Technical
Fire boundary conditions and the distribution of unprotected areas
The so-called “fire boundary condition” is an important consideration for designers of single-storey buildings. Max Cooper of the SCI offers some thoughts …
AD 557: Robustness and fire
SCI’s Advisory Desk has become aware of some requests to apply the “robustness” rules found in BS 5950 and BS EN 1991 in the fire limit state. This AD …
Longitudinal and transverse material properties for cold-formed structural elements
Andrew Way of the SCI and Stephen Hall of Hadley Group examine the complexities of material properties for thin-gauge steel. The potential difficulties in the …
AD 555: Laser screed machines used during the construction of composite slabs
It has come to SCI’s attention that some contractors are using large laser levelling machines when pouring composite slabs (as shown in Figure 1), and it is …
Eurocode early amendments – what have we done?
In this latest article, SCI’s Dr Graham Couchman, former chairman of the ‘Eurocode 4 committee’, explains the process to create Generation 2 Eurocodes …
AD 554: Internal pressure and large openings
SCI’s advisory desk sometimes gets asked about calculating the internal pressure coefficients in buildings with large openings and whether the situation …
Generation2 snow loads
BS EN 1991-1-3:2025 was published in the early part of 2025 and will lead to significant changes in practice in how “drifted” snow is considered. David …
AD 553: Provision of sprinklers and fire compartments in single-storey buildings
The need to provide so-called Constrado (moment-resisting) bases to perimeter columns of single-storey buildings, when the wall is (or could become) …
Analysis of composite slabs
Liam Dougherty of the SCI looks at some of the different approaches that can be used to analyse composite slabs, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages …
AD 552: Errata in P362 – Steel building design; concise Eurocodes
Expressions 6.61 and 6.62 of BS EN 1993-1-1 are used when verifying a member subject to combined biaxial bending moments and axial force. SCI publication P362 …
