4. Conclusion

As with all Eurocodes, this standard has been drafted in such a way as to allow :

• address the main issues involved in the design of timber structures, in the light of current techniques;

• to limit as much as possible the complexity of calculations due to the numerous parameters that influence wood properties;

• to be very open to a diversity of methods of varying complexity. The designer will have a free choice between a thorough search for economy and a simpler solution that is, in principle, more robust than the optimum.

For designers of timber structures, Eurocode 5 can be seen as a fairly radical change, due to the introduction of the new semi-probabilistic approach with limit state calculation methods, a different concept from the usual...