Thinking about codes

J.C. Walraven, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, former President of fib

Codes have always played an important role in the design of structures. In the past, CEB and FIP devoted considerable attention to the actualisation of codes, especially by writing the so-called 'Model Codes for Concrete Structures', which were intended to be future-oriented. Those codes were intensively used as a basis for updating national codes and as a source for providing a new international code: the Eurocode. Nowadays, code writing is again at the centre of interest. On the one hand, the new Eurocode for Concrete Structures has been completed and accepted as an ENV (draft). On the other hand it is felt that new developments ask for new ideas about the basis and the content of codes in the future. Within fib, preparations have started for a new Model Code. In this paper some general reflections are given to the renovation of codes. This paper was devoted to the 60th birthday of Professor Eligehausen.