Education & Outreach
Current Course Offerings & Descriptions
306-0: Uncertainty Analysis in Civil Engineering
Probability, statistics, and decision theory. Discrete and continuous random variables, marginal and conditiona ldistributions, moments, statistical model selection and significance tests, hypothesis testing, and elementary Bayesian decision theory. Application to problems in soil mechanics, water resources, transportation, and structures.
320-0: Structural Analysis-Dynamics
Single and multiple degree-of-freedom systems subjected to periodic, seismic, and general loadings. Time-history analysis of linear and nonlinear systems. Design methods for earthquakes.
321-0: Properties of Concrete
Concrete as a composite material; relationship between constitutive laws and microstructure; failure theories; fracture; fatigue; strain rate effects; destructive and nondestructive testing; creep and shrinkage; chemistry of cement hydration; admixtures; aggregates; proportioning; new materials.
323-0: Structural Steel Design
Rational basis of structural design. Design approach for structural-steel components of a building system.
325-0: Reinforced Concrete
Fundamentals of reinforced concrete theory and design. Analysis and design of beams, slabs, and columns. Concurrent familiarization with current building codes, specifications, and practices.
327: Finite Element Methods in Mechanics
Development of finite elements from variational principles and application to static stress analysis. Introduction to techniques for transient and generalized field problems.
355-0: Engineering Aspects of Groundwater Flow
Applied aspects of groundwater flow and seepage, including Darcy’s law, parameter determination, aquifer test analysis, flow-net construction and application, modeling techniques, slope stability analysis, drainage, and filter design.
368-0: Sustainability: Issues and Action, Near and Far
Exploration of the issues that motivate the design and engineering of sustainable resource use and development.
385-1: Architectural Engineering & Design I: Fundamentals
This course integrates architecture history, principles and practice; contextual research and design experiences; and structural analysis and design.
385-2: Architectural Engineering & Design II: Intermediate
This course integrates architecture history, principles and practice; contextual research and design experiences; and structural analysis and design.
385-3: Architectural Engineering & Design III: Advanced
This course integrates architecture history, principles and practice; contextual research and design experiences; and structural analysis and design.
398-1, 2: Community-Based Design
Yearlong participation in two- or three-person team projects involving research, analysis, and/or design in the solution of environmental problems affecting primarily lower income communities. Grade assigned only on completion of both units.
411-0: Micromechanics I
Mechanics of microstructures of materials, such as continuum theory of dislocations, inclusions, inhomogeneities, cracks, and composite materials. Unified eigenstrain method employed.
413-0: Modern Experimental Mechanics
Experimental techniques in measuring stress and strain. Strain gauge, photoelastic, brittle coating, and Moire techniques studied and applied with selected laboratory experiments.
414-1, 2: Mechanics of Composite Materials: I, II
Introduction to basic concepts: fabrication of composite materials, micromechanics, macromechanics of unidirectional lamina, failure theories, mechanics of multidirectional laminate, lamination theory, hydrothermal effects, interlaminar stresses, stress concentrations, structural design and optimization, and nondestructive evaluation.
415-0: Theory of Elasticity
Notions of stress and strain. Basic equations of the linear theory of elastic media. Stress function and displacement potentials. Applications to specific classes of problems such as plane strain, contact stresses, and axisymmetric problems. Stress concentration. Singular states of stress. Dislocations and residual stresses.
422-0: Inelastic Analysis of Structures
Inelastic analysis of frames, plates, and shells. Plastic behavior and limit analysis theorems. Static and kinematic methods for calculating collapse loads. Yield surfaces for plates and shells, plastic potential flow law, and load capacity. Viscoelastic behavior and rheologic models. Creep of concrete and its effects in structures.
423-0: Matrix Analysis of Structures
Use of matrix methods for analysis of articulated structural systems, geometric matrices, stability, analysis of geometrically nonlinear systems, introduction to the finite element method.
424-0: Stability of Structures
Buckling of perfect and imperfect columns, mathematical treatment of various types of stability problems and stability criteria, dynamic and static instability, and energy methods. Buckling of frames, trusses, and beams. Snap-through, elastic-plastic columns, creep buckling, and basic approach to buckling of two- and three-dimensional bodies.
430-0: Cohesive Fracture and Scaling
Fracture mechanics fundamentals. Concrete, composites, ice, rocks, soils, ceramics. Cohesive crack model. Crack band model. Damage. Localization. Nonlocality. Size effect laws. Statistical aspects. Discrete micro-modeling. Fracture stability. Environmental effects, loading rate and fatigue.
450-1, 2, 3: Soil Mechanics I, II, III
450-1: Shear strength of soils. Theory of consolidation. Problems of rate-independent and rate-dependent settlement. 450-2: Foundation engineering. Bearing capacity of shallow and deep foundations. Deformation of foundations. Effects of construction on performance. Case studies. 450-3: Earth and earth-supported structures. Earth pressures on walls. Design of retaining structures and supported excavations. Effects of construction on performance. Stability of slopes. Design of earth dams and embankments. Case studies.
453-0: Rock Mechanics
Engineering properties and behavior of rock masses. Shear strength of rock, in situ and laboratory tests of strength, rock fracture, three-dimensional geometry of joint systems, stability of rock masses, in situ stress determination, and deformability of rock masses.
457-0: Environmental Geotechnics
Site characterization, geotechnical aspects of waste containment, and remediation. Geological setting and the heterogeneous nature of soils. Design, testing, and quality control for geosynthetics.
458-0: Soil Dynamics
Dynamics of soils and soil-foundation systems; nuclear weapon effects, earthquake response, vibrations of machine foundations, reactions due to impact equipment, industrial noise and blast effects, fatigue concepts, wave propagation and attenuation, blast-resistant construction, and linear and nonlinear systems.
482-0: Evaluation and Decision Making for Infrastructure Systems
Theories and methods of evaluation and choice from alternatives for transportation and other infrastructure projects and systems. Economic, quantitative, and judgmental methods for both a priori and before-and-after evaluation. Measurement, modeling, analysis, and presentation problems.
483-0: Infrastructure Systems Analysis
Quantitative techniques for developing prescriptive models that can be used to support efficient planning and management of civil infrastructure systems.
