Technical Guidance Note (Level 2, No. 3): Designing a concrete slab

This Technical Guidance Note describes how prestressed precast concrete planks are constructed, specified and installed.

The design of timber posts follows the same principles as the design of vertical structural elements formed from other materials. Extreme fibre stresses or buckling due to applied axial forces are the key components affecting a post’s ability to perform. The major difference is the anisotropic nature of timber, which, for vertical elements, has a significant impact on the assessment of their performance as a structural member.

The design of timber elements in the UK, according to current codes of practice, is based on limit state theory. This Technical Guidance Note adopts this approach to describe the design of timber posts. The note assumes that the reader is familiar with the use of coefficient factors prevalent within BS EN 1995-1-1 (Eurocode 5), as described in Technical Guidance Notes Level 1, No. 18 Design of timber floor joists and Level 2, No. 14 Design of unrestrained timber beams.

Since the invention of medium-storey framed structures in the late 1800s, there has been a need to clad them with a reasonably robust material that acts as an efficient barrier to the external environment. Masonry delivers the performance required of a cladding system on multiple fronts. It has therefore developed from a load-bearing element within structures to become a component of an envelope to larger framed buildings.

This Technical Guidance Note introduces structural engineers to the interfaces between a primary structure that is principally formed from steelwork and a masonry cladding system.