This is a complex multi-disciplinary engineering project carried out for a registered charity by volunteer professionals to repurpose a piece of railway heritage. Completed in 2024, a Ransomes & Rapier 145t locomotive turntable was extracted from Hither Green Railway Depot, transported first to Lamberhurst for repainting and then to delivered to Robertsbridge Junction Station. A turntable pit was constructed at the station and the turntable craned into it. Following which it was refurbished, re-assembled, tested in full working order. Extensive use was made of volunteer professionals and labour.
The Boots D10 Packed Wet Goods Factory was designed by engineer Owen Williams and has been recognised with Grade I heritage status. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the role of flat slab and mushroom column head structures in the project’s architectural expression, the building’s actual structural design and construction details have been mostly overlooked in existing studies. This work offers the first examination of the building’s structure and construction using original archival plans and structural engineering modelling. Archival materials are compared to relevant historical construction codes and guidelines, and with subsequent modelling efforts, lead to several novel insights. Archival plans and modelling results reveal how the building was not designed or reinforced as a conventional flat slab structure. Detailed comparisons between archival plans and various historical approaches show how the building is more of a hybrid structure, involving an overlay of flat slabs in one direction and reinforced concrete frames in the other. Beyond providing enhanced shear resistance, the multifaceted structural benefits of combining flat slab and mushroom column head construction are highlighted, with relevant lessons for contemporary structural engineering. Together, these insights finally emphasise the building’s structure and construction as a landmark work of engineering history and heritage.
To improve the energy dissipation capacity of mortise-tenon joints in ancient wooden structures and prevent pull-out failure of such joints, a composite energy dissipators was designed, which achieves energy dissipation through the synergistic work of a friction unit and a shear unit. This paper elaborates on the configuration of the dissipator and its connection process with mortise-tenon joints. A calculation method for the bearing capacity of the dissipator was established based on Coulomb’s friction theory and the classic tension field theory. One set of mortise-tenon joints, three sets of mortise-tenon joints with displacement-amplified friction energy dissipators, and four sets of mortise-tenon joints with composite energy dissipators were established using the ABAQUS finite-element software, and quasi-static loading simulations were conducted on these numerical models. The accuracy of the numerical model was verified by comparing the simulation results with the calculated results and previously published experimental data. On this basis, the effects of key parameters such as shear plate thickness, preload magnitude, and friction coefficient on the mechanical properties of mortise-tenon joints with composite energy dissipators were investigated, and their mechanical properties were compared with those of mortise-tenon joints with displacement-amplified friction energy dissipator.
In traditional brick-timber dwellings, infill wall cracking and surface weathering can substantially reduce out-of-plane (OOP) capacity and increase the risk of wall collapse, threatening overall structural safety. To research the influence mechanism of damage effects on the OOP mechanical behaviour of concealed column timber frame infill walls, four groups of concealed column timber frame infill walls with a scale ratio of 1:2 were established using ABAQUS. The accuracy of the modelling method was verified by the excellent agreement between the numerical results and experimental data. Furthermore, a full-scale model of the concealed column timber frame infill wall was developed to investigate the OOP mechanical performance of infill walls, as well as the influence of infill wall cracks and surface weathering on the OOP mechanical properties and failure mechanisms of traditional dwelling walls. The results indicated that the OOP peak displacement ratio between scaled and full-scale models approximates 0.58, aligning with the scaling factor. The crack position significantly affects mechanical properties.
Basaltic and lateritic heritage stone is deteriorating under tropical exposure and a changing climate, and the performance of conventional consolidants is strongly formulation-, substrate- and application-dependent. Microbially induced carbonate precipitation introduces a mineral rather than an organic polymer, but the heritage evidence base is drawn almost entirely from carbonate substrates; calcite is compositionally distinct from the silicate phases of basalt and the oxide-clay assemblages of laterite, so interfacial compatibility must be demonstrated rather than assumed. Structural health monitoring and data-linked digital representation are established in modern infrastructure and are being adapted to historic fabric. This critical review argues that the two fields should be developed together, and proposes a human-governed framework in which monitoring evidence supports probabilistic, risk-ranked assessment and treatment follows only after experimental validation and a conservator-led decision. Three levels of claim are used throughout: demonstrated, transferable in principle and proposed. Acoustic-emission localisation in weathered stone yields a probability region rather than a coordinate, and prediction of the location and timing of future cracking is not supported by current evidence for heritage application. The framework is appraised against compatibility, retreatability, minimum intervention and authenticity, and is presented as a hypothesis-driven research programme with staged validation criteria.
