January 2009, Issue 2

Editorial.....................................................................1
New JRC Scientific and Technical Reports..............2
Fire resistance and single-storey buildings ..............3
Workshop “Eurocode 6 – Design of masonry
structures”.................................................................5
Eurocodes information broker event in Moscow ......6
Evening seminar in Athens “Application of Eurocodes Some locations where Eurocode promotion has occurred

in bridges”.................................................................7
International Seminar on Eurocode 7 and
Geotechnical aspects of Eurocode 8 .......................8
Fire in Rome .............................................................8
In-memoriam - Joachim Ehrentreich ........................8
In-memoriam - Franco Levi ......................................9
The new Tripoli Airport
An example of the use of the Eurocodes is the design
of the new Tripoli Airport in Libya. The general design
was made by ADPI (Aéroports de Paris Ingénierie),
the technical design is made by the engineering
company SCET Tunisia.

Editorial
Welcome to the second issue of the TC250
Newsletter
The data collected by JRC show that the first issue
was read by many “visitors” of the JRC website and
we can consider that it was a good idea to create this
Newsletter. I hope that this second issue will be General design of the Tripoli Airport
enthusiastically welcome.

Promotion of the Eurocodes

The promotion of the Eurocodes is not a fantasy of
TC250 or of the Commission: it is now a real need to
invite (and help) designers, constructors, schools and
universities to discover and then to use the
Eurocodes.
This is very important for our European construction
industry. Many actions have already been organised
in many countries outside the EU by the Commission
or by private initiatives. View of the construction site
The following picture, established by Malcolm
Greenley, Programme manager at BSI and Technical The construction is ensured by several international
secretary of CEN/TC250, shows some locations companies which do not know the Eurocodes.
where Eurocode promotion has occurred (red dots).

1
 Therefore, it appears that the organisation of
continuing education is needed, not only for
representatives of national authorities, but also for the
personnel of building companies.
Eurocodes publications
And let us not forget education in schools and
universities. The following figure shows the first book,
giving examples of calculations with Eurocode 2,
published in Senegal for students and consulting
companies.
First book on Eurocode 2 published in Senegal
We are all in charge of an important mission: let us
express our enthusiasm and our creativity to
disseminate the European technical culture in civil
engineering.
Jean-Armand Calgaro,
Chairman of CEN/TC250
New JRC Scientific and Technical
Reports
Assessment of Existing Steel
Structures:
Recommendations for
Estimation of Remaining
Fatigue Life
EUR 23252 EN, 2008
Joint report prepared under the
JRC-ECCS cooperation
agreement for the evolution of
Eurocode 3
by B. Kuhn, M. Lukic, A. Nussbaumer, H.-P. Gunther,
R. Helmerich, S. Herion, M.H. Kolstein, S. Walbridge,
B. Androic, O. Dijkstra, O. Bucak
Nowadays more than half of the budget for the
development of infrastructure in Europe is allocated
for maintenance and modernisation of the existing
infrastructure while the remaining smaller part is
2
intended for extension and renewing of it. This fact
naturally calls to expand the knowledge and
experience in the assessment of existing structures, in
particular on fatigue loaded structures with a limited
design service life.
The recommendations are focused mainly on existing
steel bridges made of all grades of structural steels,
including old steels, stainless steels and unprotected
weathering steels. They encompass a general
procedure for the assessment of existing structures
and a procedure for the fatigue assessment of existing
steel bridges. Description of all factors needed for
determining the resistance and loading is provided.
Remedial measures, which can be chosen when the
fatigue assessment shows no- or insufficient
remaining fatigue life are presented. The use of the
proposed fatigue assessment procedure is illustrated
with examples.
Commentary and worked
examples to EN 1993-1-10
“Material toughness and
through thickness
properties” and other
toughness oriented rules in
EN 1993
EUR 23510 EN, 2008
Joint report prepared under the JRC-ECCS
cooperation agreement for the evolution of Eurocode
3
by G. Sedlacek, M. Feldmann, B. Kühn, D.
Tschickardt, S. Höhler, C. Müller, W. Hensen, N.
Stranghöner, W. Dahl, P. Langenberg, S.
Münstermann, J. Brozetti, J. Raoul, R. Pope, F.
Bijlaard.
