Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

We have just had a seminar with HILTI and they pointed us towards their cloud based design tool for designing baseplate anchor systems, which would have been ideal for Ex STEEL. The free version will allow you to design the anchors and undertake ULS/SLS design to EC2/3. It is quite similar to TEDDs but gives you specifications of products (albeit Hilti ones), making design just that bit easier. It also will show you the calculations, therefore it is very easy to follow and verify what is going on, it also gives useful references.

The limitation with the software is that it assumes the baseplate is rigid and there is no verification that it is, which has to be checked independently in the free version.

https://www.hilti.co.uk/content/hilti/E1/GB/en/engineering/software/anchor-design-software/profis-engineering.html

You just have to sign up for an account.

To give a bit of context at London City Airport we used a chemical anchor solution for the a 7m high 240m long noise barrier, therefore it isn’t just for small scale temporary works.

As you will hopefully realise from reading the title this is not my area…

I was actually listening to a TEDtalk (click to listen!) the other day that put me onto this that discussed more general the uses of bio-fabrication across pretty much every industry from medical to fashion to construction.

The speaker mentioned bio-fabricated bricks and concrete. The benefits come for both the sustainability/climate change perspective and the actual properties of the brick. The cement industry currently contributes 8% of all global CO2 emissions – more than all planes and ships each year. Cement and bricks also require high temperatures to be produced, bio-fabricated bricks and concrete are created at room temperature in a couple of days. These concrete bricks are also nearly 3 times stronger than tradition fired bricks. Finally, these bricks then store more carbon than they produce.

If all 1.2 trillion fired bricks that are currently produced annually were replaced with bio-bricks, we would reduce CO2 emissions by 800 million tons a year.

After hearing this I had a short research into it and found that the US Air Force is using the same company, BioMason, to look at building runways with the same principle, article here. Essentially meaning a high quality runway can be built anywhere in the world in a relatively short time with minimal equipment.

Has anyone seen or heard anything about these bio-fabricated materials? The information I have read is obviously biased, does anyone have any info that argues against?

Also I recommend TEDtalks in general, they aren’t focused on construction or military, but I personally find them all very interesting. Spotify now has TEDtalks Daily and the TEDtalk Interview.

Hey guys,

I found this article on the Wavell Room that I found quite interesting and thought I’d share it with you.

Mobile Nuclear Power Will Enable a Logistics Revolution for the Army

The main idea in the article is that mobile nuclear power is something that would reduce the logistic effort required to power military forces.  Meaning less convoys full of fuel that would be vulnerable to attack; and therefore save lives as well as reduce wasted resource.  The article also explains that future electrical energy demands of military forces are going to continue to grow; I do believe that to be the case, but is there any reductions that can be made by employing more efficient technology (motive being to decrease the vulnerability of the log chain over environmental sustainability in this case)?

Has anyone got any knowledge or experience of the technology the article is proposing who can comment on the technical reality and the benefits & drawbacks?

Also – I would recommend the Wavell Room to anyone interested in keeping up to date with military thinking; I am aware that at least some of the course are already on it!