large concrete buildings, b.v. rangan, r.f. warner longman; concrete design and construction series,...

extensive and authoritative reference which will servethem for many years to come.

Aleksandar Pavic

Large Concrete Buildings, B.V. Rangan, R.F. Warner

Longman; Concrete design and construction series, 1996.

269 p. ISBN 058210130-1, Hbk 68 approx.

This textbook is a compilation of works of 11 re-nowned authors who tried to outline 10 importanttopics matching their expertise in the design of concretebuildings. The 10 design themes covered are: Life CyclePlanning: Durability, Performance and Design Lifewritten by G. Somerville, Structural Modelling of Con-crete Buildings by R.F. Warner, Computer Aided Anal-ysis and Design by M.C. Gri�th, Estimation andAccommodation of Column Length Changes in TallBuildings by S.K. Gosh, Rational Methods for Detailingand Design: Strut-and-Tie Modelling by K.-H. Reineck,Fire Engineering Consideration by K. Kordina and M.Kersken-Bradley, Applications of High-Strength Con-crete (HSC) by B.V. Rangan, The Use of Masonry inConcrete Buildings by A.W. Hendry, Precast ConcreteSkeletal Structures by K.S. Elliot and Movement Joints:A Necessary Evil, or Avoidable? by J. Ruth.

The titles of the sections indicate that the textbookdoes not describe the design process of large concretebuildings. Instead, the textbook is all about describingsome important design considerations in a rather gen-eral way. For example, right at the beginning G. Som-erville fascinates the reader by outlining fundamentalchanges in concrete and steel material properties,structural behaviour of concrete buildings and in thegeneral philosophy of concrete building design whichhave occurred in the last half-century. Average concreteand steel strengths used in everyday design have beendoubled whereas the cost of an average building super-structure and its weight have halved. As the cost of su-perstructure in mid-1980s was less than 10% of the costof the whole building (comprising, in addition to su-perstructure, cost of foundations, cladding, ®nishes andservices), G. Somerville was brave enough to suggestthat, if this trend continues, building superstructureswould be delivered to a client practically free of chargeby 2010!

The following section dealing with structural mod-elling of concrete buildings contains much useful in-formation about the general concepts and basicphilosophy currently employed when rationalisingconcrete structures. After reading this very informedstate-of-the-art review, colleagues from other engi-

neering disciplines, such as mechanical and aerospaceengineering, would be quite surprised to see how un-concerned civil structural engineers are with the level ofsimpli®cation when performing structural modelling.Behaviour of buildings as ÔcontinuousÕ real-life struc-tural systems can be modelled by 3D discrete frames,and these can be simpli®ed by 2D models, and thesemay be further simpli®ed by simple one-line formulas ifno computers are available. Recognising that a balanceis required between accuracy and simplicity, R.F.Warner warns in the concluding part of this sectionthat ``the likelihood of design error tends to increasewith increasing sophistication of computer software,especially when a mature understanding of structuralprinciples is lacking''. If this sounds discouraging forthose planning to start using computers in structuralmodelling, it is worthwhile reiterating here that whenthe intuitive understanding of structural behaviour islacking, the application of one-line formulas is equallydangerous.

The third section of the book is devoted exclusively tocomputer modelling of concrete buildings under staticand dynamic loading. Regarding the latter, the writermade a common mistake by de®ning dynamic loading asa ``function of time'', rather than a loading which en-gages inertia forces. Presented on only 14 pages, this isonly an overview of a very complex matter which isnowadays widely recognised as being both science andart. Some interesting comparisons are presented here.For example, 3D and ÔequivalentÕ 2D analyses of abuilding frame were compared in terms of time requiredto perform them on a PC having a 486 processor. The3D analysis was 40 times slower which is an interestingballpark ®gure which everybody should bear in theirminds when deciding on the type of model. Managerswho once upon a time had hands-on experience withcomputer modelling but got detached and rusty, will®nd this section quite useful for refreshing theirknowledge and skills.

The remaining seven chapters are equally informativeand interesting. However, it is a bit disconcerting to seethat Section 4, on the estimation and accommodation ofcolumn length changes in tall buildings, is presented on48 pages. This is more than three times longer than thechapters dealing with general and computer modellingof buildings. It appears that the balance of informationpresented in various sections in the textbook has notbeen struck well.

The textbook is printed on a good quality paper andit is equipped with excellent and consistent graphics withonly a few photographs, which is a pity consideringsome of the topics presented, such as ®re engineering.Although the writers come from all over the world, SIunits are used consistently throughout with some unitconversions given where appropriate to aid reading.

386 Book Reviews/Cement & Concrete Composites 22 (2000) 385±387

This textbook is not really appropriate for theteaching of undergraduate students and it would bemost useful to practising engineers well versed with thegeneral philosophy of design, to whom the book isclearly aimed. Also, for post-graduate research studentsworking in any of the ten general areas covered in thistextbook, the relevant sections are highly recommendedas core reading.

Aleksandar PavicDepartment of Civil and Structural Engineering,

University of She�eldSir Frederick Mappin Building, She�eld

Yorks S1 3JD, UKE-mail address: a.pavic@she�eld.ac.uk

PII: S 0 9 5 8 - 9 4 6 5 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 0 1 5 - 9

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