The commentary gives explanations and worked
examples to the design rules in Eurocode 3 that are
influenced by toughness properties of the structural
steels used.
It is therefore a commentary and background
document to EN 1993-1-10 “Material toughness and
through thickness properties” and its extension in EN
1993-1-12 “Design rules for high-strength steels”,
where toughness properties are expressively
addressed. It is however also a background to other
parts of EN 1993, e.g. to EN 1993-1-1 “Design of steel
structures – Basic rules and rules for buildings”, where
the design rules are related only to strength properties
as the yield strength and the tensile strength without
explicitly mentioning the role of toughness that is
hidden behind the resistance formulae. Finally it gives
some comments to chapter 6 of EN 1998-1: “Design
of structures for earthquake resistance – Part 1:
General rules, seismic actions and rules for buildings”.

Needs to achieve improved
fire protection as regards the
implementation and
development of the EN
Eurocodes
EUR 23523 EN, 2008
by J. Kruppa, G. Sedlacek, C.
Heinemeyer, S. Dimova, A.
Pinto, A. Oztas
The work reported is a deliverable within the
framework of the Administrative Arrangement
between DG ENTR and JRC on support to the
implementation, harmonization and further
development of the Eurocodes. The report
encompasses the results achieved during the three-
year work on Sub-task 5.2 “Needs for fire protection”
of the Administrative Arrangement.
The report consists of three self-contained sections,
namely:
o research needs to achieve improved fire design
using the Eurocodes,
o implementation and use of fire-parts of the
Eurocodes, and
o survey on the progress in the national
implementation of the Eurocodes fire design parts.
The material has been prepared by the JRC in
collaboration with the two ad-hoc groups on fire
design convened by the JRC and chaired by Prof.
Joël Kruppa and Prof. Gerhard Sedlacek from
CEN/TC250, and in consultation with DG ENTR,
Member States and individual experts and
organizations involved in fire design.
Eurocodes promotion in third
countries
EUR 23562 EN, 2008
by C. Andersson, S. Dimova,
M. Géradin, A. Pinto, G. Tsionis
The report constitutes a deliverable within the
framework of the Administrative Arrangement
between DG ENTR and JRC on support to the
implementation, harmonization and further
development of the Eurocodes. The document
addresses the need to coordinate the activities on the
international promotion of the Eurocodes at the
Community level and proposes a strategy and an
initial programme for their coordinated promotion in
third countries.
The goals and interests of the stakeholders in the
international promotion of the Eurocodes are
analyzed. Their convergence naturally calls for the
setting up of a framework for coordinated promotion of
the Eurocodes in third countries. The coordinated
actions will provide considerable benefits to the
stakeholders through:
o putting into operation common implementation
strategy, tools and resources,
o organizing joint missions involving more than one
stakeholder, and
o making the most effective use of the co-financing
instruments available at the Community level.
A methodology for promotion of the Eurocodes in third
countries is put forward which aims at a better use of
the resources available and tailored the promotion
actions according to the needs of the individual
countries. The methodology encompasses:
o the approach and the tools necessary for
coordinated international promotion,
o the identification of target groups within a country,
o the involvement of organisations/individuals
interested in the international promotion.
All JRC scientific and technical reports are available to
download at http://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu.
Fire resistance and single-storey
buildings
According to the fire parts of the Structural Eurocodes,
the 3 main construction materials -concrete, steel and
timber- do not have the same behaviour when
exposed to fire.
Concrete structural members, which need to rely on
reinforcement steel or prestressing steel to deal with
tensile forces, are fire resistant as long as the steel
temperature is below a critical value of about
500/600°C for rebars and 400°C for prestressing
tendons. Considering an average concrete cover of
the steel bars of 20 to 30 mm, concrete structures
have an intrinsic fire resistance rating of 60 to 90 min,
provided no spalling phenomena has occurred. Fire
rating of 180 to 240 min can be achieved by
increasing the concrete covering. However, from an
economical point of view, it is generally cheaper to
use fire protection material to reduce the heating rate
of these elements.
Due to their high conductivity, the temperature of steel
structural members is quite close to that of the
surrounding fire. In this respect, and considering a
critical temperature similar to the one of rebars
(500/600°C), the fire resistance rating of steel
members is about 10 to 20 min. To achieve fire
ratings of 60, 120 and up to 240 min, it is generally
necessary to use fire protection coating, the thickness
of which will vary from a few millimetres to 50/60 mm,
depending on the type of material and on other
relevant parameters.
