89-479: Most Secret is a novel by English writer Nevil Shute , written in 1942 but censored until 1945, when it was published by Heinemann . It is narrated by a commander in the Royal Navy , and tells the story of four officers who launch a daring mission at the time when Britain stood alone against Germany after the fall of France . Genevieve is a converted French fishing vessel, manned by four British officers and
178-461: A CBS made-for-television movie, in 1990; On the Beach in 1959 and again in 2000 as a two-part miniseries; and No Highway in 1951. A Town Like Alice was adapted into a film in 1956, serialised for Australian television in 1981, and also broadcast on BBC Radio 2 in 1997 starring Jason Connery , Becky Hindley , Bernard Hepton and Virginia McKenna . Shute's 1952 novel The Far Country
267-661: A Spanish bar hostess in the Balkans ( Ruined City ) or a brilliant but unworldly boffin ( No Highway ). His novels are in three main clusters: early pre-war flying adventures; Second World War tales; and stories set in Australia. Another recurrent theme is the bridging of social barriers such as class ( Lonely Road and Landfall ), race ( The Chequer Board ), or religion ( Round the Bend ). The Australian novels are individual hymns to that country, with subtle disparagement of
356-520: A crew of various nationalities, mostly Free French sailors. In Genevieve's first voyage, they join the Douarnenez fishing fleet under cover of darkness and use the flame thrower to destroy a German Raumboot , one of the armed patrol vessels which accompany the fishing fleet. On a second expedition, Simon is landed on the French coast to undertake a reconnaissance trip to Douarnenez and he discovers
445-546: A detailed account of the development of the two airships in his 1954 autobiographical work, Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer . When he started, he wrote that he was shocked to find that before building the R38 the civil servants concerned '"had made no attempt to calculate the aerodynamic forces acting on the ship"' but had just copied the size of girders in German airships. The calculations for just one transverse frame of
534-490: A flame-thrower in action and gets the idea for having one fitted to Genevieve. The novel is one of several by Shute that are set in the Second World War and deal with aspects such as the German occupation of France and undercover military operations. It is also one many of Shute's where the story is narrated by a person who is not one of the central characters. The theme of fire, and a reputed German fear of fire,
623-636: A hobby, driving a white Jaguar XK140 . Some of this experience found its way into his book On the Beach . Shute died in Melbourne in 1960 after a stroke. Norway Road and Nevil Shute Road at Portsmouth Airport, Hampshire were both named after him. Shute Avenue in Berwick, Victoria was named after him, when the farm used for filming the 1959 film On the Beach was subdivided for housing. The public library in Alice Springs , Northern Territory
712-524: A little ship that he would be the senior naval officer and "have to do something". So he ended up in the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development . There he was a head of engineering, working on secret weapons such as Panjandrum , a job that appealed to the engineer in him. He also developed the Rocket Spear , an anti-submarine missile with a fluted cast iron head. After the first U-boat
801-453: A major role in the evolution of concrete construction as a proven and studied science. Without Hyatt's work, more dangerous trial and error methods might have been depended on for the advancement in the technology. Joseph Monier , a 19th-century French gardener, was a pioneer in the development of structural, prefabricated and reinforced concrete, having been dissatisfied with the existing materials available for making durable flowerpots. He
890-470: A pound." Several of Shute's novels explored the boundary between accepted science and rational belief, on the one hand, and mystical or paranormal possibilities, including reincarnation , on the other hand. Shute did this by including elements of fantasy and science fiction in novels that were considered mainstream. They included Buddhist astrology and folk prophecy in The Chequer Board ;
979-419: A reduction in its durability. Corrosion and freeze/thaw cycles may damage poorly designed or constructed reinforced concrete. When rebar corrodes, the oxidation products ( rust ) expand and tends to flake, cracking the concrete and unbonding the rebar from the concrete. Typical mechanisms leading to durability problems are discussed below. Cracking of the concrete section is nearly impossible to prevent; however,
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#17327879286241068-516: A small crew of Free French ex-fishermen, armed only with a flame thrower and small arms. Their task is as much psychological as military: to show the Germans that they will one day be beaten back. The story is told from the perspective of a senior naval commander who has oversight of a secret wartime operation in which a Breton fishing vessel, the Genevieve, is the means of a series of raids on
