being built as the focus of a major regeneration project including major new road and public transport links on a 200 acre site along the banks of the River Clyde in Glasgow. It includes a new riverside park which will stretch along the waterfront, linked to exhibitions at the Maritime Heritage Centre, a new national museum.
CO2 emissions Dr John Bellamy has also addressed this subject and writes Regarding CO2 emissions correspondence in Verulam 16 February 1999, I support Professor Bolton’s call for more timber to be used in construction. Growing trees removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere but, at the end of their lives, the carbon dioxide returns to the atmosphere as the wood rots or is burnt. Using the timber in buildings postpones that time for a century or more. Structural engineers have a role to play in countering global warming.