Background of ENV to Eurocode 2

Eurocode 2 will be the one design code for all concrete structures in the UK and Europe. EN 1992-1-1 was published in December 2004 and the National Annex was published in December 2005, making it possible to use in the UK.

The standard was developed to bring reinforced concrete design up to date. It benefits from over 40 years of knowledge and experience since the forerunners of the UK ultimate limit state codes (BS 8110, BS 8007) were first put together, Eurocode 2 may appear hard to comprehend and more complex, at first sight, than UK codes but it is undoubtedly more comprehensive.

Eurocode 2 has fourt parts:

BS EN 1992-1-1 Common rules for buildings and civil engineering structures

BS EN 1992-1-2 Structural fire design

BS EN 1992-2 Bridges

BS EN 1992-3 Liquid retaining structures

Each part has a National Annex (NA) which gives national values for certain partial factors (or Nationally Determined Parameters, NDP's). Besides safety, the NA might also include matters of national custom and practice. These NA's are backedby PD6687 which gives the background to UK choices. PD6687 covers BS EN 1992-1-1 and BS EN 1992-1-2. During 2008 it is anticipated that PD6687 will be extended to cover BS EN 1992-3 and PD6697-2 covering the NDP's to BS EN 1992-2.

Following a period of co-existence with the current UK codes, the UK cods will be withdrawn leaving only the Eurocodes. In the UK, Eurocode 2 will replace BS 8110 for buildings, BS 5400 for bridges, BS 8007 for water-retaining structures and BS 6349 for maritime structures.