N° 89.1973. Fissuration: 1 - Contribution aux travaux de Commission 1971 - 1973 - 2 - Manuel de calcul "Fissuration" (Preliminary Draft)

This bulletin includes several papers presented at meetings of Commission IVa (Cracking) during the last few years. Some of these papers were prepared to serve as a basis for drafting the 1970 version of the Recommendations. Others contain critical views on the assumptions adopted in the Recommendations. Finally, papers of a general nature providing information on ongoing research are also included.

The aim of the Commission’s studies has been to achieve a scientific understanding of the main phenomena involved in cracking, to identify the fundamental parameters that influence these phenomena, and to develop as general a theory as possible. This theory is then transformed, through appropriate simplifications, into practical rules which, in order to remain simple and efficient, necessarily have a limited range of validity.

Now that the task of rapporteur has been taken over by Dr. Brenneisen, I wish him every success in leading the work of the Commission.