Journals >> Abstract VOLUME 13 No. 2 (September 2000)
SESOC MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE - PRESIDENTS REPORT (Dr. B. Davidson)
GUEST EDITORIAL: ENGINEERING EDUCATION (Prof. Peter Brothers)
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR1. Call for Papers for EASEC-8
2. Refer to letter by Adrian Ogier in "Intelligent Life Discovered?, below.
TECHNICAL PAPERS
The British Airways London Eye: (Dr. John M. Roberts)
Dr. Roberts is the President of the Institution of Structural Engineers, London. The opening ceremony for the British Airways London Eye marked the culmination of 18 months of intense activity designing, building and testing one of the Millenium Year's most publicised and noteworthy projects. Behind the very welcome media exposure lies an engineering achievement that is across disciplines and across national borders, on a breathtaking scale. More importantly the project is being consistently described as an "engineering triumph" and has done more to raise the profile of construction engineers with the general public than any of the numerous initiatives mounted by bodies representing engineering. The "Wheel" started life over 6 years previously when a competition was held by the Sunday Times to solicit ideas on how London should celebrate the Millenium. The winner proposed a huge observation wheel, sited at the heart of the capital on a bank of the Thames.
Principles of Displacement Compatibility - An Example (Emeritus Prof. Tom Paulay)
The application of recently reported principles of seismic design is illustrated. To this end a familiar 10 storey reinforced concrete wall structure is examined. The results of the conventional design and those of an alternative strategy are compared. Emphasis is placed on the designer's ability to estimate displacements.
What is the Stiffness of Reinforced Concrete Walls? (Dr. R. Fenwick and D. Bull)
The in-plane load deflection response of a range of slender rectangular walls for low rise buildings with uniformly spaced reinforcement is investigated analytically. It is shown that contrary to recently published papers pre-yield stiffness is not a function of reinforcement proportion and / or strength, and deductions based on this premise need some revision. This conclusion does not necessarily apply to other types of reinforced concrete members. A simple expression is derived for the equivalent stiffness of this form of wall, which recognises the influence of concrete strength, reinforcement grade and axial loading on stiffness. It is shown that creep and shrinkage of the concrete can have a significant influence on the short term stiffness, and estimates made neglecting this behaviour of concrete can be appreciably in error.
Building Economics (E.J.Forrest)
In the Society's last Newsletter, Mr. Douglas Mackenzie made some important and interesting comments on the subject of building economics. It is a subject of vital concern to every practising engineer, and while the author agrees fully with Mr. Mackenzie's comments, he believes its scope is much wider and of far more long-reaching import than the mere economics of the construction in hand. This paper seeks to enlarge on the various aspects of economic decisionh making, and draw attention to the various pressures that the designer comes under to make unwise and ultimately uneconomic decisions. The role of other professionals in the construction team is also involved in the big picture of economic decision making on a project. The paper studies the three levels of economic requirements that need to be brought together in good economic design. They are "The client's pocket", "The economy of the country" and "The long and short term economics of the environment". The wellbeing of the total economy in which we work is vital to success.
The Value of Earthquake Engineering (Dr. D.C. Hopkins)
About a year ago the news media brought us graphic descritions of the horrendous damage, death and suffering in earthquakes overseas: Turkey, Greece and Taiwan. We have been told by our media that it could happen here. It certainly could! The question is whether those responsible for owning and managing buildings, including residences, (especially in Auckland?) really believe it. Perhaps they have heard that New Zealand earthquake engineeing is in world class and that this fact alone is going to mean no buiding collapses, no deaths and no injuries. Unfortunately, this is not the case - but much can be done to reduce the damage, loss of life and injuries caused. The news media have focussed on the adequacy or otherwise of this country's ability to respond to a major earthquake. Attention to this area is certainly needed. The community, and building owners particularly, need to recognise the value of taking steps to mitigate the damage by improving the performance of their assets in earthquakes. We are fortunate in this country to have plenty of capable and experienced professional engineers to assist with this task.
