Book Reviews
Prestressed Concrete Structures in
Italy 1962/66. 9 in. x 12 in. 294 pages. Text in Italian, French & English. Compiled by Dr. Ing. Gaetano Bologna. Publish- ed by Associazone Italiana Tec- nico Economica del Cemento. Rome.
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In 1962 when the Fourth Interna- tional Prestressing Congress was held. a volume was published illustrating all the main works carried out in Italy to that time. Four years later this volume has been produced to bring the classification up to date with the most significant works executed in re- cent years.
Prestressed concrete has been em- ployed in the construction of 90 per cent. of the bridges built in Italy in recent times and forms the bulk of the fly-overs and highway networks. The current use of piles and precast beams has been the fundamental solu- tion in crossing their large and deep valleys and at a lower cost than tradi- tional solutions.
The first part of the book contains the texts of the Italian reports pre- sented at the Fifth International Pre- stressing Congress held at Paris this year. This consists of a photograph and brief description of all the major projects, listing first Bridges and Via- ducts then. Building Structures and miscellaneous works. In dealing with bearings of bridges it is interesting to
note the conclusion that rubber pads have not been successful in replacing the traditional steel bearings, but that plastics are gradually replacing the graphite usually placed between the
steel sheets.
In the building structures section, large-span projects are mentioned to- gether with one scheme whose box section beams embody ducts for the air-conditioning.
The report on factory-made precast prestressed units includes details of beams, complete precast structures and an interesting account of precast concrete road barriers together with experiments on vehicle impact, and why they are replacing the metal ones in Italy.
Part 2 of the book with five colour- ed plates, gives an average of four pages to details of each outstanding structure and includes progress photo- graphs, drawings, dimensions and stresses involved.
It is in this section dealing with viaducts that one can see some parti- cularly good examples of modern road engineering at its best. When look- ing at the graceful viaducts along the Genoa-Sestri Motorway one can realise how this nation that led the world with its daring aqueducts of nearly 2,000 years ago is still in the lead today.
If we must have these elevated motorways in our cities, and nowadays
CONTRACTS AWARDED (from page 75)
Maintenance and construction of roads, bridges and drainage works for Eastern, South-eastern and South- western Districts, Hong Kong Island- 1966/68. $3,000,000
Supply and installation of toll collec- tion and other control equipment for Lion Rock Tunnel. $750,975
Piling to foundations for blocks 3, 7 & 8 with estate school 1 & 3 at Shek Lei resettlement estate (stage 1) area A. $597,458
Laying of 42 in. cross harbour water main. $5,170,769
Construction of sub-structure for Government offices at Murray Bar- racks, Hong Kong. $1,629,900 Repairs to Tin Hau Temple Road junction of Braemar Hilf Road. $105,980
Supply of asbestos cement goods to Tsz Wan Shan low cost housing (stage I). Kowloon. $278,285
HK HOUSING AUTHORITY
Wah Fu Estate Phase Illa
General contract. $7,835,317
Metal windows and doors sub-contract. $184,175
Metal louvres sub-contract. $42,127
Pressed steel doors sub-contract. $40,721
Wan Hin & Co. Ltd.
Plessey (N.Z.) Ltd.
Gammon (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Paul Y. Construction Co. Ltd.
and Healy Tibbitts Construction Co. jointly
Hsin Chong & Co. Ltd.
Chi Wing Construction Co.
Tsing Yi Island Indus- tries Ltd.
Wan Hin & Co., Ltd. Hong Kong Metal Window Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Hong Kong Metal Window Manufacturing Co., Ltd.
Canton Metal Window Manufacturing Co.,
Ltd.
Electrical $185,000
installations sub-contract.
Ltd.
Winsome Co. (E. & B.)
it seems we must resign ourselves to times without the units stated, are their inevitable encroachment, then let them be as neat and simple as several of the examples in this book.
The Varenna viaduct, though not so well detailed as others, has two elegant columns of 5 ft. diameters soaring up over 80 ft. to support the motorway at 100 ft. centres. For the 210 ft. spans it increases the columns to 6 ft. 6 in. diameter.
For the aircraft hangars in Rome where the problem was to roof an area by means of 200 ft. cantilevers one, unfortunately, does not appreci- ate the ingenuity of the solution from the massive end walls of the resultant building. The best examples of the building structures are the work of architect, Mangiarotti. An appendix of 20 pages gives details of the per- missible stresses, calculations, safety factors and concrete strengths used in current Italian practice.
No price is given for this book but its predecessor is quoted at US$10 plus $2 for packing and postage charges abroad. A 'must' for every office dealing with roads, flyovers or viaducts.
Dictionary of Building Materials by William Kinniburg. Published 1966 by C. R. Books, Ltd. London. Written by a principal scientific offi- cer of the B.R.S. who is also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, this dictionary in ranging from Abura to Zote covers the definition of most building materials together with the substances which are used in the pre- paration of building materials.
A high proportion of the book is taken up with definitions of plastic materials and often their molecular configuration and, chain structure are given. References are made to appro- priate British Standards and Codes of Practice, and many trade names of products are included.
There is no explanation given to the differences between vitreous china, faience, terra cotta, earthenware or stoneware, and one is likewise confus- ed in the world of steel. Under "cast iron" one is referred to "rolled steel" which does not appear again. "Wrought iron", it mentions has been largely superceded by "wrought steel" and "mild steel" yet no definitions are given of these. "Stainless steel" is likewise omitted.
The author, in the preface, men- tions that timbers have been difficult to describe, yet proceeds to do very well at it, compared with his range of natural stone definitions which seem limited to those found only in Britain. He mentions that the quarry men's definitions are not all in accord with the geologists and sometimes quite different from the formal nomencla- ture of the petrologist.
The composition of Dr. Angus Smith's solution is not given, yet readers may be interested to note that glass is not a solid but a super-cooled liquid.
D.V.T.
Far East Architect & Builder December, 1966
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