The EUROCODES: Implementation and Use

The objective of the European Commission is for “the Eurocodes to establish a set of common technical rules for the design of buildings and civil engineering works which will ultimately replace the differing rules in the various Member States”. 

The Eurocodes are a set of European Standards (EN) for the design of buildings and other civil engineering works and construction products, produced by the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN).

They embody National experience and research output together with the expertise of CEN Technical Committee 250 (CEN/TC250) and of International Technical and Scientific Organisations and represent a world-class standard for structural design. Publication of the Eurocodes was completed in 2007.

Following CEN rules, the Eurocodes can be used in parallel with National Standards until 2010, when all conflicting National Standards will be withdrawn.

The Eurocodes cover in a comprehensive manner all principal construction materials (concrete, steel, timber, masonry and aluminium), all major fields of structural engineering (basis of structural design, loading, fire, geotechnics, earthquake, etc.) and a wide range of types of structures and products (buildings, bridges, towers and masts, silos, etc).

The verification procedure in the Eurocodes is based on the limit state concept used in conjunction with partial safety factors. The Eurocodes allow also for design based on probabilistic methods as well as for design assisted by testing, and provide guidance for the use of these methods.

The Eurocodes suite The Eurocodes suite is made up by 10 European Standards for structural design.

Eurocode: Basis of structural design (EN 1990)
Eurocode 1: Actions on structures (EN 1991)
Eurocode 2: Design of concrete structures (EN 1992)
Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures (EN 1993)
Eurocode 4: Design of composite steel and concrete structures (EN 1994)
Eurocode 5: Design of timber structures (EN 1995)
Eurocode 6: Design of masonry structures (EN 1996)
Eurocode 7: Geotechnical design (EN 1997)
Eurocode 8: Design of structures for earthquake resistance (EN 1998)
Eurocode 9: Design of aluminium structures (EN 1999)

UE 2008