A warm welcome and seasonal greetings for this bumper Christmas edition of Bridge Engineering dedicated to cable-supported structures.
Yes, this is the second cable special in six months! The response to the call for papers for the June issue was so good, with so many excellent papers, that we are now pleased to be able to bring out a second issue.
The June issue had 72 pages with six excellent papers. This, the last edition of the year, has 88 pages with seven equally excellent papers to delight, stimulate and enthral. These seven papers express a clear appreciation of the inventive, creative and innovative nature of bridge engineering.
The successful engineer is so often required to think laterally in order to solve the problems which present themselves. Solutions regularly call for ideas from outside the routine and usually receive acclaim when the response is successful. The new-found freedom in recently adopted codes, such as the structural Eurocodes, can also provide added stimulus in this direction.
In reality an engineer (and especially a bridge engineer) can expect to be called upon to be
part scientist
part logician
part mathematician
part physicist
part inventor
part architect
part aesthete
part artist.
The demands of creative engineering encourages those with a calling that lies somewhere between pure scientist and pure artist. It is this daily mix of disciplines rolled into one profession that continues to make bridge engineering such a stimulating and rewarding career to follow. Long may it continue to attract people with so many wide interests.
Many thanks are due to the seven groups of authors published in this issue. They have provided us with the following.
A case study on the Third Karnaphuli Bridge in Bangladesh (Astin et al., 2010). This outlines the complete structural design of the crossing from difficult foundations to the extradosed prestressed concrete box girder superstructure. In addition, this is the first major cable supported crossing created in Bangladesh.
A case study and practical guidance on the development of a limit state strength assessment of the cables on the UK's existing Severn suspension bridge that is now 44 years old (Young and Lynch, 2010). This bridge was innovative from the outset and still attracts innovative solutions to assist in its continued maintenance and operation.
A practical guide to the cable inspection and rehabilitation of the cables on the Severzn suspension bridge (Cocksedge et al., 2010). This reveals the unexpectedly poor results found during the cable inspections and details the acoustic monitoring and dehumidification systems subsequently installed.
A practical proposal for small suspension bridges where new requirements for cable anchorages can be met with fundamental changes to cable systems in the future (Low, 2010).
A review of the design audit for the signature cable-stayed Phu My Bridge in Vietnam (Khan, 2010). This highlights the role of advanced analysis in predicting long-term maintenance strategies.
An enlightening study into the behaviour of very long cable-stayed bridges during erection where dynamic behaviour in a typhoon-prone zone is examined for the Stonecutters Bridge in Hong Kong and the Sutong Bridge across the Yangtze River in China (each with a main span in excess of 1000 m) (Morgenthal and Yamasaki, 2010).
Finally, a very useful paper on estimating the response of cable-stayed bridges in seismic zones with cautionary warnings where estimates may be inaccurate in some cases (Walker and Stafford, 2010).
It is hoped that readers will enjoy these papers and the variety of new ideas that they promote.
