28 February 2007
CIRIA publishes crack-control guide to complement Eurocode 2
CIRIA has just published a new guide on early-age thermal crack control in concrete that is expected to become standard non-contradictory complementary information for Eurocode 2.
Entitled ‘Early-age thermal crack control in concrete (C660)’, the guide was drafted by consultant Phil Bamforth for a CIRIA steering group which included Steve Denton, director of bridge and structural engineering at Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Denton is reported as saying in NCE, ‘The need to provide additional guidance on early-age thermal cracking to accompany Eurocodes has been know for some time. I expect [the guide] will become the industry standard, recognised as non-contradictory complementary information (NCCI) to accompany Eurocodes.’
One of the factors which prompted CIRIA to publish the guide was a perceived risk that Eurocode 2 could lead to designers specifying half the steel required to control cracks properly. ‘Observations of early-age cracking indicate that these reductions may lead to insufficiently robust designs,’ says Bamforth in NCE.
The guide is reported to provide a design process based on the combined requirements of parts 1-1 and 3 of Eurocode 2. It gives alternative values for some Eurocode design coefficients for early-age thermal cracking and explains the background to their development.
C660 is available directly from CIRIA, priced £80.
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