TRADA Technology lecture on Eurocode 5 in SA

TRADA Technology contribute to lecture tour for structural engineers in South Africa, explaining Eurocode 5 and how to apply it.

As Eurocodes Consultant Dr Keerthi Ranasinghe explained, 'South Africa historically has used British Standards or adaptations thereof as the basis for its design codes.

Now that the British Standards (including BS 5268) will no longer be updated or supported by BSI, engineers in South Africa have effectively been left without a basis for most of the structural materials'.

Recognising the pending dilemma, the University of Cape Town, in partnership with the Structural Division of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, took the initiative in early 2008 to convene 'The South African Eurocodes Summit' when it was decided that the country would go down the route of Eurocodes.

Dr Ranasinghe said, 'The base standard, Eurocode 0, is not material specific and has since been adopted, but little work has been done to prepare engineers for timber, covered by Eurocode 5 (EC5)'.

At the end of last year, Dr Ranasinghe was invited by Professor Alphose Zingoni, Head of the University of Cape Town's Department of Civil Engineering, to present a one-day course on 'Design of Timber Structures to Eurocode 5', in several cities across South Africa.

The lectures were well received, Dr Ranasinghe said.

'Although the timber design community in South Africa is small, once the scope of EC5 is better understood, this could change designers' perception of timber and encourage more engineers to look at its advantages'.

The Eurocodes lecture series aims to give engineers an understanding of the basis of design and actions/loadings on structures as well as the competence both to carry out structural design in the common structural materials accordance with the relevant Eurocode standards and to design the foundations of buildings and other underground structures in accordance with the geotechnical Eurocode.

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