ANNOUNCEMENT

Two Australian researchers win

1992 Munro Prize

Professor S. Kitipornchai (left) receiving the 1992 Munro prize from Professor P. L. Gould (Editor of
Engineering Structures) on 8 April 1993 at Washington University, St Louis, MO

Butterworth-Heinemann wish to congratulate Professor S. Kitipornchai and

Dr F. G. A. AI-Bermani of the University
of Queensland in Australia, who recently
won the Munro prize awarded for the
best paper in Volume 14 of Engineering
Structures as judged by the Editorial
Board of the Journal.
The winning paper was entitled 'Nonlinear analysis of transmission towers'.
The authors presented a numerical technique capable of simulating the nonlinear
behaviour of full-scale transmission
towers under static loading. Until now,
the design of transmission towers has
largely been based on linear elastic structural analysis. This method does not take
proper account of the effects of joint
eccentricity and other nonlinearities, and
so cannot accurately predict the behaviour of the structure. Because of this,
transmission towers are among the few
structures for which it is still necessary to
carry-out full-scale testing on prototypes
to verify force distributions and joint
design.
Dr Al-Bermani is a Lecturer in the
Department of Civil Engineering at the
University of Queensland, and has been

working closely with Dr Kitipornchai

who is an Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Transmission Line
Structures (CTLS) in the same department. The Centre is involved with research on transmission towers. Current
studies include the response of transmission tower structures subject to static
and dynamic loading, foundation-structure interaction, and the effects of wind
loading on tower structures.
Dr Kitipornchai has been conducting
research in the area of the stability and
nonlinear analysis of steel structures for
over 20 years. Over this period, his research emphasis has shifted towards
predicting or simulating the ultimate
nonlinear behaviour of general thinwalled structures. He had worked closely
with Professor N. S. Trahair of the University of Sydney during the 1970s on the
lateral buckling of beams. He had also
been interested in research on angle columns and trusses, and this led him to the
problems of angle lattice towers. His research interest in transmission towers
began in the early 1980s through contact
with Professor C. Massonnet of Belgium
in an international working group which

identified a number of problems relating

to angle lattice structures.
Dr A1-Bermani joined Dr Kitipornchai's research team in 1986, and developed the concept of using a deformation
stiffness matrix to reduce the discretization necessary for nonlinear analysis. The
deformation stiffness matrix introduces
the necessary coupling between the axial
stretching and the flexural and torsional
deformations. Based on the updated Lagrangian formulation and a lumped plasticity approach, the deformation stiffness
matrix, together with the linear and geometric stiffness matrices, enables the accurate modelling of transmission towers
to the ultimate collapse load and beyond
while greatly reducing the number of
elements needed.
The technique developed in the authors' prize winning paper will provide
designers with a better understanding of
tower behaviour which undoubtedly will
lead to more economic structural designs. It is expected to reduce significantly the present need to carry out
expensive full-scale tests of prototype
towers.

Eng. Struct. 1993, V o l u m e 15, N u m b e r 5

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