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Roused and risen he was ready for mass.The meal of the morning was made and served,then he loitered with the ladies the length of the daywhile the lord of the land ranged left and rightin pursuit of that pig which stampeded through the uplands,""breaking his best hounds with its back-snapping bitewhen it stood embattled . . . then bowmen would strike,goading it to gallop into open groundwhere the air was alive with the huntsman's arrows.""Number two, it's sure as hell not my fault you didn't turn out to be an actress...Number three, I don't happen to fit the role of dumb, insensitive suburban husband... I'm damned if I'll wear it."At this time the island of Britain was called Albion. It was uninhabited except for a few giants. It was, however, most attractive, because of the delightful situation of its various regions, its forests and the great number of its rivers, which teemed with fish' and it filled Brutus and his comrades with a great desire to live there. When they had explored the different districts, they drove the giants whom they had discovered into the caves in the mountains. With the approval of their leader they divided the land among themselves. They began to cultivate the fields and to build houses, so that in a short time you would have thought that the land had always been inhabited. Brutus then called the island Britain from his own name, and his companions he called Britons. His intention was that his memory should be perpetuated by the derivation of the name. A little later the language of the people, which had up to then been known as Trojan or Crooked Greek, was called British, for the same reason.After the death of Uther Pendragon, the leaders of the Britons gathered in thetown of Silchester and there suggested to Dubricius, the archbishop ofCaerleon, that he should crown Arthur, the son of Uther, as their king. ... Arthurwas a young man only fifteen years old; but he was of outstanding courageand generosity, and his inborn goodness gave him such grace that he wasloved by almost all the people. Once he had been invested with the royalinsignia, he observed the normal custom of giving gifts freely to everyone.Such a great crowd of soldiers flocked to him that he came to an end of whathe had to distribute. However, the man to whom openhandedness and braveryboth come naturally may indeed find himself momentarily in need, but povertywill never harass him for long. In Arthur courage was closely linked withgenerosity, and he made up his mind to harry the Saxons, so that with theirwealth he might reward the retainers who served his own household. Thejustness of his cause encouraged him, for he had a claim by rightfulinheritance to the kingship of the whole island. He therefore called together allthe young men whom I have just mentioned and marched on York.Arthur then began to increase his personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it. In this way he developed such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him. The result was that even the man of noblest birth, once he was roused to rivalry, thought nothing at all of himself unless he war his arms and dressed in the same way as Arthur's knights. At the last the game of Arthur's generosity and bravery spread to the very ends of the earth; and the kings of countries far across the sea trembled at the thought that they might be attacked and invaded by him, and so lose control of the lands under their dominion. They were so harassed by these tormenting anxieties that they rebuild their towns and towers in their towns, and then went so far as to construct castles on carefully chosen sites, so that, if invasion should bring Arthur against them, they might have a refuge in their time of need. All this was reported to Arthur. The fact that he was dreaded by all encouraged him to conceive the idea of conquering the whole of Europe."and all the slyness on earth wouldn't see him slain."The man mulled it over, and it entered his mindthat this girdle being given could be just the jobto save him from the strike in his challenge at the chapel.With luck, it might let him escape with his life.So relenting at last he let her speak,and promptly she pressed him to take the present,and he granted her wish, gave in with good grace,though the woman begged him not to whisper a wordof this gift to her husband, and Gawain agreed;those words of theirs within those wallsshould stay.His thanks are heartfelt, then.No sooner can he sayhow much it matters, whenthree kisses come his way."State which of the following actions are classified as Permanent actions (G), Variable actions (Q), or Accidental actions (A) (F). 6Self-weightFireImposed floor loadsWind loadsWater and earth pressureExplosionsDue to vehicle accelerations or braking forces on the bridge, the suspended spans would have experienced imposed sideways forces on the four corner supports. Why were the lateral forces in the Mianus River Bridge almost six times larger than the reactions on a similar rectangular bridge (F)? 1Which basic requirement is a reason to specify, for every structure, an indicative design working life, and why do you think the longest design working life of 120 years is for monumental buildings, highway and railway bridges and other civil engineering structures? Why will the cost of these structures be increased by these long design lives (F and A)? 4During the night of 2 December 1959, following five days of heavy rainfall, the dam suddenly cracked like an egg and burst, releasing 13 billion gallons of water. On finding that the design of the dam was entirely satisfactory what did the investigators find out about the foundations that pointed to the one of the embankments (the left) as the weak link (F)? 4Following the inquiry lead by Sir Arthur Pugsley the government agreed a dual standard with all new system-built flats having to resist explosions of 34 kN/m2, but existing ones having to be strengthened to withstand a loading of only 17 kN/m2. As this latter pressure loading is below that in the Ronan Point disaster what other measure was taken, with other 1960s multi-storey blocks of flats, to prevent a similar failure from happening again? What might a present owner of one of these flats do that could compromise this other essential safety measure, first enforced in the early 1970s (F)? 3Reporting of successes, failures and near misses is essential to progress in the UK. What form of 'Branch' is now doing this for the three sectors of aviation, rail, and marine (A)?Why could it take years (even decades) for you to obtain the expertise to practice as a professional forensic engineer? Would you have to work differently for a client who employed you as a forensic engineering either to find the root causes of an accident and how to minimise the risk of reoccurrence in the future or as an expert witness in a legal case? (F & A)? 4In the limit state formulation, giving us the partial factor format, what variable is used to have a definition of safety for structural reliability, and is a lower or a higher value of this variable needed for safety to be higher (F)? 2In the construction of the Mianus River Bridge there were two suspended spans of 30 m long, on each side of a central span. Figs. 9-2 to 9.4 show details of the suspended spans and their connections to adjacent cantilever spans. Why were the hanger plates, just like the ropes in a child's swing, required to provide a swing movement from the resting vertical position (F)? 2Here are the nine interrelated factors that shall be considered to ensure an adequately durable structure. In a numerical order they are:1. Intended and future use of the structure2. Required performance criteria3. Expected environmental influences4. Composition, properties and performance of materials5. Choice of structural system6. Shape of members and structural detailing, and buildability7. Quality of workmanship and level of control8. Particular protective measures9. Maintenance during the intended live.For the Schohaire Bridge catastrophe in 1987 rank these 9 interrelated factors in the order that you believe is their importance to the root causes of the bridge's collapse, due to scouring under pier No. 3. Justify your choice for the first three factors in preferred order of importance. (A). 5The forensic engineering investigation after the collapse of the Mianus River Bridge on 27 June 1983 brought together several experts. They all focused their attention on the hanger assemblies. As is not unusual, each emphasised different root causes and they all reached different conclusions. What modification was made to the bridge ten years before the collapse, and how did this modification adversely affect the durability of the pin and hanger assemblies (F)? 4In the 19th century what was the safe width-to-height ratio for the design of modern masonry dams (F)? 1Material Properties: We should all applaud effort by chemists and materials engineers to invent inexpensive, stronger, and safer materials in the future. Let's assume that in some years from now we have on the market a brand new material that can, at a lower cost, be the substitute to concrete in reinforce concrete construction. Despite a cost saving what basic requirement will make the construction industry very reluctant to start to use this new material (A)? And justify your choice. 5What are five sources of uncertainty that are at the core of all design activity when striking the right balance between quality, safety and economy (F)? 5
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