1157-729: A third-class degree in engineering science. Shute was the son of Arthur Hamilton Norway, who became head of the Post Office in Ireland before the First World War and was based at the General Post Office, Dublin in 1916 at the time of the Easter Rising , and his wife Mary Louisa Gadsden. Shute himself was later commended for his role as a stretcher-bearer during the rising. His grandmother Georgina Norway
1246-426: A well-chosen concrete mix will provide additional protection for many applications. Uncoated, low carbon/chromium rebar looks similar to standard carbon steel rebar due to its lack of a coating; its highly corrosion-resistant features are inherent in the steel microstructure. It can be identified by the unique ASTM specified mill marking on its smooth, dark charcoal finish. Epoxy-coated rebar can easily be identified by
1335-658: Is a mixture of coarse (stone or brick chips) and fine (generally sand and/or crushed stone) aggregates with a paste of binder material (usually Portland cement ) and water. When cement is mixed with a small amount of water, it hydrates to form microscopic opaque crystal lattices encapsulating and locking the aggregate into a rigid shape. The aggregates used for making concrete should be free from harmful substances like organic impurities, silt, clay, lignite, etc. Typical concrete mixes have high resistance to compressive stresses (about 4,000 psi (28 MPa)); however, any appreciable tension ( e.g., due to bending ) will break
1424-467: Is a naval officer serving in coastal defence trawlers . The son of a wealthy Yorkshire industrialist, his young wife – also his friend since childhood – has been killed early in the war when on a trip to London preparing for the birth of their first child. She dies in a fire following an air-raid , introducing a particular bitterness in Boden and a desire to use fire to fight the Germans. Michael Rhodes
1513-408: Is a special officer who is classed as unfit to serve at sea due to his colour-blindness . A shy and lonely young man, in peacetime he had been an industrial chemist and feels particularly bitter about the war, having been forced to have his dog put down when he joined up for naval officer training. He keeps a rabbit in the net defence store at Dartmouth which is also killed in a German air-raid. As
1602-401: Is attacked and sunk by a German destroyer . Boden is killed in the attack. Colvin swims to shore and manages to steal a rowing boat and escape to England. Simon and Rhodes are rescued by the French fishing vessels and hide in Douarnenez, Rhodes having been seriously injured. The Germans seize hostages and announce that they will be killed if the hidden British officers are not given up. With
1691-478: Is central to the plot of Most Secret. There are several common elements with Shute's novel Pied Piper , also written in 1942, in which an elderly Englishman escapes from France to England with several children following the outbreak of the war. In particular, the brutality of the German occupying forces in France and elements of the suppression of the population of Douarnenez are strongly reminiscent of elements of
1780-528: Is coating them with zinc phosphate . Zinc phosphate slowly reacts with calcium cations and the hydroxyl anions present in the cement pore water and forms a stable hydroxyapatite layer. Penetrating sealants typically must be applied some time after curing. Sealants include paint, plastic foams, films and aluminum foil , felts or fabric mats sealed with tar, and layers of bentonite clay, sometimes used to seal roadbeds. Corrosion inhibitors , such as calcium nitrite [Ca(NO 2 ) 2 ], can also be added to
1869-504: Is located across the bay from San Francisco . Two years later, El Campanil survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake without any damage, which helped build her reputation and launch her prolific career. The 1906 earthquake also changed the public's initial resistance to reinforced concrete as a building material, which had been criticized for its perceived dullness. In 1908, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors changed
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#17327879286241958-541: Is one in which both the compressive and tensile zones reach yielding at the same imposed load on the beam, and the concrete will crush and the tensile steel will yield at the same time. This design criterion is however as risky as over-reinforced concrete, because failure is sudden as the concrete crushes at the same time of the tensile steel yields, which gives a very little warning of distress in tension failure. Steel-reinforced concrete moment-carrying elements should normally be designed to be under-reinforced so that users of
2047-428: Is one in which the concrete element is only reinforced near the tensile face and the reinforcement, called tension steel, is designed to resist the tension. A doubly reinforced beam is the section in which besides the tensile reinforcement the concrete element is also reinforced near the compressive face to help the concrete resist compression and take stresses. The latter reinforcement is called compression steel. When