3
 Massive or glued-laminated timber structural
members, depending on the size of the cross-section,
can achieve fire ratings of 60 min, provided, however,
that the elements ensuring the overall stability have
the same fire resistance. For higher fire resistance
ratings, the use of fire protection material is generally
needed.
Clearly, using a fire protection material leads to an
increase in the cost of the structure. This increase
could be as much as 30/40 % of the total cost.
This short summary on the feasibility of some
construction materials is only valid in the context of a
standard fire exposure (so-called “ISO fire”) which is
still the basis for prescriptive regulations as far as fire
safety is concerned. So we need to bear in mind that
R60 structural elements will not have an actual fire
behaviour of 60 min in the event of a real fire and
indeed could be very different. In addition, when
dealing with the behaviour of a real building, which is
the aim of any fire regulation, other parameters need
to be considered, such as the interaction between
structural elements and, consequently, the fire
behaviour of connections. Expertise on this subject is
not consistent between the various materials: some
calculation methods like EN 1993-1.2 (steel
structures) or EN 1995-1.2 (timber structures) give
elevated temperature design rules when others such
as EN 1992-1.2 (concrete structures) do not.
In such conditions, for those national regulations
which are not performance-based, levels of fire
resistance required by prescriptive regulations (or
deemed-to-satisfy provisions) will have various
economical consequences, depending on the material
used for the structural elements. Consequently, it is
absolutely necessary for any requirement to be
justified in terms of its need to achieve required levels
of safety for the building or civil work under
consideration.
If there is no doubt that a high level of fire resistance
is needed to avoid premature collapse of multi-storey
buildings, particularly for tall buildings, the fire
resistance rating for single storey buildings is
generally unnecessary. This latter type of building is
not governed by the principle: the higher the fire
resistance rating, the better the level of safety; it
needs to be assessed using fire safety engineering
tools to avoid costly but ineffective methods of fire
protection to reduce the level of risk.
4
When regulations require the strengthening of fire
resistance for multi-storey buildings, it is to ensure the
life safety of people (occupants and fire fighters)
located above the fire level and also to protect
property. However, for single storey buildings, there
are no people or property above the fire level. For this
type of building, risk analysis has to take into account
the following:
o First of all, we need to bear in mind that, if there is
an increase of temperature in the fire room, it is
due to combustible content and, sometimes, to
combustible materials used for the structure and
fabrics. It is never the only structural combustible
element, if any, which can lead to a very severe
fire that might endanger people and property.
Consequently it would be wrong to suppose that it
is possible to protect property by increasing the fire
resistance of the load bearing structure.
o Secondly, when dealing with life and health safety,
only relevant parameters should be considered
and not appropriate simplistic rules such as
“egress time” or “time for fire fighters’ operation”
lower than “the fire resistance time of the single
storey building”. For people, the metric for hazard
should not refer to time but to toxic gas yield and
the amount of heat flux in the vicinity. It is
important to remember that a hot gas layer at
500°C leads to thermal flux of about 20 kW/m2 and
at 700°C to 50 kW/m2 or so; under such thermal
conditions skin burn will occur after about 1
minute. Generally, it is agreed that the tenability
threshold is 2.5 kW/m2, much lower than heat flux
emitted when structural members fail.
o Likewise, regarding fire service operations, it is not
the fire resistance duration which will be the
harmful parameter, since the risk of failure of the
structure will occur at a level of temperature which
cannot be withstood by fire fighters. It is the extent
to which the fire has developed when the fire
service is ready for action which is the key factor
determining whether or not they can enter a single
storey building.
o In particular, the overall stability of the structure
needs to be accurately considered. In the event of
a localized fire, a local failure of the building should
not lead to a progressive collapse which could
endanger lives or even property in areas which are
away from hot gases and smoke.
A lot of national regulations have taken into account
this specification for single storey buildings by not
requesting fire resistance rating for such works but by
concentrating requirements on egress facilities and
early fire detection and/or suppression. No
information, resulting from the large number of real
fires that occur every year, has shown that these
kinds of prescriptive requirements are unsafe and
could endanger people. However it does appear in
some countries that regulators in charge of
maintaining fire safety regulation have forgotten these
basic principles and are requesting fire resistance
ratings of up to 120 min for an ISO fire for such single
storey buildings.
