Verulam

This paper outlines the philosophy and objectives of structural evaluation and describes how the IStructE report Appraisal of existing structures can be used and interpreted to provide a practical basis for decisions concerning the current and future use of buildings for which the original design and construction information is incomplete or unavailable, or where a change of use is envisaged. R.J. Currie

A method is presented for the derivation of structural forms for vaults and sails which are to be designed to carry one dominant load case-dead load in the case of a heavy vault or wind load in the case of a sail. A stress function is used to describe the state of stress in the vault or sail. The stress function is derived from the Biot-Savart law used in electromagnetic theory. C.J.K. Williams

The Building Research Establishment, assisted by Bradshaw, Buckton & Tonge, has studied the report prepared by the Inquiry Commissioner (Dan Closkey) on the failure of the ‘Save on foods’ store in Station Square, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The aim of the work was to determine whether there were any implications from this failure for the recommendations in BS 5950: Part 1. The study has identified some points in the interpretation of the Code which, it is felt, should be highlighted to practising design engineers. D.B. Moore and A.D. Weller