2136-430: Is one in which the tension capacity of the tension steel is greater than the combined compression capacity of the concrete and the compression steel (over-reinforced at tensile face). So the "over-reinforced concrete" beam fails by crushing of the compressive-zone concrete and before the tension zone steel yields, which does not provide any warning before failure as the failure is instantaneous. A balanced-reinforced beam
2225-686: Is the Nevil Shute Memorial Library. In the Readers' List of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels of the 20th century, A Town Like Alice came in at number 17, Trustee from the Toolroom at 27, and On the Beach at 56. Reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete , also called ferroconcrete , is a composite material in which concrete 's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by
2314-579: Is the theoretical failure point with a certain probability. It is stated under factored loads and factored resistances. Reinforced concrete structures are normally designed according to rules and regulations or recommendation of a code such as ACI-318, CEB, Eurocode 2 or the like. WSD, USD or LRFD methods are used in design of RC structural members. Analysis and design of RC members can be carried out by using linear or non-linear approaches. When applying safety factors, building codes normally propose linear approaches, but for some cases non-linear approaches. To see
2403-446: Is transferred from the concrete to the bar interface so as to change the tensile stress in the reinforcing bar along its length. This load transfer is achieved by means of bond (anchorage) and is idealized as a continuous stress field that develops in the vicinity of the steel-concrete interface. The reasons that the two different material components concrete and steel can work together are as follows: (1) Reinforcement can be well bonded to
2492-404: Is very young, and he is brought up in France by his French mother until she sends him to an English boarding school. He returns to work in France as an engineer of some standing in the emerging reinforced concrete industry, continuing when the works are taken over and pressed into the services of the occupying German forces who have a great demand for reinforced concrete structures. Oliver Boden
2581-410: The 1918 flu pandemic . An aeronautical engineer as well as a pilot, Shute began his engineering career with the de Havilland Aircraft Company . He used his pen-name as an author to protect his engineering career from any potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels. Dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities for advancement, he took a position in 1924 with Vickers Ltd. , where he
2670-553: The Royal Engineers . Genevieve had been used by Breton fishermen to escape to Britain at the start of the war and is discovered at Dittisham on the River Dart by Michael Rhodes and Oliver Boden, both junior naval officers based at Dartmouth, Devon . Rhodes and Boden discover a shared ambition to use her in some irregular operation against Germany but it is not until a chance meeting with Charles Simon who understands
2759-468: The tensile strength of concrete was improved by the reinforcing. Before the 1870s, the use of concrete construction, though dating back to the Roman Empire , and having been reintroduced in the early 19th century, was not yet a proven scientific technology. Ernest L. Ransome , an English-born engineer, was an early innovator of reinforced concrete techniques at the end of the 19th century. Using
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2848-719: The 1890s, Wayss and his firm greatly contributed to the advancement of Monier's system of reinforcing, established it as a well-developed scientific technology. One of the first skyscrapers made with reinforced concrete was the 16-story Ingalls Building in Cincinnati, constructed in 1904. The first reinforced concrete building in Southern California was the Laughlin Annex in downtown Los Angeles , constructed in 1905. In 1906, 16 building permits were reportedly issued for reinforced concrete buildings in
2937-697: The City of Los Angeles, including the Temple Auditorium and 8-story Hayward Hotel. In 1906, a partial collapse of the Bixby Hotel in Long Beach killed 10 workers during construction when shoring was removed prematurely. That event spurred a scrutiny of concrete erection practices and building inspections. The structure was constructed of reinforced concrete frames with hollow clay tile ribbed flooring and hollow clay tile infill walls. That practice
3026-505: The Corbetts , written in 1938 but taking a wartime theme. Nevil Shute Nevil Shute Norway (17 January 1899 – 12 January 1960) was an English novelist and aeronautical engineer who spent his later years in Australia. He used his full name in his engineering career and Nevil Shute as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from inferences by his employers (Vickers) or from fellow engineers that he