It is always detrimental to request inefficient methods The workshop is organised by the Directorate General
to decrease the level of risk, since such an investment Enterprise and Industry and the Joint Research
should be put to much better use on more productive Centre of the European Commission with the support
fire protection methods. This is more and more of CEN/TC250, CEN Management Centre and
pertinent when considering the current economical Member States.
situation and, in particular, sustainable development.
Since it is not possible to cover all fire safety issues
with a performance-based code (which could refer to
the forthcoming ISO 23932 standard on General
Principles for fire safety engineering) and the
usefulness of prescriptive codes will last for decades,
it is however necessary that any prescriptive
requirement is developed in such way that:
o the required objective is clearly expressed,
o next, prescriptive measures relevant to this
objective are given,
o and, most importantly, it can be accurately
demonstrated in which way the prescriptive
measures fulfil these objectives, not only in a
conventional manner, in the context of a standard
fire and isolated elements, but for the overall
behaviour of the entire structure subjected to real
fire, which is the sole aim of any regulation.
Regulators in charge of drawing up such regulations Any individual professional interested in training on
need to be careful not require inconsistent fire Eurocode 6 may apply. However, priority will be given
protection methods which have not proved adequate to participants recommended by National Authorities
in reducing risks. Any other approach would be and/or National Standardisation Bodies.
detrimental for the construction economy by forcing No registration/attendance fees are requested from
building owners to invest in inefficient methods while the participants.
introducing intentional bias into the competition
between construction materials. Registration can be made online until 6 February 2009
at https://jrc-meeting-registration.jrc.ec.europa.eu.
Joël Kruppa,
Convenor of the Horizontal Group “Fire” of The workshop programme has been defined by
CEN/TC250 “Structural Eurocodes” CEN/TC250/SC6, chaired by Prof. R. Van der Pluijm.
The following topics will be covered:
o Eurocodes and National Annexes
Workshop “Eurocode 6 – Design of o EN 1996-1-1
masonry structures” o EN 1996-1-2
Brussels, 2-3 April 2009 o EN 1996-2
This workshop intends to contribute towards the o EN 1996-3
transfer of background knowledge and expertise of
Eurocode 6 writers (CEN/TC250/SC6) to potential o Unreinforced masonry, compressive loading
trainers on national level. o Combined loading
The principal objectives of the workshop are to: o Unreinforced masonry, shear loading
o transfer knowledge and information to o Unreinforced masonry, lateral loading
representatives of key organisations/institutions,
industry and technical associations involved in o Reinforced masonry
training on the Eurocodes in Member States, o Calibration to obtain NDPs
o enhance the training potential of the Member A “training package” consisting of the slide
States by providing state-of-the-art training presentations and the technical papers on the lectures
material and background information, plus all other relevant material will be distributed to the
o contribute to the consistent and timely participants.
implementation of the Eurocodes, For additional information contact eurocode6@jrc.it, or
o facilitate exchange of views, networking and visit http://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu.
cooperation.

5
 Eurocodes information broker
event in Moscow
Workshop “EU-Russia cooperation on
standardization for construction: the Eurocodes, a
tool for building safety and reliability
enhancement”
President Hotel, Moscow, 9-10 October 2008
The Workshop “EU-Russia cooperation on
standardization for construction: the Eurocodes, a tool
for building safety and reliability enhancement” was
held on 9 and 10 October 2008 in the President Hotel
in Moscow.
This Workshop was organised jointly by the Russian
Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and
Metrology, the European Commission represented by
the Enterprise and Industry Directorate General (DG
ENTR) and the Institute for the Protection and
Security of the Citizen (IPSC) of the Joint Research
Centre (JRC), and the European Committee for
Standardisation (CEN) with the financial and technical
support of the Technical Assistance Information
Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) of the European
Commission.
The Workshop was undertaken in the context of the
ongoing Regulatory Dialogue between the EU and
Russia that has been established under the EU-
Russia Common Economic Space Roadmap. The
Workshop was an information broker event for
presentation of the European Standardization and
Certification System and the basic concepts of the EN
Eurocodes. It was aimed to facilitate the co-operation
between EU and Russia in reducing the divergences
in standardization and in achieving improved building
design from the viewpoint of integrated safety and
security.
