Computer-Based Structural Design and Conformance Checking

Mezzanine Floors Two more contributors have joined this discussion. Richard Harris writes from Bournemouth: I have read with interest the recent correspondence on mezzanine floor structures and the effective lengths of their columns. For some years, I have been refusing to accept a factor of 1.5 for unbraced frames. The designers are always unable to justify the figure. Occasionally, when an impasse is reached, I visit the site. Surprisingly, even when there appears to be no adjacent supporting structure according to the plans, there is often actually something robust enough to provide lateral restraint, bringing the effective length down below 1.0. I suspect that this, and vigilance by building control bodies, is an important factor in preventing collapse.

Mr W. Parlor (Fire Safety Development Group) We read the ‘preliminary conclusions’ of the paper with avid interest, and must again express our alarm at the lack of definition of these conclusions.

The project reported in this paper started with the desire to identify a low-cost computer-based ‘toolkit’ that would assist small consultants in their day-to-day work. The title refers to ‘numerically challenged’ consultants who operate either as sole engineers or, at most, with one or two assistants. John Seifert, Peter Gardner and John Gay