3115-607: The English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. In 1877, Thaddeus Hyatt , published a report entitled An Account of Some Experiments with Portland-Cement-Concrete Combined with Iron as a Building Material, with Reference to Economy of Metal in Construction and for Security against Fire in the Making of Roofs, Floors, and Walking Surfaces , in which he reported his experiments on the behaviour of reinforced concrete. His work played
3204-592: The German-occupied French coast, focused on the fishing port of Douarnenez , an area where resistance to the German occupation has remained strong. Charles Simon, half English and half French seizes the opportunity to be captured and taken to Britain during a raid on the port while he is visiting. He is recruited as a spy and returns to France, where he uses his professional standing to gain valuable information about new U-boat shelters being built at Lorient and then to return to Britain as an officer in
3293-488: The R100 and R101 as a primary illustration of his thesis that governments are usually incompetent managers of technology projects. In 1931, with the cancellation of the R100 project, Shute teamed up with the talented de Havilland-trained designer A. Hessell Tiltman to found the aircraft construction company Airspeed Ltd . A site was available in a former trolleybus garage on Piccadilly, York . Despite setbacks, including
3382-433: The R100 could take two or three months, and the solution '"almost amounted to a religious experience." But later he wrote that '"the disaster was the product of the system rather than the men at Cardington"; the one thing that was proved is that "government officials are totally ineffective in engineering development" and any weapons (they develop) will be bad weapons. The R101 made one short test flight in perfect weather, and
3471-529: The RNVR. Shute's first novel, Stephen Morris , was written in 1923, but not published until 1961 (with its 1924 sequel, Pilotage ). His first published novel was Marazan , which came out in 1926. After that he averaged one novel every two years until the 1950s, with the exception of a six-year hiatus while he was establishing his own aircraft construction company, Airspeed Ltd. Sales of his books grew slowly with each novel, but he became much better known after
3560-695: The actual available length is inadequate for full development, special anchorages must be provided, such as cogs or hooks or mechanical end plates. The same concept applies to lap splice length mentioned in the codes where splices (overlapping) provided between two adjacent bars in order to maintain the required continuity of stress in the splice zone. In wet and cold climates, reinforced concrete for roads, bridges, parking structures and other structures that may be exposed to deicing salt may benefit from use of corrosion-resistant reinforcement such as uncoated, low carbon/chromium (micro composite), epoxy-coated, hot dip galvanized or stainless steel rebar. Good design and
3649-461: The actual bond stress varies along the length of a bar anchored in a zone of tension, current international codes of specifications use the concept of development length rather than bond stress. The main requirement for safety against bond failure is to provide a sufficient extension of the length of the bar beyond the point where the steel is required to develop its yield stress and this length must be at least equal to its development length. However, if
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3738-440: The aid of the parish priest, doctor and Simon and the locals contrive an escape for Rhodes in a fishing boat and Simon gives himself up, securing the release of the hostages. Simon is executed by the Germans. At various key stages in the story, intelligence information from France is received on flimsies marked 'MOST SECRET', reflecting the title of the novel. The central character is Charles Simon. His English father dies when he
3827-539: The alkalinity of the concrete protects the steel rebar from corrosion . Reinforcing schemes are generally designed to resist tensile stresses in particular regions of the concrete that might cause unacceptable cracking and/or structural failure. Modern reinforced concrete can contain varied reinforcing materials made of steel, polymers or alternate composite material in conjunction with rebar or not. Reinforced concrete may also be permanently stressed (concrete in compression, reinforcement in tension), so as to improve
3916-479: The behavior of the final structure under working loads. In the United States , the most common methods of doing this are known as pre-tensioning and post-tensioning . For a strong, ductile and durable construction the reinforcement needs to have the following properties at least: François Coignet used iron-reinforced concrete as a technique for constructing building structures. In 1853, Coignet built
4005-543: The chief reasons for the failure of reinforcement bars in concrete. The relative cross-sectional area of steel required for typical reinforced concrete is usually quite small and varies from 1% for most beams and slabs to 6% for some columns. Reinforcing bars are normally round in cross-section and vary in diameter. Reinforced concrete structures sometimes have provisions such as ventilated hollow cores to control their moisture & humidity. Distribution of concrete (in spite of reinforcement) strength characteristics along
