What are Eurocodes used for?
The Eurocodes are a set European standards, of voluntary application, which harmonize the methods of calculation used to verify the stability and sizing of the various components of buildings or structures. They are recommanded to design concrete structures, metal, composite steel/concrete structures, masonry, wood, aluminum, geotechnical works and their seismic resistance.
Normative references
The Eurocodes are design european codes for construction. Used with their national annexes, they replace the national codes and allow companies to access to the markets of other member countries.
Ten groups of texts form the Eurocodes corpus and can be divided into two families:
- Actions
- EN1991 (Eurocode 1): Actions on structures (densities, self-weight, imposed loads, fire loads, snow, wind, thermal, during execution, bridges, silos and tanks)
- EN1997 (Eurocode 7): Geotechnical design (calculations rules, ground investigation and testing)
- EN1998 (Eurocode 8): Design of structures for earthquake resistance (calculations rules for buildings, bridges, silos, tanks, pipelines, towers, masts ,chimneys, foundations, retaining structures and geotechnical aspects assessment and retrofitting of buildings)
- Materials
- EN1992 (Eurocode 2): Design of concrete structures
- EN1993 (Eurocode 3): Design of steel structures
- EN1994 (Eurocode 4): Design of composite steel and concrete structures
- EN1995 (Eurocode 5): Design of timber structures
- EN1996 (Eurocode 6): Design of masonry structures
- EN1999 (Eurocode 9): Design of aluminium structures
The last Eurocode, EN1990 (Eurocode 0): Basis of structural design, is intended to be used, for direct application, together with Eurocodes EN 1991 to 1999. It describes the Principles and requirements for safety, serviceability and durability of structures. It is based on the limit state concept used in conjunction with a partial factor method.
National choices
The national annexes provide "nationally determined parameters" (NDP) to certain clauses of the European standards EN 199x authorizing a national choice. They specify the non-contradictory complementary information (NCCI) to facilitate the application of the standards. They are inseparable from the standards to which it refers.
This annexes have generally a prefix who indicate of the concerned country, some examples:
| Prefix | Meaning | Application zone |
| EN | European Norm | Europe |
| BS | British Standards | United Kingdom |
| DIN | Deutsches Institut für Normung | Germany |
| IS | Irish Standards | Ireland |
| NBN | Bureau de Normalisation | Belgium |
| NF | Norme Française | France |
