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Introduction to Eurocodes
The Eurocodes are a family of ten European codes of practice for the design of building
and civil engineering structures in concrete, steel, timber and masonry, amongst other
materials. The development of the Eurocodes started in 1975; since then they have
evolved significantly and are now claimed to be the most technically advanced
structural codes in the world.
Structural Eurocodes (10 codes 55 parts)
EN 1990, the head Eurocode, is the world’s first material independent design code and
provides guidance on determining the design value of actions and combination of
actions, including partial safety factors for actions. EN 1991 provides characteristic
values of actions needed for design.
In order to produce documents which are (a) concise, (b) describe the overall aims of
design and (c) provide specific guidance as to how these aims can be achieved in
practice, the material in the Eurocodes is divided into ‘Principles’ and ‘Application rules’.
Principles comprise general statements, definitions, requirements and models for which
no alternative is permitted. Principles are indicated by the letter P after the clause
number. The Application rules are generally recognised rules which follow the
statements and satisfy the requirements given in the principles. The absence of the
letter P after the clause number indicates an Application rule. The use of alternative
application rules to those recommended in the Eurocode is permitted provided it can be
shown that the alternatives are at least equivalent and do not adversely affect other
design requirements. It is worth noting, however, that if an alternative Application rule
is used the resulting design will not be deemed Eurocode compliant.
Possible differences in construction material/products and design and construction
practices, and regional differences in climatic conditions, e.g. wind and snow loading,
has meant that some parameters, e.g. partial safety factors, allowance in design for
deviation of concrete cover, a particular method or application rule if several are
proposed in the EN, etc., may be determined at the national level.
Prepared by: Eng. Chamil Duminda Mahagamage
China Geo Engineering Corporation 3 B.Sc.Eng (Hons), C Eng, MIE(SL)
1/21/2020
Actions
Derivation of design equations for singly and doubly reinforced rectangular sections in
flexure (Section 3 & 5)
When determining the ultimate moment of resistance of concrete cross sections, Cl. 6.1 of EC2
recommends that the following assumptions are made.
1. plane section remain plane
2. the strain in bonded reinforcement is the same as that in the surrounding concrete
3. the tensile strength of the concrete is ignored
4. the compressive stresses in the concrete are derived from the parabolic-rectangular
stress-strain relationship or other simplified stress-strain relationships, provided they are effectively
equivalent to the rectangular stress distribution (see Fig 3.3 & Fig 3.5 in EC2).
5. the stresses in the reinforcement are derived from ‘Design stress strain diagram for steel
reinforcement’.
6. the compressive strain in the concrete should not exceed 0.0035.
Example 1
A 6m span beam with rectangular cross section supports the following uniformly
distributed loads.
permanent load (gk) = 60 kN/m
variable load (qk) = 18 kN/m
Design the beam taking characteristic strengths of the concrete and steel are
fck=30N/mm2 and fyk =500N/mm2 respectively. Effective depth, d=540mm and
breadth, b = 300mm.
Example 2