Ultimate Strength Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Coupling Beams

Stressed brickwork exhibits a visco-elastic behaviour. A number of rheological models have been used in the past to explain this behaviour, notably the Maxwell, Kelvin and Burger models. In this paper, the author proposes a 'modified' Maxwell model to explain the behaviour of brickwork under a sustained load. Using this model, a number of practical problems can be solved such as change of stress with time in reinforced, post-tensioned and composite brickwork construction. The paper also explains the process of stress relaxation in confined brickwork. The problems are illustrated with examples. D. Lenczner

Following the demise of MEMCON, I wrote to the then President, Peter Campbell, expressing my reasons for non-attendance and also extrapolating into further areas of the Institution’s life. Via the pages of Structural news, the retiring President challenged me to write a ‘Viewpoint’ article along the same lines. This, by its very nature, is a personal viewpoint, and I share in Peter Campbell’s wish that it may lead to further debate. P. Nuttall

The Eurocode for Actions (Eurocode A) is in preparation. It is concerned with the loads and other actions, e.g. prescribed deformations, to be considered in the design of buildings and civil engineering structures. It is one of the ‘structural’ Eurocodes, i.e. it is a companion Eurocode to the ‘design’ Eurocodes, e.g. Eurocode 2: ‘Design of concrete structures’, which present common rules for the design of structures. J.B. Menzies