Exercised this am by the photo below of a test in a first year Civil Engineering lab. When I did that test in 1965 Prof Evans came down for the first few minutes and pointed out why we used a... Continue reading

I was just listening to a podcast from January in which there was much discussion of science being only the best explanation we have now. In fact, being a process rather than a pattern of knowledge. I am an engineer... Continue reading

The different stiffnesses of struts and beams govern most structural behaviour. They certainly rule in the Mathematical Bridge in Cambridge but also hold sway in tests for structural understanding. Continue reading

At the end of South Street in Exeter, straddling a gap in the city wall is a bridge that has cables as expensive and dubious decoration. From here it looks to make some sort of sense (though the relative positions... Continue reading

I talk to engineering students about design issues but don't usually get so public (glass houses and all that, and anyway, what have I ever built) but I am pushed by the Happy Pontist and hos BAMPOT, see here https://happypontist.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/introducing-bridge-awards-for.html.... Continue reading

So, a bit about what this engineer does. Many many years ago (about 1954!) we were on holiday in Bristol. I was seven. One of my many Bristol uncles took me to see the Clifton Suspension Bridge. After that I... Continue reading

A thought, well a string of thoughts, in response to Adam Rutherford about the fact that science is just our best understanding at the moment. Adam You said the email was bbcinsidescience@bbc.co.uk. I guessed that was wrong and checked the... Continue reading

A thought, well a string of thoughts, in response to Adam Rutherford about the fact that science is just our best understanding at the moment. Adam You said the email was bbcinsidescience@bbc.co.uk. I guessed that was wrong and checked the... Continue reading

The trials and tribulations of working with Vodafone. So, I have a small business. Vodafone offers a package, sounds good, except that lots of bits creak at the edges and different sims end up being on different accounts and "Oh... Continue reading

Some discussion on Twitter about gender balance in engineering requires a bit more space than 140chars to respond. I taught engineering for 23 years. I was a student in Leeds 65-71 (BSc PhD There were no girls (we called them... Continue reading

I didn't understand the scale of this problem until I started to monitor the behaviour of the bearings on Cleddau bridge some years ago. I noticed that, as well as moving backwards and forwards as they were intended to do,... Continue reading

Sorry for the delay in my note on FRB bearing rotation. Hope to get to it tomorrow evening. Continue reading

A note on the load test at FRB Continue reading

Some personal thoughts on bearings and the Forth Road Bridge Continue reading

These fittings appeared on Twitter this morning from https://twitter.com/CaseyRutland. The left hand one is presumably the bog standard weld and galv. The others, the result of computer optimisation and 3D printing. Pretty spectacular stuff but... Of course we have no... Continue reading

This picture, of a man in his element, has been provided by Malcolm Tucker. In James' own words James contributed a piece to a book on "Eminent Civil Engineers" edited by David Doran (ref to follow). He talked of his work on the Laingspan system buildings and the lessons he... Continue reading

General comments first: There was a time when engineers were appointed and just got on with it, submitting the result to the client as a fait accompli. Those days are long gone. There are “beauty contests” at every stage in a job, first to win the feasibility study then outline... Continue reading

THis is a start to a review and marking scheme for a second year design project. To begin we need the pictures. Continue reading