At SCI we recognise that it is difficult for practitioners to participate in code development, because of the time needed, lack of funding, and uncertain outcomes. This is particularly the case with European codes - as an aside we are pleased to note that BSI has stated its intent to remain a part of CEN despite whatever changes lie ahead for Britain in Europe. The flip side of this is that we also recognise that those involved in code development, from individuals through national organisations like BSI to CEN, do try and encourage practitioners onto relevant committees but struggle to make much progress. Being placed somewhere between academia and practice at SCI, we try and bring that experience to code development as best we can.
A small but illustrative example of our Eurocode related work is that we have recently completed some studies, funded by BCSA, that fill a gap left by EN1994-1-1. The problem concerns anchorage of parallel decking when it is split along the line of a beam. In order to avoid specific reinforcement, which is a very conservative and rather impractical solution in most cases, the code tells users the decking must be ‘appropriately anchored’. It gives no definition or quantification of ‘appropriate’ but refers users to their National Annex. Unfortunately the UK National Annex, and indeed all others NAs, give no further information. Our recent studies, based on finite element modelling, showed that provided the detailing meets certain, not unreasonable, requirements then nominal fixity may be deemed ‘appropriate’. No changes to existing deck fixing practice are therefore required, and no additional reinforcement. Full details of the outcomes of this work will appear shortly in an AD note in New Steel Construction.
Dr Graham Couchman
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Steel Connection Design 15 September 2016, Glasgow |
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Portal Frame Design - Part 2 20 September 2016, webinar |
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Essential Steelwork Design – 2 days 5 October 2016, Leeds |
