ABSTRACT
The material in each of chapters 2-9 is part of an international 'State of the art' that has many inconsistencies, as do the national design methods for composite structures in current use. Attention is drawn in this Introduction to some of these inconsistencies, and reasons for them are discussed. The contents of chapters 2-9 are related to the writer's experience and to the multinational body of knowledge that was used in drafting Eurocode 4, Composite Structures of Steel and Concrete (1985). Reference is also made to gaps in recent design Codes, and to the information needed to fill them.