4094-756: The city's building codes to allow wider use of reinforced concrete. In 1906, the National Association of Cement Users (NACU) published Standard No. 1 and, in 1910, the Standard Building Regulations for the Use of Reinforced Concrete . Many different types of structures and components of structures can be built using reinforced concrete elements including slabs , walls , beams , columns , foundations , frames and more. Reinforced concrete can be classified as precast or cast-in-place concrete . Designing and implementing
4183-422: The compression zone of a concrete is inadequate to resist the compressive moment (positive moment), extra reinforcement has to be provided if the architect limits the dimensions of the section. An under-reinforced beam is one in which the tension capacity of the tensile reinforcement is smaller than the combined compression capacity of the concrete and the compression steel (under-reinforced at tensile face). When
4272-541: The concrete resists compression and reinforcement " rebar " resists tension can be made into almost any shape and size for the construction industry. Three physical characteristics give reinforced concrete its special properties: As a rule of thumb, only to give an idea on orders of magnitude, steel is protected at pH above ~11 but starts to corrode below ~10 depending on steel characteristics and local physico-chemical conditions when concrete becomes carbonated. Carbonation of concrete along with chloride ingress are amongst
4361-412: The concrete roof and floors in the two-story house he was constructing. His positioning of the reinforcement demonstrated that, unlike his predecessors, he had knowledge of tensile stresses. Between 1869 and 1870, Henry Eton would design, and Messrs W & T Phillips of London construct the wrought iron reinforced Homersfield Bridge bridge, with a 50' (15.25 meter) span, over the river Waveney, between
4450-416: The concrete, thus they can jointly resist external loads and deform. (2) The thermal expansion coefficients of concrete and steel are so close ( 1.0 × 10 to 1.5 × 10 for concrete and 1.2 × 10 for steel) that the thermal stress-induced damage to the bond between the two components can be prevented. (3) Concrete can protect the embedded steel from corrosion and high-temperature induced softening. Because
4539-403: The cross-section of vertical reinforced concrete elements is inhomogeneous. The reinforcement in a RC structure, such as a steel bar, has to undergo the same strain or deformation as the surrounding concrete in order to prevent discontinuity, slip or separation of the two materials under load. Maintaining composite action requires transfer of load between the concrete and steel. The direct stress
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#17327879286244628-640: The effective use of a planchette in No Highway; a messiah figure in Round the Bend ; reincarnation, science fiction, and Aboriginal psychic powers in In the Wet. Twenty-four of his novels and novellas have been published. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, including Lonely Road in 1936; Landfall: A Channel Story in 1949; Pied Piper in 1942 and again in 1959, and also as Crossing to Freedom,
4717-403: The examples of a non-linear numerical simulation and calculation visit the references: Prestressing concrete is a technique that greatly increases the load-bearing strength of concrete beams. The reinforcing steel in the bottom part of the beam, which will be subjected to tensile forces when in service, is placed in tension before the concrete is poured around it. Once the concrete has hardened,
4806-515: The first concrete buildings constructed in the United States was a private home designed by William Ward , completed in 1876. The home was particularly designed to be fireproof. G. A. Wayss was a German civil engineer and a pioneer of the iron and steel concrete construction. In 1879, Wayss bought the German rights to Monier's patents and, in 1884, his firm, Wayss & Freytag , made the first commercial use of reinforced concrete. Up until
4895-511: The first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four-story house at 72 rue Charles Michels in the suburbs of Paris. Coignet's descriptions of reinforcing concrete suggests that he did not do it for means of adding strength to the concrete but for keeping walls in monolithic construction from overturning. The, 1872–1873, Pippen building in Brooklyn stands as a testament to his technique. In 1854, English builder William B. Wilkinson reinforced
4984-401: The first time in my life I saw how people live in an English-speaking country outside England." Although he intended to remain in Australia, he did not apply for Australian citizenship , which was at that time a mere formality because he was a British citizen . In the 1950s and 1960s he was one of the world's best-selling novelists. Between 1956 and 1958 in Australia, he took up car racing as
