The Engineer and Building Legislation

The opinion that the probability of a plastically designed structure failing by incremental collapse or alternating plasticity is small compared with that of static collapse is not sound in all cases.

It is a great honour to be elected President of the Institution of Structural Engineers and in my case it is an honour which is twice given-firstly to the Scottish Branch which has supported this Institution so loyally and so wholeheartedly and secondly to myself, as one of the Branch members, it is a personal privilege which is deeply appreciated. During my brief twelve-month period in the highest office which this Institution can confer I shall endeavour to uphold the influence and good name of the Institution and to further the high reputation of its members. W.G.N. Geddes

The theoretical basis of a suite of computer programs for the analysis of bridge slabs is presented. The slabs were treated as thin elastic plates and solutions were obtained by dynamic relaxation. Orthotropic, variable thickness and constant thickness slabs were considered, of rectangular, skew and curved shapes. Comparisons with other theoretical and experimental results are given. A.C. Cassell, R.E. Hobbs, M.S. Bridgett and P.A.K. Awotwi