CEN/TC250 played a key role in the presentation of
the Eurocodes and of the possibilities for technical
cooperation between the EU and Russia. Most of the
lectures from the EU side were delivered by the
experts from CEN/TC250, including the Chairman,
Secretary and Sub-committees’ Chairmen and
members.
6
130 representatives of different Russian organizations
registered for the Workshop. They were
representatives of 4 Russian Governmental
Organizations, 15 Research Centers and Universities,
6 Professional Organizations and 64 Russian and
International Industrial Enterprises, such as Ove Arup
& Partners Int., Telecom, Mosproekt,
Transmagistralstroy, Foratec EnergoTransStroy, etc.
The Workshop was co-chaired by Michel Géradin,
Head of the European Laboratory for Structural
Assessment, IPSC, Joint Research Centre, European
Commission, and Sergei Vassilievich Pugachev,
Deputy Director of the Russian Federal Agency on
Technical Regulation and Metrology.
Opening addresses were delivered by Michel Géradin,
Sergei Pugachev and Paul Vandoren, Deputy Head of
the Delegation of the European Commission to
Russia.
During the presentations and the round-table
discussion the EU and Russian partners confirmed
the need to seek greater convergence in:
o the technical regulation in the construction sector,
o the harmonization of the standards and procedures
of conformity assessment,
o the approach for provision of multi-hazard safety
and security, and
o the reduction of technical barriers to trade.
The recommendations of the Workshop can be
summarised as follows:
1. The Construction Subgroup of the EU-Russia
Regulatory Dialogue needs to begin its work
urgently, as it can best provide the political support
and framework for such convergence.
2. The current EU design standards for buildings and
other civil engineering works, the Eurocodes, are
proposed as a starting point for convergence and
collaboration. Appropriate framework for
collaboration should be established between
Russian Standardization Bodies and the European
Standardization Committee (CEN).
3. The Russian and EU partners should join efforts in
developing a framework for collaborative pre-
normative research projects on issues of
harmonization and use of performance-based
 standards and codes.
A strong interest has been manifested for the meeting,
The follow-up of the above recommendations was given that 128 persons attended and all those among
proposed, including preparation of a suitable action them, who answered the relevant questionnaire at the
plan and involvement of the relevant institutions. end of the meeting, expressed their satisfaction. It is
Coordinating institutions on each side were interesting to note the profile of the participants:
nominated, which will communicate between them
and arrange the necessary meetings, expert missions Staff of consulting firms 48
or study visits.
Staff of construction firms 20
The Workshop conclusion and recommendations
were presented at the meeting of the Working Group Staff of the Administration 12
of the EU-Russia Regulatory Dialogue on 28-29 Academics (Technical Universities) 10
October 2008 in Moscow. As a result, it was agreed to
kick-off the work of the Construction Subgroup of the Staff of software/hardware firms 9
EU-Russia Regulatory Dialogue, which represents an Students 4
unprecedented milestone.
Not declared 25
The Workshop materials are available at:
http://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu In the two photos one can see a general view of the
very motivated audience and the CEN/TC250
Chairman, Jean-Armand Calgaro introducing the
Evening seminar in Athens seminar, which lasted over 5 hours.
“Application of Eurocodes in
bridges”
20 October 2008
On the occasion of the 35th meeting of the
CEN/TC250 Coordination Group (CG) in Athens,
October 20-21, 2008, Nick Malakatas, Chairman of
CEN/TC250/SC1, took the initiative, encouraged by
Jean-Armand Calgaro, Chairman of CEN/TC250, to
organize under the auspices of the Technical
Chamber of Greece (TCG) a half-day seminar
dedicated to the application of Eurocodes for bridges.
Prof. J.-A. Calgaro introducing the seminar
The driving idea for this event was to take advantage
of the presence of the most competent persons (SC
Chairmen) in Athens to participate at the CG meeting,
in order to present to the Greek audience the key
points of the Eurocode Parts related to bridges,
focusing on subjects most interesting for Greek
engineers, namely concrete and composite bridges,
including aseismic design.