5073-418: The honest artisans and their social integrity and contributions to society more than the contributions of the upper classes. Aviation and engineering provide the backdrop for many of Shute's novels. He identified how engineering, science, and design could improve human life and more than once used the anonymous epigram, "It has been said an engineer is a man who can do for ten shillings what any fool can do for
5162-480: The inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ductility. The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel reinforcing bars (known as rebar ) and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. However, post-tensioning is also employed as a technique to reinforce the concrete. In terms of volume used annually, it is one of the most common engineering materials. In corrosion engineering terms, when designed correctly,
5251-638: The innovation of developing a hydraulic retractable undercarriage for the Airspeed Courier , and his work on R100, Shute was made a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society . On 7 March 1931, Shute married Frances Mary Heaton, a 28-year-old medical practitioner. They had two daughters, (Heather) Felicity and Shirley. By the outbreak of the Second World War, Shute was a rising novelist. Even as war seemed imminent he
5340-660: The knowledge of reinforced concrete developed during the previous 50 years, Ransome improved nearly all the styles and techniques of the earlier inventors of reinforced concrete. Ransome's key innovation was to twist the reinforcing steel bar, thereby improving its bond with the concrete. Gaining increasing fame from his concrete constructed buildings, Ransome was able to build two of the first reinforced concrete bridges in North America. One of his bridges still stands on Shelter Island in New Yorks East End, One of
5429-539: The lead-up to the war. He left her to work a passage to England in order to fight. Barbara Wright is a young Wren driver who is based at Dartmouth and is allocated to support the crew of Genevieve , who for reasons of secrecy are based at Dittisham, out of the town of Dartmouth. She has had a sheltered upbringing with elderly aunts in Norwich and has no experience of men but gradually falls in love with Michael Rhodes, initially driving him to Honiton where he first sees
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#17327879286245518-824: The light green color of its epoxy coating. Hot dip galvanized rebar may be bright or dull gray depending on length of exposure, and stainless rebar exhibits a typical white metallic sheen that is readily distinguishable from carbon steel reinforcing bar. Reference ASTM standard specifications A1035/A1035M Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Low-carbon, Chromium, Steel Bars for Concrete Reinforcement, A767 Standard Specification for Hot Dip Galvanized Reinforcing Bars, A775 Standard Specification for Epoxy Coated Steel Reinforcing Bars and A955 Standard Specification for Deformed and Plain Stainless Bars for Concrete Reinforcement. Another, cheaper way of protecting rebars
5607-879: The manuscript incomplete. According to Dan Telfair in the foreword of the 2002 edition, some of the themes in The Seafarers and Blind Understanding were used in Shute's 1955 novel Requiem for a Wren . In 1948, Shute flew his own Percival Proctor aeroplane to Australia and back, accompanied by the writer James Riddell , who published a book, Flight of Fancy, based on the trip, in 1950. On his return, concerned about what he saw as he "felt oppressed by British taxation", he decided that he and his family would move to Australia. In 1950, he settled with his wife and two daughters on farmland at Langwarrin , south-east of Melbourne . Remembering his 1930 trip to Canada and his decision to immigrate to Australia, he wrote, in 1954, "For
5696-438: The microscopic rigid lattice, resulting in cracking and separation of the concrete. For this reason, typical non-reinforced concrete must be well supported to prevent the development of tension. If a material with high strength in tension, such as steel , is placed in concrete, then the composite material, reinforced concrete, resists not only compression but also bending and other direct tensile actions. A composite section where
5785-523: The mores of the United States ( Beyond the Black Stump ) and overt antipathy towards the post-World War II socialist government of Shute's native Britain ( The Far Country and In the Wet ). Shute's heroes tended to be like himself: middle-class solicitors, doctors, accountants, bank managers, and engineers—generally university graduates. However (as in Trustee from the Toolroom ), Shute valued
5874-656: The most efficient floor system is key to creating optimal building structures. Small changes in the design of a floor system can have significant impact on material costs, construction schedule, ultimate strength, operating costs, occupancy levels and end use of a building. Without reinforcement, constructing modern structures with concrete material would not be possible. When reinforced concrete elements are used in construction, these reinforced concrete elements exhibit basic behavior when subjected to external loads . Reinforced concrete elements may be subject to tension , compression , bending , shear , and/or torsion . Concrete
