Consideration of numerical methods in next generation Eurocode 7 (EN 1997)-current state of the amendment

According to Mandate 515 of the European Commission "Mandate for amending existing Eurocodes and extending the scope of structural Eurocodes" and the response of CEN/TC250 "Towards a second generation of EN Eurocodes" Eurocode 7 should be extended, among other issues, to cover numerical methods in more detail. Among the tasks listed are: "Establish clear rules for using advanced numerical methods in day-to-day practice for inclusion in EN 1997-1. Such rules have been regularly sought during stakeholder feedback. This work would make use of the background research being undertaken by SC7/EG4. (...)" Currently the first part of EN 1997, EN 1997-1, is being redrafted. It will contain general aspects of geotechnical design, including sections about "Basis of geotechnical design", "Geotechnical Analysis", "Ultimate limit states" etc. The third and, expected to be, final draft will be available in May 2018. This paper gives an overview over the goals of the updated version of EN 1997 and the steps and organisation of its development. The section "Geotechnical analysis" - with focus on the subsection "Numerical methods" - will be presented in more detail. For the verification of ultimate limit states a dual factoring approach will be recommended, requiring two analyses with different combinations of partial safety factors. Among other recommendations, the need for validation of the models will be highlighted with the recommended level of validation depending on the geotechnical category. The updated EN 1997-1 will be open to reliabilitybased analyses.