The following topics have been developed:
o Introduction, Traffic Loads on Bridges,
Combinations of Actions (EN 1991-2 & EN
1990.A2), Prof. Jean-Armand Calgaro, Chairman General view of the 128 engineers attending the seminar
of CEN/TC250
o Concrete Bridges (EN 1992-2), Prof. Giuseppe As a general assessment of this event one could
Mancini, Chairman of CEN/TC250/SC2 deduce that it was very successful and virtually worthy
to be reproduced or imitated under similar
o Composite Steel and Concrete Bridges (EN 1994-
circumstances. Naturally, a full-day seminar would
2), Prof. Joel Raoul, Chairman of CEN/TC250/SC4
certainly leave more space for the development of the
o Design of Bridges for Earthquake Resistance (EN topics and the inclusion of additional ones, such as
1998-2), Eduardo Carvalho, Chairman of steel, masonry, timber and aluminium bridges.
CEN/TC250/SC8 and Basil Kolias, Member of
SC8/PT2
o Future activities of the Horizontal Group for Dr Nick Malakatas,
Bridges, Prof. Steve Denton, Convenor of Chairman of CEN/TC250/SC1
CEN/TC250/HGB
o General Discussion

7
 International Seminar on Eurocode
7 and Geotechnical aspects of
Eurocode 8
On 30 and 31 of October the Macedonian Association
for Geotechnics, part of the International Society for
Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, hosted
the “International Seminar on Eurocodes 7 &
geotechnical aspects of Eurocode 8” in Struga a
holiday resort at the Ohrid Lake.
Lectures at the seminar included the general
presentation of Eurocode 7 “Geotechnical design”, its
application to spread and pile foundations as well as
to retaining walls and hydraulic failure.
Moreover the technical and legal questions of the
implementation of Eurocodes in the national system of
standards of the European countries were discussed
and the most important items of the National Annexes
of France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal and UK
presented.
The second item of the seminar was the geotechnical
aspects of Eurocode 8 “Design of structures for
earthquake resistance” and the application of
Eurocode 8 in the Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia (FYROM).
Most of the 116 participants came from FYROM but
there was quite a number coming from Albania,
Serbia and Montenegro.
It became clear during the discussions that the
Eurocodes find a very positive response in this region
and FYROM will introduce them as quickly as
possible.
The Macedonian hosts and the lecturers from
Subcommittee 7 “Geotechnical design” of CEN/TC 250
“Structural Eurocodes”
Therefore the Macedonian Association of Geotechnics
was invited to take part in the discussions and the
meetings of Subcommittee 7 “Geotechnical design”.
Bernd Schuppener,
Chairman of SC7
8
Fire in Rome
On the 18th of September 2008, the Italian ministry of
Interior has organized, in Rome, a seminar to present
the fire parts of the structural Eurocodes.
This organization was made under the leadership of
Dott. Ing. Lamberto Mazziotti director of the Division
on Passive Fire Protection of the Department of Fire
Brigade (Dipartimento dei Vigili del Fuoco, del
Soccorso Pubblico e della Difesa Civile).
12 different presentations were able to illustrate the
content of the various Eurocode fire parts
(implementation, general, actions in case of fire,
concrete, steel and composite, timber, masonry,
robustness, statically indeterminate structures…).
This seminar was well attended since more than 300
persons from fire brigades, architects, design
offices… were present.
Joël Kruppa,
Convenor of the Horizontal Group “Fire” of
CEN/TC250 “Structural Eurocodes
In-memoriam - Joachim Ehrentreich
We have received the sad news that Joachim
Ehrentreich, formerly official of the European
Commission services in Brussels, who has rendered
an outstanding work to the Eurocodes has passed
away in the age of 83 years on 6th November 2008.
Joachim Ehrentreich was born in Dresden and worked
with EURATOM in Geneva before he started working
at the Commission Directorate for Industrial Services,
where since 1976 he was competent for the
development of a European Standard for seismic
design of buildings and engineering works under the
chairmanship of J. Despeyroux, A. Giuffre and H.
Bossenmayer. A draft report was published in 1984 by
the Commission.
The successful work on this standard became the
model for the preparation of the Eurocodes that
started in 1979 under the lead of the Commission
before the task, after the publication of the
Construction Products Directive in 1989, was
transferred to CEN.
