colincaprani.com

Comment from Joyce
Time: May 10, 2008, 11:25 pm

Your website is very nice

Comment from Miriam Schwab
Time: May 23, 2008, 9:34 am

Hi – I came across your site via your MultiFeedSnap plugin (which seems great, by the way), but I was interested to notice the topic of your blog, and particularly the picture of the suspended bridge in your header.

I am from Jerusalem, and the city is in the middle of erecting a suspended bridge at the entrance to the city, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. I was wondering if you know about this bridge, and what you think about it. Apparently, suspended bridges cost 70% more than regular bridges, and I was wondering if there is any benefit to building a suspended bridge. Also, a few weeks ago a crack formed at the base, which they supposedly fixed but still is not a cause for comfort.

I was also wondering what you think about the bridge’s design. It’s supposed to resemble a lyre, but I have to admit that to me it seems to be more of an eyesore than anything else.

Thanks!

Miriam Schwab

Comment from Colin
Time: May 23, 2008, 4:53 pm

Miriam,
Firstly, thanks for your kind comment. Regarding the bridge though, as you might imagine it is difficult to overly criticize Calatrava because of the success he has had in bringing disparate parts of the design world together. His success comes from a unique blend of sculptor, architect (and most importantly!) structural engineer. Whilst his designs are sometimes impracticable and expensive, these are just relative concepts. A city does not employ Calatrava if it does not want a statement to be made about the place and its future. In doing so the costs of such pieces becomes much more than would have otherwise been. But I’m not sure this is a bad thing: if the world was full of solely economic designs our senses would feel the poverty of these constructions. And so, occasionally (and probably not often enough), we pay more for better.

Statements such as suspended bridges are 70% more expensive are invariably false. Since every site is different, it is often not possible to compare even bridges of the same length. But for a given site there are alternatives considered at initial design stage. Usually one or two of these is most economic and a design is then made based on other factors, such as aesthetics. But in the case of a Calatrava design, there is probably a cheaper alternative. But one which neglects the extra benefit to our senses. Perhaps in the case of the Chord Bridge the alternative was 70% less, and was not a suspended span, but this is not to say that all suspended spans are 70% more expensive than all other forms of bridge. Sometimes a suspended span is the only real solution – think of the Golden Gate bridge, for example.

On a technical point, the Chord bridge is a cable-stayed bridge since its cables originate from the pylon and do not connect to a catenery cable – a feature common to all suspension bridges. Also in any daring and new construction that pushes boundaries there are bound to be some problems. Cracks are a regular feature of any concrete construction, we just usually keep them small enough so the public doesn’t notice! I have no doubt that the Chord bridge has a team of excellent structural engineers working on it, and any problems during construction would be quickly remedied and further studied to ascertain their effect on the final construction.

Lastly, on the subject of eyesores – we’d do well to remember that the Eiffel Tower was hated by Parisians when it was first built. Now it is seen as the national symbol of France. Give the Chord bridge time and it will find its place in Jerusalem and its people

Comment from iain
Time: June 5, 2008, 10:52 am

Hi Colin,

I am looking at your multifeedsnap plugin and will give it a go.

I like your site design and particularly the menu system. I have been playing with a multi level css menu plug in for WP and wondered if you used something similar, or is yours hard coded…??

thanks, and keep up the good work..

Iain

Comment from Colin
Time: June 16, 2008, 6:47 pm

Hi Iain,
Yes it is all hard-coded with a good bit of experimentation. You can look at the css file to see how it’s done, but it’s probably not very clear!

Comment from Thabet Abu Shah
Time: November 12, 2008, 2:16 pm

Colin,

Your web site is very fascinating especially the study materials. Very simple and easy to read.
I wonder if you can help with my query below?

I am currently preparing for IstructE exams in 2009 and I am collecting information, shortcut analyses and tables for building structures steel and concrete.

I have managed to collect a lot off materials for the analysis and design. I couldn’t find guides for the preliminary analysis and design /short cuts for portal frame buildings with cranes as well as highbay frame buildings such as aircrafts hangers. Please advise!

Your Help is appreciated

Many Thanks

Thab

Comment from Ninja101
Time: February 1, 2009, 2:04 pm

Colin,

Those scheme design notes are excellent! I’ve scoured the net and they’re the best I’ve found. Many senior engineers are reluctant to delegate, so many young engineers don’t get the experience, and subsequently fail the IStructE exam. Considering some of the questions aren’t typical of the real world anyway- very long spans, unusual site conditions etc, makes it even harder.

Where would I get some sample solutions, without taking the preparation course? Just to use as a template for my own trial attempts.

Many thanks

Nnnninja101@yahoo.com

Comment from Ondrej
Time: February 18, 2009, 4:39 am

Dear Colin,

I came to your website through a Google search and I am amazed by the quality of your

lecture notes! I find your site very interesting, since I have recently myself

started compiling useful information related to structural engineering. I already

have a database of structural engineering software with 400+ programs and currently I

am working on creating the initial hierarchy and a structure of topics for structural

wiki, whose ultimate goal is to provide easily accessible information to students and

practising engineers. The wiki currently has 5000+ entries and it was inspired by

similar reference sites that exist for other topics, such as for MathWorld (

http://mathworld.wolfram.com ) for mathematics. Both of my projects are located at

http://www.bridgeart.net

I was wondering if I could link directly to you lecture notes from individual

structural wiki pages dealing with the same topic as is the topic of the notes. If

so, it would be nice if the location (URL) of your lecture notes remains permanent

and will not change in the future, thus preventing dead links.

Please feel free to contact me using the email address provided below.

Thank you,

Ondrej

info (at) bridgeart [dot] net

Comment from Wayne
Time: May 3, 2009, 7:28 am

Just wanted to let you know, WP transforms ampersands found in my url string, so I added:

$text = str_replace(‘&’,'&’,$text);

in your multifeedsnap plugin to accomodate the issue. Thought you might consider this for the next version.

Thanks for providing the plugin! It works like a charm!

Cheers!

Wayne

Comment from Colin
Time: May 6, 2009, 12:32 am

Cheers Wayne, I’ll stick that in next time and credit you. Nice spot!

Comment from Michael Walsh
Time: May 22, 2009, 12:09 pm

Colin

I came across your web site after a google search for a discussion forum for Structural Engineers.
I would like to echo most of the other comments and congratulate you on your excellent web design and content.
Can you advise me whether it is accpetable to continue to use CP3 for wind loading design or is one obliged to use the much later BS 6399 loadings for buildings : Code of practice for wind loads.
on a general note what is the general parctice for cessation of use of BS codes when they have been updated or superceded by ISEN codes