Method for the adjustment of partial safety factors for materials in Annex A of EN 1992-1-1:2023: Practical implications

As part of the Second Generation of Eurocodes, the newly-revised an amended Annex A of EN 1992-1-1:2023 offers a method to adjust partial safety factors for the resistance side. The new method is based on enhanced stochastic knowledge of material and geometric properties in combination to stringent quality control requirements conformed both for the building process as well as for the production of building materials. Complementary to the method, probabilistic models are also offered for the stochastic characterisation of basic variables. The proposed method is entrenched on the principles of Annex D in EN 1990 and the roots of the Mean Value First Order Second Moment method. While there is certainly merit in the new Annex A and its provisions, the method to adjust the partial safety factors has drawbacks. In this study, the method proposed in the Annex A is analysed and the practical implications for the design of new structures are discussed. This investigation shows that the resulting partial safety factors might lead to overconservative designs — and, thus, material and resources inefficiencies — or might even compromise the safety of structural members. Finally, this investigation offers several new avenues to spur advances and overcome the identified challenges in future work.