ARTICLES FOR DISCUSSION
A Note on the New Yield Stress: (T. Paulay)
This technical note offers an explicit reminder to designers of certain implications of the use in seismic design of the new Grade 500 reinforcing. It relates to the consequences of increased yield strains. In the process of focussing on earthquake-induced displacements, among other parameters, the influence of yield strain has been repeatedly emphasised in recent technical literature. In terms of routine structural design, the effects of steel yield strains on displacements and anchorage criteria are illustrated.
The Seismic Must, the T.A. May and the Political Won't (E.J. Forrest)
A discussion on the problems associated with existing earthquake-prone buildings, their classification, and the need for stronger legislation in these connections.
Intelligent Life Discovered? (E.J. Forrest)
An acknowledgement that there is indeed intelligent life in the realms of motorway bridge design, as queried in the last issue of the Journal. This is made plain by the following letter from Mr. Adrian Ogier, Projects Engineer for Transit New Zealand.
Etcart Motorway Overbridge Railing "Is There a Logical Explanation?"
This is followed with further comments by the Journal Editor on some of the issues raised: Assessing the Risks and Spending the Money
PROJECT CORNER
Princes Wharf Development - Strengthening of a Reinforced Concrete Wharf and Superstructure (D.J. Turkington)
The commercial heart of Auckland City has been separated from its harbour for 100 years by its ports and wharfs. Apart from access to Board ferries, the public has had very limited access to the water's edge. For too long there were only a limited number of cafes and restaurants where Aucklanders could enjoy the waterfront. This began to change with the sale of Princes Wharf to Kitchener Investments and their plans to develop. The wharf has now revitalized the waters edge, with the construction of 5 new multi-use buildings and a hotel on the wharf. The entire development will contain almost 300 residential and serviced apartments, 167 hotel rooms, 680 carparks, and 14,500 square meters of commercial / retail space. The paper covers the wharf seismic strengthening and energy dissipators, pile assessment and strengthening, the shed structures and their superstructures, flooring systems, claddings and the bridges.
COMPUTER CORNER
The SESOC / SOILS Program (E.J. Forrest)
The advent of Limit State soils design and its official recognition by being incorporated into the building code document B1/VM4 has brought new things for the busy practising engineer to learn. The change from the old "Elastic" concepts to Ultimate Limit state concepts is every bit as great for soils as it was for concrete, and in some ways is analogous. As an educative aid to this transition the SESOC Management Committee decided to produce a program that will be free to members. Work has proceeded steadily on this for the last 18 months. It is hoped that when this program is completed and tested the program will be made available to members through a series of seminars detailing the program. The program is compiled in 32-bit format which means its minimum operating platform is Windows 95. The format is in standard Windows layout.
The Behaviour of Simple Structures: Challenges - Part 3 (G. Bird)
Tests of your analytical ability of what appear to be simple structures.
STANDARDS NEW ZEALAND REPORT
Standards for Structural Engineers: (I. Brewer)
Discussions re the future direction of Standards New Zealand, the Review of NZS 4210: Masonry Construction, and the Earthquake Loading Standard.
JOINT SESOC / IPENZ / STRUCT.E COMMITTEE NEWSLETTER
Visit by the President and Chief Executive of I. Struct. E.
A review (by Richard Aitken) of Dr. Roberts' visit and presentation of his paper on the Millenium Eye. Both Dr. Roberts and Keith Eaton extended an invitation for N.Z. engineers to publish papers in "The Structural Engineer", and discussed the idea of having a New Zealand Edition of this Journal.
NOTES FROM THE REGIONS
News of Structural Group Meetings and Visits from Auckland (S. Tucker), and Christchurch (J. Henry)
Note that the Auckland Committee is advancing work on a Standard Piling Specification, to be made available to all members.
