Trends in steel structures concerning materials, codes and applications

This paper gives an overview of recent trends in steel structures
concerning materials, codes and applications. There is a trend
towards using higher strength steel grades, and this asks for a
different approach to the design of steel structures. Also work
is underway for the next version of part 1-1 of Eurocode 3:
EN 1993-1-1 [1]. Many design rules need improvement and the
so-
called ‘systematic review’ yielded topics that need to be considered.
Amendments for EN 1993-1-1 were accepted already by
the committee responsible for Eurocode 3, i. e. CEN/TC250/SC3,
led very effectively by Prof. Ulrike Kuhlmann. The paper gives an
impression of some of these amendments. The scope of the
design
rules will be extended, amongst others by including highstrength
steel grades. Apart from trends in materials and codes,
also trends can be observed regarding the applications of steel
structures. Of course these trends in materials, codes and applications
mutually influence each other.