The CRC Guide: Second and Third Editions

The first edition of the Column Research Council’s Guide to Design for Metal Compression Members was published by the CRC in 1960. The second was published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., in 1966, and the third is planned for 1972. This report was prepared by Bruce G. Johnston, editor of the Guide, on the request of the Task Committee on Compression Members to inform the members of the Structural Division of the ASCE about this recent development in the field of metal compression members. The Column Research Council, organized by the Engineering Foundation in 1944, has always had a close affiliation with the ASCE. In 1958, the Task Committee was formed as a part of the ASCE’s Structural Division Committee on Metals so that there might be a regular channel of communication between the council and the society. One may wonder why the problem of the column and the associated problems pertaining to compression members cannot be definitely solved in the near future. If past experience is a guide to the future, such problems are continuing ones of indefinite duration. Changes in materials and in methods for their fabrication into columns and compression members require a continual re-evaluation of column theory as applied in practice.