All articles published in the December 2014 issue.
Publish Date – 27 November 2014
Award-winning structures at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority (Carrochan) demonstrate the untapped potential of green Douglas fir as a sustainable construction material.
In the concluding part of this article, Sean Brady explores in more detail the technical cause of the Quebec Bridge collapse and the human factors that lay behind this.
Dangers of working in close proximity to water are ever present. Many engineering projects are constructed close to or directly over water, while others may involve the creation of containers for water. To ensure public safety, taking the precautions outlined in this article is of paramount importance.
Director of Structural-Safety, Alastair Soane, explains why it's important to understand the reasons behind structural failures.
Gemma Steele of Browne Jacobson explains the implications of the recent tribunal ruling for employers in the UK.
Portal frame buildings despite being very common, are a structural form with features that present particular challenges; this has led to specialisation by some designers and manufacturers. The purpose of this final article in the series is to identify and discuss these features, which are not usually found in buildings of more than one storey.
The final article in this series examines the long-term management of concrete bridges. The inspection and assessment of a bridge over its entire life, the maintenance requirements and possible strengthening to upgrade the bridge to a new load configuration or revised layout are discussed.
This article is the third in a three-part series outlining the serviceability hand calculations to be undertaken in the preliminary structural design stage.
BIM is presenting daily opportunities and challenges to structural engineers, rather like the architects they work with. So it should be no surprise to find that one of the key people behind the BIM revolution is, himself, an architect. Jackie Whitelaw talks to Autodesk Vice President, Phil Bernstein, who helped introduce BIM to the world.
It’s easy to overlook existing buildings when considering how to achieve a zero-carbon economy. Rolton Group's Chris Evans stresses the need for a holistic approach to energy efficiency in the UK's current building stock.
Letters this month include discussion on late payments and the benefits of BIM.
Charles Goodchild considers this book an admirable attempt to do justice to a vast and fluid subject. While not covering every nuance, it will be of great benefit to both postgraduate students and practising engineers.
Ali Mahdi finds this book on steel and steel-composite bridges to be a useful source of information for students — both undergraduate and postgraduate — with something for the practising structural engineer too.