Civil

Engineer's

Reference

Book

Fourth Edition

Edited by
L S Blake
BSc(Eng), PhD, CEng, FICE, FlStructE
Consultant; formerly Director of the
Construction Industry Research and
Information Association

With specialist contributors

Butterwo rth-Heinemann
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
225 Wildwood Avenue, Woburn, MA 01801-2041
A division of Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd

6< A member of the Reed Elsevier pic group

OXFORD AUCKLAND BOSTON

JOHANNESBURG MELBOURNE NEWDELHI

First published as Civil Engineering Reference Book 1951

Second edition 1961
Third edition 1975
Fourth edition 1989
Paperback edition 1994
Reprinted 1995 (twice), 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001

Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Ltd 1989

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in

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other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright
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Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WlP OLP.
Applications for the copyright holder's written permission to reproduce any
part of this publication should be addressed to the publishers

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Civil engineer's reference book - 4th ed.
1. Civil engineering
I. Blake, L. S. (Leslie Spencer)
624

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Civil engineer's reference book
Includes bibliographies and index
1. Civil engineering - handbooks, manuals, etc.
I. Blake, L. S. (Leslie Spencer), 1925-
TA151.C58 1989 62488-30220

ISBN O 7506 1964 3

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Preface to the

fourth edition

The aim of this edition, as of those that preceded it, is to give

civil engineers a concise presentation of theory and practice in
the many branches of their profession. The book is primarily a
first point of reference which, through its selective lists of
references and bibliographies, will enable the user to study a
subject in greater depth. However, it is also an important
collection of state-of-the-art reports on design and construction
practices in the UK and overseas.
First published in 1951, the book was last revised in 1975.
Although civil engineering is not normally regarded as involving
fast-moving technologies, so many advances have occurred in
the theory and practice of most branches of civil engineering
during the past decade or so that the preparation of a fourth
edition became essential. Some of these advances have taken the
form of improvements in earlier practices, for example in
surveying, geotechnics, water management, project manage-
ment, underwater working, and the control and use of materials.
Other radical changes have resulted from the evolving needs of
clients for almost all forms of construction, maintenance and
repair. Another major change has been the introduction of new
national and Euro-codes based on limit state design covering
most aspects of structural engineering.
The fourth edition incorporates these advances and, at the
same time, gives greater prominence to the special problems
relating to work overseas, with differing client requirements and
climatic conditions.
As before, careful attention has been given to the needs of the
different categories of readers. Students and graduates at the
start of their careers need guidance on the practice of design and
construction in many of the fields of civil engineering covered in
Chapters 11 to 44. The engineer in mid-career will also find these
chapters valuable as presentations of the state of the art by
acknowledged experts in each field, in addition to the references
and bibliographies they contain for deeper study of specific
problems. Chapters 1 to 10 provide engineers, at all levels of
development, with up-to-date 'lecture notes' on the basic theor-
ies of civil engineering.
Although the book was primarily prepared for civil engineers
in the UK and elsewhere in the world, members of other
professions involved in constructionarchitects, lawyers,
mechanical engineers, insurers and clientswill also benefit by
referring to it.
I am most grateful to the authors who have contributed
chapters. They are all engineers of considerable standing-
consultants, contractors, research workers or academicswho
have devoted a substantial amount of time to presenting their
expert knowledge and experience for the benefit of the profes-
sion.
L.S. Blake
Bournemouth
November 1988

