Archive for April, 1997

The £67 million Lee Tunnel, currently under construction on the outskirts of Cork City, is approaching a major milestone. Design and Build main contractor Tarmac Walls Joint Venture is putting the final touches to the six twin-bore units prior to immersion. In the early summer of this year, they will commence float-out and immersion of the five tunnel elements and the ‘boat’ unit – an open-topped trough structure which will form the northern approach to the tunnel but which is being built on the south bank of the river, and which is a ‘first’ in immersed tube tunnel construction. The 12-metre long units will be transported from the casting basin across the river and placed in a dredged trench. Read the rest of this entry »

According to Darwinian evolution, the skeleton has evolved over millions of years to become efficient for delivering mechanical energy and for load support. The skeleton has many interesting design features: it is lightweight, it is able to sustain repetitive loads (fatigue resistance) and it can withstand impacts – most of the time. Some say it is an optimal structure, but optimal for what? For running around the forest? For driving a car? Read the rest of this entry »

Banagher Concrete Ltd. have recently been awarded the contract for the supply of precast prestressed bridge beams worth £2.5M for 22 bridges on the A1-M1 Link Road near Leeds. This contract is the biggest single precast bridge beam contract ever to be awarded in the U.K. or Ireland. The main contractor for the project is Trafalgar House/Balfour Beatty Contract Joint Venture. The contract is another in the list of Design Build Finance and Operate (DBFO) contracts in the U.K. Read the rest of this entry »

Bridge designers and maintainers will be interested to hear about the new draft Eurocode on Impact Loading. The British Standard has recently substantially increased the force for which bridge piers must be designed to account for the possibility of impact from errant vehicles. Read the rest of this entry »

The Standing Committee on Structural Safety (SCOSS) of the Institutions of Civil and Structural Engineers issued their 11th report in January 1997. It is an excellent document giving recommendations on steps to avert potentially dangerous problems. There are eight ‘immediate priority recommendations’ in the areas of multi-storey car parks, pin connections, fatigue, disproportionate collapse and flood damage to bridges.

There are many other recommendations and comments plus chapters on structures subject to crowd loading and bridges. A summary bulletin is available free and the full report at a cost of STG £25 from Upper Belgrave Street.