Structural design of masonry for fire resistance according to Eurocode 6

Following the publication of the National Annex to Eurocode 6 Part 1-2 in June 2013, all documents are now available for the structural fire design of masonry in accordance with the Eurocode. As Eurocode 6 has been declared of equivalent value by the Expert Commission for Construction Technology, it is now ready to be applied in Germany. In spite of the changeover to the European concept, including the introduction of newly defined fire resistance classes, the Eurocode 6 tables for determining the duration of fire resistance as a function of the wall thickness are nearly unchanged compared to the familiar values in DIN 4102-4. The few changes and adaptations to the current state of technology are discussed here and explained. The emphasis of the new approach is that the changed vertical loadbearing capacities - in accordance with EN 1996 - and their effect on fire resistance are taken into account.