Peter Ackers, MSc(Eng), CEng, FICE, MIWEM, MASCE
Hydraulics consultant
The late J Allen, DSc, LLD, FICE, FRSE
Emeritus Professor, University of Aberdeen
W H Arch, BSc(Eng), CEng, MICE
R W Barrett, MSc
Manager, Underwater Engineering Group, London
S C C Bate, CBE, BSc(Eng), PhD, CEng, FICE, FIStructE
Formerly at the Building Research Establishment, and later
consultant to Harry Stanger Ltd
B C Best, BSc
Consultant
Keith M Brook, BSc, CEng, FICE, FIHT
Wimpey Laboratories Ltd
Robert Gather, BSc
Arup Research and Development
Staff of Central Electricity Generating Board
Generation Development and Construction Division
G H Child, MSc, FGS
Keith Farquharson and Associates
C R I Clayton, MSc, PhD, CEng, MICE
Reader in Geotechnical Engineering, University of Surrey
D S Currie, FEng, FICE, MIMechE
Director of Civil Engineering, British Rail
R H R Douglas, BSc(Eng), CEng, FICE, FIHT, MConsE
Sir Frederick Snow and Partners
J B Dwight, MA, MSc, CEng, FIStructE, MIMechE
Emeritus Reader in Structural Engineering, University of
Cambridge
C J Evans, MA(Cantab), FEng, FICE, FIStructE
Wallace Evans and Partners
E V Finn, CEng, FICE, FIStructE, FRSH, MIWEM,
MConsE
Sir Frederick Snow and Partners
P G Fookes, DSc(Eng), PhD, BSc, CEng, FIMM, FGS
Consultant
List of
Contributors
Staff of Goodfellow Associates Ltd
Offshore and subsea technology
T R Graves Smith, MA, PhD, CEng, MICE
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Southampton
D J Irvine, BSc, CEng, FICE
Tarmac Construction Ltd
W M Jenkins, BSc, PhD, CEng, FICE, FIStructE
Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering, The Hatfield
Polytechnic
T J M Kennie, BSc, MAppSci (Glasgow), ARICS, MInstCES
Lecturer in Engineering Surveying, University of Surrey
Philip King, BSc
Arup Research and Development
D J Lee, BSc Tech, DIC, FEng, FICE, FIStructE
Maunsell Group
T R Mills, CEng, MICE, FIDE
Chartered Engineer
Sir Alan Muir Wood, FRS, FEng, FICE
Consultant, Sir William Halcrow and Partners
F H Needham, BSc(Eng), CEng, ACGI, FICE, FIStructE
Formerly at the Constructional Steel Research and
Development Organisation
I K Nixon, ACGI, CEng, FICE, FGS
Consultant
D J Osborne, BSc(Eng), CEng, FICE, FIHT, MIWEM,
MBIM
Sir Frederick Snow and Partners
W Pemberton, BSc, CEng, FICE
Sir Murdoch MacDonald and Partners
A D M Penman, DSc, CEng, FICE
Geotechnical Engineering Consultant
F H Potter, BSc Tech, CEng, MICE, FIWSc, AMCT
Formerly of the Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial
College of Science and Technology
J L Pratt, BSc(Eng), CEng, MIEE, FWeIdI
Formerly Research Manager, Braithwaite & Co. Engineers
Ltd
A Price Jones, BSc(Eng), MSc, CEng, MICE The late A R Thomas, OBE, BSc(Eng), CEng, FICE, FASCE
Soil Mechanics Ltd Formerly consultant, Binnie and Partners

D W Quinion, BSc(Eng), CEng, FICE, FIStructE P A Thompson, BSc(Eng), MSc, CEng, FICE, MIWEM
Tarmac Construction Ltd University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology

A L Randall, CEng, FIStructE M J Tomlinson, CEng, FICE, FIStructE, MConsE

Formerly at the British Steel Corporation Consulting engineer

B Richmond, BSc(Eng), PhD, FCGI, CEng, FICE J A Turnbull, CEng, FICE, FIHT, DipTE
Maunsell Group Mott, Hay & Anderson

C E Rickard, BSc, CEng, MICE, MIWEM Cdr H Wardle

Sir Murdoch MacDonald and Partners Subsea consultant, Sovereign Oil and Gas pic

J Rodin, BSc, CEng, FICE, FIStructE, MConsE Staff of Watson Hawksley

Building Design Partnership Consulting engineers

B H Rofe, MA(Cantab), CEng, FICE, FIWEM, FGS C J Wilshere, OBE, BA, BAI, CEng, FICE
Rofe, Kennard and Lapworth John Laing Design Associates Ltd

John H Sargent, CEng, FICE, FGS T A Wyatt, PhD

Costain Group pic Department of Civil Engineering, Imperial College of Science
and Technology
R J M Sutherland, FEng, BA, FICE, FIStructE
Harris and Sutherland Hugh C Wylde
Independent management consultant
F L Terrett, MEng, CEng, FICE, MConsE
Posford Duvivier