BUILDING STEEL

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 74, 24 September 1936, Page 23

BUILDING STEEL

RESULT OF LONG RESEARCH

'The cost of erecting modern multit ey s teel-framed buildings-large offices, hotels, and blocks of flats-may be reduced if rules for design recommended by the Steel Structure Research Committee of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research are adopted, says the "Daily Telegraph." , ~ The recommendations are the result of six and a half years of research. They are embodied in the third and final report of the committee, published by the Stationery Office. The report is one of the longest the Department has issued. It has nearly 600 The chairman of the committee, Sir Clement D. M. Hindley, said recently that he thought that there had not been during the last forty to fifty years an' investigation of more importance to engineering, or one which might affect more directly the work of engineers engaged on design. When the committee was formed in 1929 the rules governing the use of steel in buildings were chaotic. In its first report the committee made recommendations for a new code of practice. This code was adppted practically unchanged by the London County Council and other authorities. The putting in force of the recommendations led to a reduction amounting to as much as 20 per cent, in the cost of steelwork required in the type iof building with which the committee's work dealt. In this final report the committee has achieved its main objective—the formulation of new rules .of design much more rational than those used at present. THE HARDEST TASK. "The preparation of such rules from the data collected," says the report, "without the introduction of questionable simplification, has been the hardest task." "The draft rules, as presented, are, we believe, in as acceptable a form as it is possible, in the circumstances, to produce. They have been tried in several design offices, and, so far. as can be foreseen, cover all practical conditions." The report states that it would appear that the new rules should lead to a reduction in the amount of steel required in the beam sections of buildings, but that the stanchion sections will in some cases be increased. If the new rules are intelligently applied, the committee thinks it is unlikely that this increase will be serious. The committee was urged by the British Steelwork Association to consider the effect on the strength of beams and stanchions of the concrete casing. It has included some allowance for this casing in the new rules. It has also considered the methods to be employed in designing frames to withstand horizontal wind pressure, and recommends that in frames with semi-rigid beam-to-stanchion connections wind bracing should be supplied.

The committee's work was initiated by the British Steelwork Association, which contributed substantially to the cost. Most of.the investigations were conducted by Professor C. Batho, of Birmingham University, and Professor J. F. Baker, of Bristol University. In the course of its work the committee, which consisted of members nominated by the British Steelwork Association and the Institute of Civil Engineers and independent scientists, considered over 150 technical contributions.

The seven pupils at the school on the Argyllshire island of Easdale are all called McQueen. Their parents are two brothers, and as they are all at different stages their one teacher has to give seven different lessons a day.