5963-478: The needs of Britain's empire. The government-funded but privately developed R100 made a successful 1930 round trip to Canada . While in Canada it made trips from Montreal to Ottawa , Toronto, and Niagara Falls . The fatal 1930 crash near Beauvais , France, of its government-developed counterpart R101 ended British interest in dirigibles . The R100 was immediately grounded and subsequently scrapped. Shute gives
6052-448: The passivation of steel at the anodic oxidation sites. Nitrite is a much more active corrosion inhibitor than nitrate , which is a less powerful oxidizer of the divalent iron. A beam bends under bending moment , resulting in a small curvature. At the outer face (tensile face) of the curvature the concrete experiences tensile stress, while at the inner face (compressive face) it experiences compressive stress. A singly reinforced beam
6141-676: The previous novel, as are escape from France by fishing boat, the taking of hostages and execution of prisoners. These ideas reflect Shute's own service in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve leading on to his role in the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development . Most Secret's references to sailing and the English Channel are also reminiscent of the Corbett's trip to France in What Happened to
6230-423: The publication of his third to last book, On the Beach , in 1957. Shute's novels are written in a simple, highly readable style, with clearly delineated plot lines. Where there is a romantic element, sex is referred to only obliquely. Many of the stories are introduced by a narrator who is not a character in the story. The most common theme in Shute's novels is the dignity of work , spanning all classes, whether
6319-433: The reinforced concrete element is subject to increasing bending moment, the tension steel yields while the concrete does not reach its ultimate failure condition. As the tension steel yields and stretches, an "under-reinforced" concrete also yields in a ductile manner, exhibiting a large deformation and warning before its ultimate failure. In this case the yield stress of the steel governs the design. An over-reinforced beam
6408-438: The situation in France that they conceive the plan to arm her with a flame-thrower and mix by night with the fishing fleet which operates from the occupied port of Douarnenez under close German supervision. There are some complexities arising from this proposal for a naval operation being put forward by Simon, an army officer. After gaining approval from the authorities for this plan, they are joined as navigator by John Colvin and
6497-581: The size and location of cracks can be limited and controlled by appropriate reinforcement, control joints, curing methodology and concrete mix design. Cracking can allow moisture to penetrate and corrode the reinforcement. This is a serviceability failure in limit state design . Cracking is normally the result of an inadequate quantity of rebar, or rebar spaced at too great a distance. The concrete cracks either under excess loading, or due to internal effects such as early thermal shrinkage while it cures. Ultimate failure leading to collapse can be caused by crushing
6586-535: The story unfolds, he falls in love with Wren Barbara Wright, who drives a navy van for the crew of Genevieve. John Colvin is aged 48, much older than the other men and an experienced sailor. He has a complex past and has worked around the world in various ships, often involved in smuggling illegal liquor. He has also married on several occasions but repeatedly run away to sea. His most recent marriage has been to Junie, while he worked in San Francisco in
6675-474: The structure will receive warning of impending collapse. The characteristic strength is the strength of a material where less than 5% of the specimen shows lower strength. The design strength or nominal strength is the strength of a material, including a material-safety factor. The value of the safety factor generally ranges from 0.75 to 0.85 in Permissible stress design . The ultimate limit state
6764-454: The tension on the reinforcing steel is released, placing a built-in compressive force on the concrete. When loads are applied, the reinforcing steel takes on more stress and the compressive force in the concrete is reduced, but does not become a tensile force. Since the concrete is always under compression, it is less subject to cracking and failure. Reinforced concrete can fail due to inadequate strength, leading to mechanical failure, or due to
6853-625: The usual problems of a new business, Airspeed Limited eventually gained recognition when its Envoy aircraft was chosen for the King's Flight . With the approach of the Second World War , a military version of the Envoy was developed, to be called the Airspeed Oxford . The Oxford became the standard advanced multi-engined trainer for the RAF and British Commonwealth, with over 8,500 being built. For
