As part of the ongoing revision of the Eurocodes, design provisions in EN 1999-1-1 on the buckling of longitudinally welded aluminium compression members have been subjected to a critical review. The numerical investigations described in part 1 of the paper were conducted because a need for improvement was identified. In part 2 of the paper, the main observations are presented in qualitative terms. Those observations are: the influence of the allocation of the materials to buckling classes, the influence of the imperfections plus the cross-section geometry including the position and size of the HAZ within the cross-section. Part 3 will conclude this paper by discussing the proposed design approaches in detail.

As part of the ongoing revision of the Eurocodes, design provisions in EN 1999-1-1 on the buckling of longitudinally welded aluminium compression members have been subjected to a critical review. The numerical investigations described in part 1 of the paper were conducted because a need for improvement was identified. In part 2 the main observations were presented qualitatively. Part 3, the final part of the paper, presents the statistical evaluation of the numerical investigations and the determination of the buckling curves. Two different approaches are conceivable for these buckling curves: conventional buckling curves with explicitly specified imperfection factor and plateau length parameters, and a modified Ayrton-Perry approach with interpolated parameters. Both approaches are compared with the results of the numerical investigations and with test results.

As part of the ongoing revision of the Eurocodes, design provisions in EN 1999-1-1 on the buckling of longitudinally welded aluminium compression members have been subjected to a critical review. Numerical investigations were conducted because a need for improvement was identified. This part 1 of the paper describes the individual steps of the revision and the modifications discussed, which include the introduction of longitudinally welded members. Before going into the numerical investigations in more detail, previous observations are presented regarding buckling classes and plateau lengths. In part 1 of the paper, explanations of the numerical investigations are limited to presenting the modelling of the geometry, the mechanical properties and the imperfections as well as their respective variation in the context of the parametric studies. The results of the numerical investigations and the proposed design approaches will be presented in detail in parts 2 and 3.

Numerical investigations of compression members made of aluminium are presented and recommendations for reorganizing the buckling classes and curves are derived from these. Finally, the curves are compared with test results

As part of the ongoing revision of the Eurocodes, the regulations in EN 19991-1 on the buckling of aluminium compression members were also subjected to a critical review. This resulted in the need to revise the regulations for non-welded compression members and for longitudinally welded compression members. For the design provisions of longitudinally welded aluminium compression members, a more extensive revision was necessary. The design concept was completely revised. In the course of the revision, some quite complex design models were discussed with which the cross-section types, residual stress distributions as well as size and position of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) were to be taken into account. In order not to complicate the application of the standard too much (ease of use), a clearly simplified procedure was finally chosen. The following contribution will justify these simplifications.

As part of the ongoing revision of the Eurocodes, the regulations in EN 1999-1-1 on the buckling of aluminium compression members were also subjected to a critical review. This resulted in the need to revise the regulations for non-welded compression members and for longitudinally welded compression members. For the design provisions of longitudinally welded aluminium compression members, a more extensive revision was necessary. The design concept was completely revised. In the course of the revision, some quite complex design models were discussed with which the cross-section types, residual stress distributions as well as size and position of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) were to be taken into account. In order not to complicate the application of the standard too much (ease of use), a clearly simplified procedure was finally chosen. The following contribution will justify these simplifications.

The effective bearing length of trapezoidal sheeting on cold formed sections at inner supports is 10 mm according to EN 1999-1-4 (aluminium) and EN 1993-1-3 (steel). In the original design provisions the effective bearing length on Z-sections was the actual width of the loaded flange. In order to find out the appropriate effective bearing length, FEM calculations were made on simply supported beams with C-, Z- and Sigma-cross-section. Contact elements between the trough of the trapezoidal sheeting and the loaded flange of the beam made it possible to evaluate the contact area. This area and the stresses in the trapezoidal sheeting show that the effective bearing length is very small for C-sections. For Z-sections and for Sigma sections with large folds in the web the contact area is the flange width, unless the flange width versus profile height is large and the plate thickness is small.

This paper investigates the fatigue assessment of existing steel bridges. Measurements can be used to reduce uncertainties in the structural behavior and the effects of action. However, the treatment of the measured response is not clearly defined in today's codes of practice. A reliability model is suggested that treats the uncertainties for bilinear fatigue endurance and the uncertainties in the measured response. A parametric study on the modeling of the load effect is performed and shows a significant influence on the reliability. The reliability model is used for calibration of the partial safety factors in a deterministic design equation. The suggested partial safety factors enable practical use of measured stresses in the fatigue assessment of existing steel bridges. A numerical example shows the merit of the proposed model and partial safety factors as an increase in fatigue life.

The fatigue life of joints with welded in-plane gusset plates is studied. The purpose is to suggest a descriptive detail category to be used in assessment of existing structures. Linear elastic fracture mechanics is used together with fictitious initial crack depths to predict the fatigue life. By calibrating the fictitious crack depths to real fatigue tests and simulating new test results, fatigue strengths dependent on the dimensions of the joint have been derived. The results show that a decreasing length and thickness of the gusset give decreasing stress intensity and higher fatigue strength. A numerical example is presented showing the merit of the proposed strengths in fatigue life.