جنبه های قابلیت اطمینان و مدیریت کیفیت از ساختمان مطابق با Eurocode

Malaysian construction industry follows the British Standards. Currently, the British Standards have been withdrawn and replaced by Eurocodes. In 2004, the Institution of Engineers Malaysia published a position paper on the concrete codes of practice in Malaysia after 2010 and recommended that the Eurocodes be adopted after the withdrawal of the British Standards. The structural Eurocode is undoubtedly a state –of-the art design code for structural engineering. Hence we have little choice except to adopt the current Eurocodes as Malaysian National Standards. However, it is permitted to attach a national annex with Nationally Determined Parameters (NDP) to the main body of the Eurocode New concepts and terminologies related to reliability and quality management have been introduced by the Eurocodes. This would to a certain extent affect engineering practice in Malaysia, and it will be the choice of the construction industry whether to adopt them or not. People concerned with the requirements of the Eurocode are: committees drafting standards; professionals; designers and constructors, clients (e.g. for the formulation of their specific requirements on reliability levels and durability) and relevant authorities. This paper will look into the aspects related to reliability and quality management proposed by the Eurocode and the respective comments given in the Malaysian National Annex. This covers definitions, basic requirements, measures and applications, and specific requirements on reliability and Iquality management. implementing the Eurocodes would require high standard of engineering practice and more time and understanding of the various aspects introduced. It is concluded that in order to produce safe and durable structure, all requirements of the Eurocode must be considered. Malaysia must take serious steps towards building a national reliability safety model. Issues related to liability and standard of care, in case of non compliance with the code requirements should also be addressed.

It has been long established that uncertainties in anticipated loads and load carrying capacity of a structure are inherent in structural design. These uncertainties can be put into two major categories with regard to causes of failure, these are: a. Natural causes; result from unpredictability of loads such as wind, earthquake, water pressure, or live load acting on the buildings. Another source of uncertainty attributable to natural causes is the mechanical behaviour of the materials used in construction. b. Human causes; include intended and unintended departures from optimum design. This includes approximation, calculation errors, communication problems, lack of knowledge, and greed. Similarly, during construction, uncertainties arise due to the use of inadequate materials, method of construction, changes without analysis. Misuse, inadequate maintenance, and sabotage can also be attributed to this category. Due to this, Nowak and Collins [1], and Schneider [3] indicated that the complete structure will not be absolutely safe but always with a finite probability of failure. To minimize this probability, reliability - based design criteria approach has been developed and most of current codes are based on this concept. This approach intended to minimise the risk of failure due to both natural and human causes. In this approach, numerical values for partial factors and other reliability parameters are recommended as basic values that provide an acceptable level of reliability. In addition, these values have been selected assuming that an appropriate level of workmanship and quality management applies. This paper will focus more on the risk of failure due to non-compliance with items related to reliability and quality management. Accordingly, the items of the Eurocode related to aspects of reliability and quality management will be presented and discussed.

To minimise the probability of failure, all related aspects of reliability and quality management presented in the Eurocode should be implemented in the construction process. It is evident that the human factor is not taken into account in the reliability management assessment. Therefore, it is very essential that quality management requirements are to be considered in absolute details. Lack of experience and financial factors could be the most important factors which deter the full implementation of the Eurocode requirements. It is suggested that serious steps to study in depth reliability management aspects, considering local conditions, will enable Malaysia to produce its national probability model of safety in a very short time. It is equally important that construction industry should be aware of issues of negligence and standard of care in case of implementing the use of the Eurocode.