Book reviews / Discussion As mentioned, the book published in Japan is directed at the professional community in that country and therefore it was written in Japanese. However, a comprehensive English summary and commentary on the final 32 pages of the book can serve as a corresponding reference for those who do not speak Japanese. The chapter numbers (1–6) of the English summary correspond directly to those of the full Japanese version. The book is illustrated with coloured photographs of various stations in Europe and Japan. Apart from two, all the figures in the book are the author’s own. Unfortunately for English readers, the figures in the book have no English captions. However, a thorough study of the full English characteristics of the book, even by itself, will certainly assist in overcoming that deficiency, and the contents, as well as the message, of the book can be fairly well understood. In order to express very briefly the formal contents of book, it is best to use the author’s own words: “Chapter 1 introduces railway stations in the context of the role of the stations, station design in the past in Japan and Europe, and the recent ‘station renaissance’. Chapter 2 describes the aesthetics of railways and factors of aesthetic station design, such as form of station building, the aspects of interior design, daylight and lighting, universal design, image-based elements and public art, commercial function, advertisements, railway tracks, the appearance of trains from outside and their interior design. The aesthetics of railways also includes the beauty of landscape, which can be seen from the trains. Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 respectively present European and Japanese railway stations and their aesthetic aspects. European stations have been discussed in the examples of the Deutsche Bahn (DB) in Germany, the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français (SNCF), the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (Paris Metro), and also on the example of the LRT in France. The discussion of Japanese stations has been based on the examples of stations belonging to the East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Tokyo Metro and the Yokohama Minatomirai Railway Company. Chapter 5 presents the challenges of station design in Japan compared with the design of European stations. The total design has been shown here as the objective of aesthetic station design. Some aspects of design have been discussed in the example of the comparison of the stations on the Jubilee Line Extension – (JLE) in London with the Oedo Line in Tokyo. Chapter 6 formulates a proposal
towards better design, with aspects such as the promotion of design competitions, the importance of design that reflects the regional characteristics and the Context Sensitive Design.” This book is, in Japan, most certainly the first of its kind. Japanese professionals will surely profit from it considerably. It could be relevant to architects, engineers, transport planners, railway companies and those involved in the planning and design of railway stations. European readers, as stated, will get some benefits from the English commentary to the book in Chapter 7. Therefore, the book can be recommended to the European professional community as well. [1] Kido, E. M.; Cywin´ski, Z.: The new steel-glass architecture of buildings in Japan. Steel Construction – Design and Research 6(2013), 3, pp. 229–237. DOI: 10.1002/stco.201320012 [2] Kido, E. M.; Cywin´ski, Z.: The new steel-glass architecture of railway stations in Japan. Steel Construction – Design and Research 7(2014), 3, pp. 208– 214. DOI: 10.1002/stco.201420022 [3] Kido, E. M.; Cywin´ski, Z.: The new steel-glass architecture of air terminals in Japan. Steel Construction – Design
and Research 7(2014), 4, pp. 246–251. DOI: 10.1002/stco.201420034 [4] Kido, E. M.; Cywin´ski, Z.: The new steel-glass architecture of passenger service stations on expressways in Japan. Steel Construction – Design and Research 8(2015), 3, pp. 210–215. DOI: 10.1002/stco.201520024 [5] Kido, E. M.; Cywin´ski, Z.: The colours of steel bridges in Japan – principles and examples. Stahlbau 85(2016), 3, pp. 181–194. DOI: 10.1002/ stab.201610355 [6] Stahlbau Interview: Arbeiten in Japan – Harmonie und Vermeidung offener Konflikte sind wichtig. Stahlbau 84(2015), 3. [7] Kido, E. M.: Aesthetic issues of railway stations in Japan and Europe. IABSE Symp., Weimar, 2007, Proc., pp. 260–261; full text CD A-0041. [8] Kido, E. M.: Stations for people – Important factors in station design. IABSE Symp., Madrid, 2014, Reports, pp. 850–851; full text CD-ROM. [9] Kido, E. M.: New stations in Japan reflecting new age. World Engineering Conf. & Conv., Kyoto, 2015, Abstract Book PS 5-1-5; full text CD-ROM.
Zbigniew Cywin´ski, Gdan´sk
Discussion Discussion on the paper “Experimental and numerical assessment of RHS T-joints subjected to brace and chord axial forces”, by Nizer et al., Steel Construction 9 (2016), No. 4, pages 315–322. The authors have made an experimental and numerical study on T-joints with the brace axially loaded incrementally until failure, while the chord was subjected to a constant level of axial force (either zero, compression or tension). It is important to note that a T- or Y-joint achieves equilibrium by developing shear forces in the chord member, which in turn create a bending moment distribution in the chord. These bending moments cause normal stresses at the chord connecting face, which significantly influence the joint behaviour. The authors, like some other researchers, have unfortunately made a fundamental mistake of not including the influence of this bending stress in the chord connecting face, when the brace is subjected to increments of load until the ultimate value. Table 1 shows how the chord stress factor “n” is to be correctly calcu-
lated, based on both the combined axial and bending normal stresses at the joint in the chord connecting face. This is adopted by all current international design provisions. This is vastly different to the calculations by the authors, as evident by their Table 4 values. Table 1 herein shows the expected trend: as the compression “pre-stress” level in the chord connecting face decreases, the connection strength (as measured by the axial force in the brace) increases. At no time did the experiments by the authors achieve tensile normal stress in the chord connecting face at the joint (positive n). The interpretation of their results is therefore incorrect and their conclusions – and their comments on codes and international design recommendations [1], [2] – are therefore misleading and inappropriate. It is therefore considered important to inform investigators of how to correctly carry out and to interpret their research on isolated joints in the future. Investigations on T-joints are usually based upon simple supports at the chord ends equidistant from the brace, where the distance between the supports influ-
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