6942-436: The vessel has to undergo repairs. On her third and final trip, codenamed 'Operation Blanket', the plan is to meet up with the fishing fleet under cover of darkness and transfer small arms which can be distributed among the local population. A diversion is created by a planned Motor gunboat raid, which causes lights to be extinguished and the fishing fleet to scatter. Although the guns are successfully transferred, Genevieve
7031-403: The water mix before pouring concrete. Generally, 1–2 wt. % of [Ca(NO 2 ) 2 ] with respect to cement weight is needed to prevent corrosion of the rebars. The nitrite anion is a mild oxidizer that oxidizes the soluble and mobile ferrous ions (Fe ) present at the surface of the corroding steel and causes them to precipitate as an insoluble ferric hydroxide (Fe(OH) 3 ). This causes
7120-516: The whole fishing fleet and patrol boats to be in port. He befriends an elderly fisherman, Bozallac, and assures him that the British were behind the loss of the first Raumboot and that the local population can be assured that Charles Simon will again attack the Germans with fire. That night they take the Genevieve right into the harbour at Douarnenez and set fire to both Raumboots and the harbour guns, although there are losses among Genevieve's crew and
7209-609: Was "not a serious person" or from potentially adverse publicity in connection with his novels, which included On the Beach and A Town Like Alice . Shute was born in Somerset Road, Ealing (which was then in Middlesex ), in the house described in his novel Trustee from the Toolroom . He was educated at the Dragon School , Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford ; he graduated from Oxford in 1922 with
7298-922: Was a novelist. Shute attended the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich , and trained as a gunner. He was unable to take up a commission in the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War , which he believed was because of his stammer. He served as a soldier in the Suffolk Regiment , enlisting in the ranks in August 1918. He guarded the Isle of Grain in the Thames Estuary, and served in military funeral parties in Kent during
7387-399: Was filmed for television as six one-hour episodes in 1972, and as a two-part miniseries in 1987. Vintage Books reprinted all 23 of his books in 2009. Shute's final work was published more than 40 years after his death. The Seafarers was first drafted in 1946–47, rewritten, and then put aside. In 1948, Shute again rewrote it, changing the title to Blind Understanding, but he left
7476-585: Was given an airworthiness certificate for her flight to India to meet the minister’s deadline. Norway thought it probable that a new outer cover for the R101 was taped on with rubber adhesive which reacted with the dope. His account is very critical of the R101 design and management team, and strongly hints that senior team members were complicit in concealing flaws in the airship's design and construction. In The Tender Ship, Manhattan Project engineer and Virginia Tech professor Arthur Squires used Shute's account of
7565-404: Was granted a patent for reinforcing concrete flowerpots by means of mixing a wire mesh and a mortar shell. In 1877, Monier was granted another patent for a more advanced technique of reinforcing concrete columns and girders, using iron rods placed in a grid pattern. Though Monier undoubtedly knew that reinforcing concrete would improve its inner cohesion, it is not clear whether he even knew how much
7654-520: Was involved with the development of airships , working as Chief Calculator ( stress engineer ) on the R100 airship project for the Vickers subsidiary Airship Guarantee Company. In 1929, he was promoted to deputy chief engineer of the R100 project under Barnes Wallis . When Wallis left the project, Shute became the chief engineer. The R100 was a prototype for passenger-carrying airships that would serve
7743-422: Was strongly questioned by experts and recommendations for "pure" concrete construction were made, using reinforced concrete for the floors and walls as well as the frames. In April 1904, Julia Morgan , an American architect and engineer, who pioneered the aesthetic use of reinforced concrete, completed her first reinforced concrete structure, El Campanil, a 72-foot (22 m) bell tower at Mills College , which
7832-543: Was sunk by it, Charles Goodeve sent him a message concluding "I am particularly pleased as it fully substantiates the foresight you showed in pushing this in its early stages. My congratulations." His celebrity as a writer caused the Ministry of Information to send him to the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 and later to Burma as a correspondent. He finished the war with the rank of lieutenant commander in
7921-483: Was working on military projects with his former boss at Vickers, Sir Dennistoun Burney . He was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) as a sub-lieutenant, having joined as an "elderly yachtsman" and expected to be in charge of a drifter or minesweeper, but after two days he was asked about his career and technical experience. He reached the "dizzy rank" of lieutenant commander, knowing nothing about "Sunday Divisions" and secretly fearing when he went on
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