News and Events

Seminars

Our seminars are the best way to keep your engineers up to date with developments in the arch assessment world. Don't just take our word for it, Dr Su Taylor from Queens University Belfast attended the Dublin seminar earlier this year and emailed afterwards to say:

Bill, Would like to say to thanks for the most interesting seminar i have attended for at least 3 years if not more. I was talking to the Manager in Owen Williams NI this afternoon and have recommend all engineers in arch assessment go to at-least one ARCHIE users meeting.

Contact philip@obvis.com for details

2009 round will extend to March 2010

Topics this year:

A new distribution model and its likely effects on Assessment

Multi span bridges in the light of realistic distribution

Skew bridge distribution and assessment

Complex loading and interfaces

An introduction for version 2.3

Plans for version 3

As usual there will be an afternoon discussion session. If anyone wishes to raise a topic for serious advanced consideration it is always welcome.

Next Seminar at Arup Campus Solihul, Thursday 24th March 2009.

We still expect to do a seminar in London before the end of April.

2010 round will begin in York 0n 27th May.

The programme for the day is not complete yet, but one theme will be the interesting offshoots in understanding from some recent work on Flexiarches.

Version 2.4

Version 2.4 was almost ready to roll out when we found another bug. We are working on that and hope to be ready within a week. There are a few copies of 2.4 in use. The bug does not cause any problems that are not very obvious. There is no question of delivering a result that is unsafe.

Please note that the core of the program has not changed in any way. all we have done is add features and make modifications to the user interface.

We have moved

From 28th July 2007 our postal address is:

OBVIS Ltd, Gairloch, Hensleigh Drive, Exeter, EX2 4NZ

All other contact details remain unchanged.

Forthcoming changes in version 2.4

	Archie-M 2.4 is nearing completion. It has a raft of enhancements beginning with a new working screen. Some of the highlights are listed below.
	Most variables now displayed on screen and instantly accessible
	Skew arches can be input square or skew and switched
	Load vehicles now have a vehicle width as well as track width. The lane width will be increased to take the vehicle unless a physical bridge width limit is reached.
	Auto run loads now works much more effectively.
	Individual loads can be selected.
	Once run, any load can be selected
	A log file is created which lists the load cases and the actual loads applied for audit.
	We have changed the way thrust lines outside the arch are calculated to remove the crossing thrusts problem.

There are many minor enhancements too.

Please check this page regularly for details of upcoming Archie Users' Group meetings.

To find out why you should become a user group member and how you can benefit from it, please click here

Staff Changes

Philip Denning has moved in and will be the main point of contact for the foreseeable future. He is available as philip@obvis.com though emails to joanna or tristan will also reach him. Philip works part time, mostly from home. email is his best channel for contact.

Health Issues

Bill had pancreatitis over the year end 2002/3 He was in hospital for 6 weeks then and has been back for odd weeks since. The last attack was in June 2005. At the moment he feels fine and work is progressing well.

Web Changes

This is where we announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.

Quick refresh on 26Oct07. Will try to be back soon.