29 June 2009

SC7 meeting in Munich

I am just back from the latest TC250/SC7 meeting in Munich, held on Thursday 25th and Friday 26th July. This is the European committee responsible for producing and maintaining Eurocode 7 Parts 1 and 2.

Key issues discussed at the meeting included:

  • Eurocode 7 Part 1 (EN 1997-1) has its first corrigendum (designated AC/2009) that includes a full replacement for Annex C (covering earth pressure coefficients)
  • The first corrigendum to Eurocode 7 Part 2 (EN 1997-2) is nearly finished
  • Ongoing work on theses standards is being undertaken by the Maintenance Group (MG), which has held nine teleconferences since that last SC7 meeting in Warsaw
  • Members of the MG have prepared a paper entitled 'Eurocode 7 for geotechnical design - a model code for non-EU countries', which will be presented at the forthcoming International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering in Alexandria in October
  • Members of the MG have presented a paper on EQU at the recent International Symposium on Geotechnical Reliability at Gifu, Japan
  • The MG is undertaking a survey (led by me, Andrew Bond) of Nationally Determined Parameters used in each country in Europe. Initial results suggest wide variation in partial factors adopted
  • Another study (led by Brian Simpson)into the 'correct' interpretation of the rules given in Eurocode 7 for water pressures is also underway and promises interesting results
  • A second set of design examples has been prepared by ETC10, the committee looking into the implementation of Eurocode 7 in Europe, and is set to go live early in July (more details will follow in my blog on this topic)
  • Coordination of the forthcoming standards for execution and testing of anchorages (prEN 1537:20xx and prEN ISO 22477-5:20xx) is planned and will result in Section 8 of Eurocode 7 Part 1 (EN 1997-1) needing revision. More work for the MG!
  • A new CEN committee has been set up to look at assessment of existing structures
  • The next SC7 meeting will be held in Pavia, Italy in April 2010

11 June 2009

April 2010: the death of British Standards?

I have agreed to give a talk on the status of British Standards following the 'official' introduction of the Eurocodes in April 2010, to both the IStructE Peterborough section (in Peterborough on Thursday 15th October) and to the North East Geotechnical Society (in Newcastle on Tuesday 20th October).

29 May 2009

European Earthworks Seminar

The European Earthworks Seminar will be held in London next week. I am giving a talk entitled 'Stability of earthworks to Eurocode 7', a copy of which is available for downlaod from this link.

24 April 2009

National Annex for Part 2 is now a draft for public comment

The long awaited draft UK National Annex for Eurocode 7 Part 2 (BS EN 1997-2) has been published by BSI.

The draft is open for comment until 31 May 2009.

The pieces of the jigsaw are finally coming into place...


27 March 2009

Engineers Ireland to run one-day course on Eurocode 7

Engineers Ireland has arranged a one-day course on Eurocode 7 for 11th May 2009, which will be delivered by Drs Eric Farrell and Trevor Orr (Ireland's delegates on the CEN TC250 committee) with a contribution from Sean MacEoin on EC7 in practice.

Further details about this course are available here and a brochure is available here.

05 March 2009

'Fit for purpose' becomes 'meet specified serviceability requirements'

Regarding the issue of a 'fitness for purpose' requirement in the Eurocodes, which I discussed in my blog on 28th November (see this) ... Clare Price of BSI informs me that a corrigendum labelled:

EN 1990:2002/A1:2005/AC:2008(E)

was published by CEN in December 2008 and changed the text of EN 1990 (1)P 2nd dash from:

"remain fit for the use for which it is required"

 to:

"meet the specified serviceability requirements for a structure or structural element"


This corrigendum has not yet been published by BSI (and I am waiting to hear when BSI plans to publish).

Note that this addresses the issue within the Eurocodes, but not within the Construction Products Directive (which would be a matter for the European Parliament).

10 February 2009

UK National Annex update

Yet more UK National Annexes are available from BSI Online:

  • Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures
    • A further five NAs are now published
  • Eurocode 9 Design of aluminium structures
    • All five NAs are now published
There are now only 10 (out of 58) NAs waiting for publication ...
  • Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures
    • NA to BS EN 1993-1-6 and -7 covering shells and plates
    • NA to BS EN 1993-3-1 and -2 covering towers, masts, and chimneys
    • NA to BS EN 1993-4-1, -2, and -3 covering silos, tanks, and pipelines
    • NA to BS EN 1993-5 covering sheet piling
    • NA to BS EN 1993-6 crane supporting structures
  • Eurocode 7 Geotechnical design
    • NA to BS EN 1997-2. Ground investigation and testing

19 January 2009

Sold out!

We have sold out of our initial supply of 200 copies of the book 'Decoding Eurocode 7' - in a little over 4 months. Thank you to everyone who has bought the book.

We have placed an order for a further 25 copies, but regretably the publisher has increased book's RRP from £75 to £80. You can still get the book at a discount from www.decodingeurocode7.com.

17 January 2009

3 more UK National Annexes appear

Three more UK National Annexes are available from BSI Online:

  • Eurocode 1 Actions on structures
    • NA to BS EN 1991-1-7. General actions - accidental actions
  • Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures
    • NA to BS EN 1993-1-1. General rules and rules for buildings
    • NA to BS EN 1993-1-11. Design of structures with tension components
A total of 20 (out of 58) NAs are still in preparation ...
  • Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures
    • 14 NAs outstanding
  • Eurocode 7 Geotechnical design
    • 1 NA outstanding
  • Eurocode 9 Design of aluminium structures
    • 5 NAs outstanding

05 December 2008

Four more National Annexes see the light of day

Further to my post on 7th November regarding the status of the UK National Annexes, I have justed checked BSI Online and have found the following NAs are newly available:

  • Eurocode 3 Design of steel structures
    • NA to BS EN 1993-1-2. General rules - Structural fire design
    • NA to BS EN 1993-1-8. Design of joints
  • Eurocode 9 Design of aluminium structures
    • NA to BS EN 1999-1-1. General structural rules
    • NA to BS EN 1999-1-3. Structures susceptible to fatigue.pdf