Bridge Design to Eurocodes with worked examples

The Eurocodes are now (2010) reaching the final stage of national implementation by the Member States.

The Eurocodes are becoming the European-wide means for structural design of works contributing towards an internal market with free circulation of construction products and services. The potential opportunities stemming from cross-border trade are of interest to the entire industry, the design and construction sectors of the civil engineering and building industries.

To achieve an adequate application of the Eurocodes in the Member States, all involved actors, including National Standardization Bodies, Technical and Scientific Organisations and especially, the design and construction industry, must be prepared and ready to use them. For this purpose, technical training, continuing professional development and university courses should be arranged and encouraged at national and international level. According to Annex A of Guidance Paper L, training of staff is the responsibility of industry, in cooperation with National Authorities and National Standardisation Bodies.

The European Commission contributes towards consistency in the adoption and use of the Eurocodes in the Member States and to facilitate training and awareness campaigns. The website "Eurocodes: Building the future" serves as a platform for the collection, exchange and dissemination of training and promotional material and information.

Objectives

This workshop with emphasis on worked examples intends to contribute towards the transfer of background knowledge and expertise of Eurocode Bridge Parts writers (CEN/TC250 Horizontal Group Bridges) to potential trainers at national level and Eurocode users.

The principal objectives of the workshop are to:

• transfer knowledge and information to representatives of key organisations/institutions, industry and technical associations in Member States;
• provide state-of-the-art training material, background information and worked examples to Eurocodes trainers and users;
• facilitate exchange of views, networking and cooperation.

Participants

Approximately 150 national delegates and lecturers that were representatives of national authorities, national standardisation bodies, industry, professional associations, research institutions and universities registered for the workshop. The participants were delegates from 20 EU Member States, one EU Candidate Country (Turkey) and two EFTA Member States (Iceland and Norway), as well as from Guatemala, South Korea and Malaysia.