As buildings reach ever increasing heights and carry heavy loads of sky gardens, and link bridges among others.  Civil engineers are hard pressed to use structures which are strong and yet elegant to carry the weight or force they are subjected to.  Tests have to be carried on these concrete beams to ensure that the composite materials used are able to carry the weight they are designed for.

Among such composite designs was the use of different wrappings to improve the integrity of the column cast. Force was applied at each end of a horizontally placed section of column until the column cracks or destructs.

The difficultly is to apply force slowly to the point when the concrete fracture. Sounds easy but the point of fracture is sudden and difficult to record when hydraulic pressure is used.

An ingenious programme was designed to capture the very moment of the break; data-logging the force build up to that precise break point for analysis. It permitted subsequent design improvements to achieve the best design composition for the concrete column.