ABSTRACT
Eurocode 7, published by CEN, the European Committee for Standardization, as EN 1997 with two parts, Part 1: General Rules (CEN, 2004), hereafter referred to as Eurocode 7, and Part 2: Ground Investigation and Testing (CEN, 2007), is the new European standard for geotechnical design. Since 2010, Eurocode 7 has superseded the existing national standards for geotechnical design in all the CEN member countries. Eurocode 7 aims to achieve geotechnical designs with appropriate degrees of reliability using the limit state design method as set out in the head Eurocode, EN 1990 (CEN, 2002), which generally involves calculations with partial factors applied to characteristic parameter values. Until the introduction of Eurocode 7, there had been little experience in Europe in the use of the limit state design method for geotechnical design. Hence, its introduction has caused considerable debate and some resistance, often due to misunderstandings about how Eurocode 7 has adapted the limit state method in EN 1990 for geotechnical design. This chapter reviews how the important aspects of risk and reliability in geotechnical design are addressed in Eurocode 7. In particular, it explains how geotechnical designs with appropriate degrees of reliability are achieved by using calculations with partial factors applied to appropriately selected characteristic parameter values and quality management measures related to the different stages of a geotechnical design project which are ground investigation, design calculations, construction, and monitoring and maintenance after construction.
