Structurae

In the member states of the European Union the design of slender steel plates is covered by EN 1993-1-5:2006. One of the main application fields of EN 1993-1-5 are bridges where the design is dominated by slender plated elements. Aside of a general overview on EN 1993-1-5 this paper presents the main results of the European research project COMBRI which can be considered as stepping stone for a large number of research projects in the field of plate buckling and for a systematic development of EN 1993-1-5. The main outcomes are summarised and background information is given for a selected number of improved rules.