Unit 10b Book

1. Introduction

One way of coming up with new inventions and new approaches, thus achieving technological improvements, is testing. Testing plays an important role in quality control, and test results form a basis for some further tests. In addition, if done properly, tests/experiments should be replicable with similar results, thus proving the results of the original tests. For all these reasons, reports on tests performed and their results are important sources of information, but only when written properly. Therefore, test reports follow a clear, logical structure, as you will see in Unit 10b. Rather than on grammar, this unit focuses on stylistics and vocabulary in the field of civil engineering. As only a little portion of new vocab is going to be related to electrical engineering, this unit will be shorter than the previous ones. Still, the knowledge and skills acquired may be useful for you in the field of electrical engineering, as the principles of writing a good report are the same across various fields. In addition, Unit 10b will give you an opportunity to practise some grammar points covered in previous units. 

Contents

• Reading about destructive test methods
• Writing a report: introduction, objective, experimental setup, procedure, results, conclusion(s), further testing, appendix
• Grammar revision:    

hyphenated adjectives as part of a noun phrase: a motion-detecting device

the passive voice: is transferred

the third person singular of present simple verbs: absorbs

the -ing form (gerund): by transferring

prepositional phrases: look forward to; result in

2. Forum: Experiments

Experiments can be discussed from various points of view. On the one hand, we can consider them to be serious research, but on the other, experimenting is part of our everyday lives. For example, both human kids and young animals experiment in order to get skills they will need for their lives. How about you? As a child, did you perform experiments? If so, was it at home, at school, or both? How important are experiments in your current studies? In this forum, answer at least two questions and respond to at least one contribution of a fellow student.

3. Reading: A Test Report

Unit 10a established the context of earthquake simulations, which are especially important in seismically active countries, such as Japan. As already explained, there are various ways to protect buildings from collapsing. Unit 10a focused on seismic dampers fitted inside the walls of buildings to absorb some of the kinetic energy generated during earthquakes. Unit 10b, however, is going to deal with another anti-seismic system; namely a composite consisting of concrete inside an outer skin of polymer. Specialists believed that this polymer might have potential to create a ductile, non-brittle material that would not collapse during an earthquake, even if the concrete inside was fractured. They expected the polymer to bind the structure together. In order to see if this composite might be an ideal material for the next generation of houses, especially for their load-bearing walls, a special test was performed. First, a computer model based on the Kobe earthquake was prepared, which showed that a 7.3 magnitude earthquake produces a maximum inter-storey drift* at the 5th storey of 5.18 mm. In the test, therefore, the walls were pushed by jacks to the maximum distance of 5.18 mm. Then the walls were inspected to see if they showed signs of damage.

If you read the sections of the text on p. 76 in the coursebook (Bonamy, D. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Coursebook. Pearson Longman), you will see that a test report gives much more information than just the reason for the test and the description of its procedure, namely the introduction, objective, experimental setup, procedure, results, conclusion(s), plans for further testing, and, if needed, an appendix (or, if there is more than one, appendices).  In some reports, an appendix is called an “annex”. Before reading about the report in detail, look at the figures in Task 1 on the same page, so that you have an idea what the two experimental walls looked like. Then, while reading the report, complete this task.

* inter-storey drift = relative horizontal displacement between two adjacent floors (as explained in Bingham, C., Wright, L. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Teacher´s Book. Pearson Longman, p. 97.)

4. London Millennium Footbridge

Now, you will have a chance to see another report. What was tested this time was the London Millennium Footbridge built over the River Thames in London. You can see this bridge in the picture on p. 77 in your book. This pedestrian bridge was opened to the public in June 2000. When people first walked across it, something happened. Read the bullet points next to the picture to find out what it was. Then go to p. 117 in your book and scan the text in the bottom right-hand corner to find answers to the questions in this task as quickly as possible. In order to meet the time limit set on the task, you will have to ignore any irrelevant information occurring in the text.

After practising your rapid reading/scanning and finding out key facts about the bridge, look at the graph on p. 77 in the coursebook. It shows the results of one of the tests carried out on the bridge. Study the graph carefully and try to answer the related questions in this forum.

Now, in this task, you will have an opportunity to get more information on the test carried out on the bridge, not just the result. A student attended a lecture given by an engineer who carried out the test. In this task on the left, you can see this student´s notes from the lecture. On the right, you can see an official report on the test. Your task is to complete the report with the help of the notes. Notice that when taking notes during lectures, using abbreviations and symbols saves time and is usually helpful. Some abbreviations are universal and understood by most people, for example, e.g., i.e., approx., while some others are created individually by writing the first few letters and adding a full stop. Here, you can see a list of abbreviations and symbols used in the student´s notes:

millennium (= Mill.) bridge (= br.), lateral (= lat.), movement (= mov’t), pedestrians (= peds), minimum (= min.), number (= #), cameras (= cams), different (= diff.), about (= c.), from (= fr.), increase (= incr.), significant/insignificant (= signif./insignif.)*

If you have problems understanding the notes, you can also listen to Recording 27, which comes with your coursebook.

Now, maybe you wonder how civil engineers modified the bridge and made it ready for reopening in 2002. To discover this, read the text in Task 5 on p. 81 in the coursebook and complete this reading comprehension task and this follow-up task, which will give you an opportunity to revise both technical vocabulary and some grammar forms of verbs.

*From: Bingham, C., Wright, L. (2013). Technical English Level 4 Teacher´s Book. Pearson Longman, p. 101.

5. Electrical Engineering Experiment

So far, you have had a chance to read about testing and test reports only in the context of civil engineering. Therefore, it is high time to see an electrical engineering experiment. One was conducted in 1820 by two electrical engineering icons: Oersted and Faraday. Their discovery of the magnetic effect of electric current was crucial for the future application of electrical energy. First, watch the video and complete this listening comprehension task. Then, after you get the key facts from the video, put yourself in Oersted and Faraday´s shoes and report on this experiment of theirs. This means that you should use the personal pronoun “we” and include all the necessary parts of a typical report, i.e. introduction, objective, experimental setup, procedure, results, conclusion(s), further testing. You do not need to include an appendix, but you can refer to an “imaginary” one in your report. Also, use correct verb tenses: the present simple when you are explaining a technical principle (typically in the introduction and conclusion sections), and the past simple when you talk about the procedure of the experiment. Submit your text here.

6. Word list

The key terms related to the topic of Unit 10b can be found:

• in the Excel format here.
• in the interactive flash card format here. This format is particularly good for drilling the new vocabulary.
• in a zip file here. This file is downloadable, so that after unpacking it, you can drill the new vocabulary on your desktop, laptop or any other portable device where you have a browser installed. Important: after unzipping the zip file, make sure to keep all the related files in the same directory at all times. Do not change any file names and do not transfer or delete anything.

Recommendation: Remember that the best way to learn new vocabulary is to see each new word in a context; that is, step by step as you complete all the tasks in the unit.

7. A printer-friendly version of Unit 10b: exercises + key

A printer-friendly version of Unit 10b exercises and the key to these exercises can be found here.