Joachim Ehrentreich was very much engaged in the
Eurocode work. He did not only find the leading
European experts in the construction sector and
successfully manage the co-operation among them in
order to complete the technical work of the Eurocodes
before CEN was charged with them. Due to his effort
also important solutions for technical problems could
be found.
Moreover he prepared the political decisions to
establish common unified European design codes for
structures, the necessary contracts and the mandates
for the subsequent CEN-work. Even after retirement
he expressed his lively interest in the development of
“his” Eurocodes.
Joachim Ehrentreich was one of the most enthusiastic
protagonists of the European harmonisation. He was
a great European. Our sympathy is with his wife and
his family.
H. Bossenmayer, J.-A. Calgaro, G. Sedlacek,
CEN/TC250
In-memoriam - Franco Levi
Prof Dr Ing Franco Levi
Professor Franco Levi, Honorary President of CEB
and FIP, passed away on January 10, 2009.
Born in 1914, he received his degree in Engineering
from the Ecole Centrale in Paris and from the
Polytechnic of Turin in the years 1936 and 1937.
Already assistant to Professor Gustavo Colonnetti in
Turin, in 1938 he had to go into exile to France and
later on to Switzerland due to the anti-Semitic laws.
Back in Italy in 1945, he could resume at the
Polytechnic of Turin his outstanding research work,
which was covering the most recent topics of
structural mechanics and engineering, and published
well known papers and books on the theory of states
of coaction, on plastic theory, on the time-dependent
behaviour of concrete structures, with particular
regard to creep effects.
However, his attention was attracted since the
beginning by the need of a quick transfer of scientific
achievements to the practical design and construction
of structures, and his efforts in such a direction are
certainly among the most important services rendered
to the community of structural engineers in which he
was successful and for which he will be remembered.
The great opportunity for that action was the
development of the new technique of prestressed
concrete, in which he was scientifically involved since
1938, during his first research period. After the war,
since 1945 to 1961, as Director of the Research
Centre of the CNR in Turin, Franco Levi had an
essential role in the international discussion on the
theoretical and practical aspects of this innovative
technique and on the establishment of design rules to
be internationally agreed.
The innovation of prestressed concrete, together with
the new approaches of plastic design and of
probabilistic safety criteria induced the most advanced
specialists of structural design and analysis to install
in 1953 a new committee (Comité Européen du Béton
– CEB) having the objective of a coordination and
synthesis of research and of the creation and
international harmonization of the principles and rules
for the conception, calculation, construction, and
maintenance of concrete structures according to the
new approaches.
Franco Levi was appointed President of CEB from
1957 and maintained this position until 1968, leading
this organization, with his dynamic action, to the
publication of the first and the second set of CEB
Recommendations.
Between 1966 and 1970 he was also President of the”
Fédération Internationale de la Précontrainte –FIP”,
which had the role of promoting the innovative
technique in the practical field.
In 1979 the European Community considered the
work of CEB ripe to become the basis for the first
Eurocode; Franco Levi was appointed Chairman of
the Drafting Committee for Eurocode 2 (Concrete
Structures). Eurocode 2 was printed by CEC in the
famous Luxemburg edition 1988, together with EC1,
EC3, EC6, EC8. Franco Levi had an essential role in
the coordination of the drafting of such 5 Eurocodes
based on the same criteria of the “Limit States” and on
what was called the “Semiprobabilistic approach”.
This format still remains the format of the subsequent
set of Eurocodes issued by CEN TC 250 (Structural
Eurocodes).
The original ideas, the developments in the field of the
new safety approaches, the perseverance, the
constant attention to the new achievements of science
(collected in the updated CEB Model Codes), and 40
years of enthusiastic work on them made of Franco
Levi the real father of the Eurocodes.
In the same time he was Professor of Structural
Analysis at the University of Venice and at the
Polytechnic in Turin and Director of the Department of
Structural Engineering and Soil Mechanics until 1989,
when he became Emeritus.
In 1986 he became Full Member of the Academy of
Sciences of Turin.
He received honours from the Universities of Liège,
Waterloo, Venice, the American Concrete Institute,
AICAP, and the Trasenster, Freyssinet, Mörsch,
Caquot, Torroja Medals, as well as the Golden Medal
of the Italian Government.
For his high moral and scientific stature Franco Levi
will be remembered as one of the greatest minds in
structural engineering at the international level.
16-01-09
Giorgio Macchi