Kombinationsregeln in der Geotechnik – Chance oder Fluch?

Combination rules in geotechnics - Chance or curse?

The geotechnical design according to EC7-1, including the German National Annex and the complementary rules in DIN 1054:2010-12 allows the application of combination rules for the determination of the design values for actions, whereby not all transient actions are taken into account with their full amount at the same time. On the other hand the former version of DIN 1054:2005-01 considers all transient actions with their full amount. Within the framework of a research project, which was funded by Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik, two geo-technical examples were calculated at the Chair of Geotechnical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University applying both design concepts, in order to investigate the influence of the combination rules on the geotechnical design. The results showed that the design with both concepts does not differ significantly, while the calculation effort with the new concept is many times greater.