TheStructuralEngineer Opinion58
December 2014
›
Book review
This reincarnation of the classic
R. D. Anchor textbook goes through the
background to, and process of, designing
reinforced concrete in liquid-retaining
structures. Similar in content, layout,
style and small page format to earlier
editions, this third edition has been almost
completely rewritten and updated.
It concentrates on designing to
the Eurocodes. The book's synopsis
promises that the contents will provide
“an interpretation of the more theoretical
guidance given in the suite of Eurocodes”
and “an insight into some of the
shortcomings of the code and potential
improvements”. To a large extent, those
promises are fulfi lled. The arguments are
current, but in some instances give the
impression of being opinionated.
The fi rst chapter gives a very good
introduction and outline, but is somewhat
disturbed by a discussion on the need
to add restraint and loading stresses.
Chapter 2 covers the basis of design and
materials and is generally very informative,
discussing principles with the help of
some well-chosen anecdotes. One or two
issues are left hanging. For instance, are
Charles Goodchild considers this book an admirable attempt to do justice to a vast
and fl uid subject. While not covering every nuance, it will be of great benefi t to both
postgraduate students and practising engineers.
Reviews
distribution and reinforcing to control crack
width. It opens by explaining the history and
di culties behind these aspects of design.
The text is clear and up to date with current
thinking. Eurocode modifi cations to surface
zones, critical steel ratio, maximum crack
spacing (fl exural and imposed strain) and
edge are highlighted and discussed in detail.
Slightly more could have been said about
parameters such as T
1
and α
c
and di erent
opinions could be argued (such as on the
background to the determination of s
max
).
There is a good explanation of joints but
little advice on their use and placement. But,
all in all, the text is comprehensive and lucid.
The worked example is of the same
subterranean pump house used in the
second edition — only this time it is to the
Eurocodes. Again, the clarity is exemplary
and perhaps explains why the 13 pages
of calculations in the second edition have
turned into 37 pages in this edition (it is
not just the Eurocodes!). Readers may
be interested to note that in the wall
the vertical designed steel, Y16@175,
has become B16@150 and horizontally,
Y16@200 has become B16@150!
Unlike in the Eurocodes, testing is
covered well. However, ‘Vapour exclusion’
is a curious title for a short chapter
dealing with concrete basements, which is
somewhat disappointing.
The book does not cover everything the
title might suggest. It does not cover non-
aqueous liquids, moment factor charts,
computer methods, fi nite element or grillage
analysis, data on T
1
(early thermal peak to
ambient temperature), commercial drivers
etc, so it cannot stand alone. It has also lost
the reservoir example. The sprinkling of
typographical errors tends to detract from
the authority of the text (“cot 45 = 2.5”!).
However, it would be wrong to dwell
on minor criticisms. The book is well
researched, written and produced and it
reads very well. Towards the end there
is a statement that “… insu cient design
guidance can result in a structure that is
partial contraction joints as per BS 8007
still advocated? How do ‘severe’ and ‘very
severe’ align with exposure classes in BS
8500?
Chapter 3 is full of clear explanations with
informed commentary on, and discussion
about, reinforced concrete design issues.
An excellent section explaining calculation
of crack widths due to combined bending
and tension (3.6) is somewhat undermined
later when the worked example illustrates
the normal and pragmatic approach of
undertaking separate crack width checks.
The explanation of the ‘shift rule’ is
unconventional. An extended discussion
about shear is possibly misplaced and
opinion dominates the discussion on
defl ection.
A separate chapter on the design of
prestressed concrete, by Dr J. A. Purkiss,
is again clear. Frustratingly though, not all
the parameters are fully explained and,
when the worked example of a circular
tank illustrates di erences between fi rst
principles and EC2, there is no comment.
Chapter 5 covers design for thermal and
shrinkage stresses in restrained panels,
including the principles of cracking, crack
Design of Liquid
Retaining
Concrete
Structures (3rd ed.)
Authors: John P. Forth and Andrew J. Martin
Publisher: Whittles Publishing
Price: £75.00
ISBN: 978-1-84-995052-7
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www.thestructuralengineer.org
59
Charles Goodchild BSc, CEng,
MCIOB, MIStructE
Charles Goodchild is Principal Structural Engineer with
MPA–The Concrete Centre. Charles has worked for
contractors, both in the UK and abroad, and for consultant
engineers. In 1991, he joined the Reinforced Concrete
Council, which was subsumed in 2003 into The Concrete
Centre, which itself became part of the Mineral Products
Association (MPA) in 2009. Here, he continues to promote
e ciency in concrete design and construction in reinforced
concrete structures by managing and writing publications, attending to codes and
standards, managing software development and interest groups and giving talks and
lectures. Notable among his productions are the suite of RC spreadsheets and the
publications Economic Concrete Frame Elements to Eurocode 2 and Concise Eurocode
2. He is currently working on the continuing implementation of EC2 in the UK.
Dr Ali A K Mahdi BSc,
MSc, PhD, CEng, MICE
Dr Mahdi is an associate director
with 27 years of experience.
Over the years, he has worked on
design, design management and
construction of concrete, steel
and steel-composite highway and
railway bridges around the world,
using re-measured, DBFO (design,
build, fi nance and operate), D&B
(design and build), and ECI (early
contractor involvement) contracts.
He completed his undergraduate
and postgraduate studies in the
UK and his PhD in Structural
Engineering was sponsored by
the UK Science and Engineering
Research Council and a group of
UK companies. He is a recipient of
the Henry Adams Award from The
Institution of Structural Engineers.
Ali Mahdi fi nds this book on steel and steel-composite bridges to be a useful source of
information for students — both undergraduate and postgraduate — with something for
the practising structural engineer too.
Finite Element
Analysis and
Design of Steel and
Steel-Concrete
Composite Bridges
Authors: Ehab Ellobody
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
Price: £95.00 (hardback); £95.00 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-0-12-417247-0
less than completely watertight”. Does
the book provide su cient guidance? The
answer is a qualifi ed ‘yes’.
In conclusion, this book tackles
a specialist subject that few other
publications do. It is a massive topic — one
with many specialisations, opinions and
nuances — and some issues are in a state
of fl ux. So to steer a course through it all
is to be admired and congratulated. To
cover every nuance and di ering opinion
would be impossible and would make for
far less clarity. Just like its predecessors,
this edition will become a great boon to
its target audience of practising civil and
structural engineers and postgraduate
students. It is indeed a modern-day ‘Anchor’.
I found this book an excellent source
of information for undergraduate
and postgraduate students, as well as
for practising structural engineers. In
addition, it might prove invaluable to asset
management engineers who are looking
for specialist techniques to explore the
true strength of steel and steel-composite
structures. Particularly when assessing
existing bridges, they might fi nd it helpful
to refer to the excellent computational and
materials modelling techniques included
in the book. I have found that using these
specialist techniques helps to determine a
higher latent strength of existing structures
compared to what is implied in some design
standards.
Some of the content of the book would be
of more interest to academics (postgraduate
students) than to practising engineers, but
I also found the list of international experts
in the fi elds of steel or steel-composite
structures provided in the references very
useful.
Like any other publication, the book has
limitations. For example, when it comes to
railway loadings, this reviewer could not
ascertain where the book addressed track/
deck interaction or rolling stock loadings,
but it could be considered that these should
be viewed as ad hoc and project-specifi c
loadings.
Commenting on chapters 4–7 as a whole,
which present the modelling and examples,
we often need to verify constitutive and
computational models and it would have
been helpful if the author had provided a
simple manual verifi cation example.
Limitations in certain areas not
withstanding, this is an excellent source of
information.
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