Rock mechanics, tunnels and Eurocodes: a technical session to consider the future of design standards

Conférence

Published on 18/11/2025

Eurocodes are European standards relating to the design of buildings and civil engineering structures. The new generation of Eurocodes established at European level will be published in 2027.

Eurocode 7 deals specifically with geotechnical aspects: the Standardisation Committee on the design of Geotechncial Structures is the mirror committee in France. This text has been supplemented in several areas relating to rock mechanics, but does not yet include specific provisions explicitly addressing tunnels, caverns and deep shafts. Its application still raises many questions in these closely related fields.

To address this issue, CETU, in collaboration with the French Association for Tunnels and Underground Space (AFTES) and the French Committee for Rock Mechanics (CFMR), organised a technical session on 9th October 2025 at the École des Mines in Paris.

The presentations did not describe the content of the texts in detail, but rather on the basis of feedback focused on showing how current practices could be impacted or, on the contrary, could fit into this new regulatory framework. The involvement of the profession (contractors, design offices, universities, etc.) will be needed in the coming years to promote the dissemination of these new texts, ensure their application in infrastructure projects and participate in future developments envisaged at the European and French level.

The technical session brought together more than 70 participants through the following programme:

Recent developments and areas for improvement in Eurocode 7 in rock environments - Didier VIRELY (Cerema)
Example of application for the design of an urban excavation in rock environments - Rima GHAZAL (Artelia)
Design of tunnel structures: unreinforced concrete support and lining - Michel PRE (Setec)
How to assess the safety margin in tunnels? - François LAIGLE (Terrasol, AFTES)
Overview of the new Eurocodes and the new Eurocode 7 - Sébastien BURLON (Cerema, CNJOG)
Current thinking on the introduction of underground structures into the Eurocodes - Didier SUBRIN (CETU)

The presentations are available at the following links on the CFMR and AFTES websites:
https://www.cfmr-roches.org/sites/default/files/manifestations/2025-10-09_CFMR-AFTES_seance-technique_Eurocodes.pdf
https://www.aftes.fr/fr/product/conference-technique-n2-9-octobre-2025.