The European technical standard CEN/TS 19101, the future Eurocode for composites, was presented at CICE 2023, the 11th International Conference on Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Composites in Civil Engineering, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 24-26 July.
CICE is the conference of International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC) and brings together the FRP research community and industry to share and discuss recent developments and future perspectives in the field.
Special Session on CEN/TS 19101
During the current revision of the first generation of Eurocodes (which started in 2016 and will end in 2025), the European Community decided to start to develop a Eurocode for fibre-polymer composite structures. According to the CEN procedure, a Eurocode has to be preceded by a Technical Specification (TS) and after a period of trial use the TS can be converted into a Eurocode.
On 24 July, a special CICE session on Design of All FRP Structures Using CEN/TS 19101 included five presentations.
Professor Luigi Ascione of the University of Salerno, leader of CEN Working Group which prepared the TS, gave the first paper, Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures (CEN/TS 19101): Overview, Commentary and Worked Examples. This presented an overview of CEN/TS 19101 and two of its complementary documents – a commentary of about 1000 pages, and a collection of 15 worked examples.
“CEN, as well as the members of the former Project Team and those of Working Group 4, are proud of the step taken, which makes it possible to provide European countries with a set of shared structural rules, to standardise the safety level of fibre-polymer composite structures, ultimately also to expand the market for these materials,” he concluded.
Four further papers were presented during the session:
- Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures (CEN/TS 19101): Serviceability Limit States and Creep Rupture;
- Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures (CEN/TS 19101): Basis of Design and Effects of Temperature and Moisture;
- Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures (CEN/TS 19101): ULS Analysis of a Spatial Reticular Structure;
- Design of Fibre-Polymer Composite Structures (CEN/TS 19101): Design Example of a Composite Road Bridge.
EuCIA has supported and participated in the development of CEN/TS 19101 and is working to build awareness of this important milestone, which paves the way for greater use of composites in the construction market.
The CICE 2023 conference proceedings are available here.
Read more about the Eurocode for composites in EuCIA’s fact sheet.
