Lab Classes

An introduction to basic scientific and engineering principles used for the design of buildings, bridges, and other parts of the built infrastructure. Application of these principles to the analysis and design of a number of actual large-scale structures. Experimental verification of these principles through laboratory experiments. Coverage of the history of major structural design innovations and of the engineers who introduced them. Critical examination of the unique aesthetic/artistic perspectives inherent in structural design. Consideration of management, socioeconomic, and ethical issues involved in the design and construction of large-scale structures. Introduction to some recent developments in sustainable engineering, including green building design and adaptable structural systems. View the course description on Bulletin.

Capstone design project in civil engineering. This project integrates structural, geotechnical and environmental/water resources design problems with construction management tasks and sustainability, legal and other social issues. Project is completed in teams, and communication skills are stressed. Outside lecturers will address important current issues in engineering practice. Every student in the course will be exposed with equal emphasis to issues related to geotechnical engineering, water resources / environmental engineering, structural engineering, and construction engineering and management. View the course listing on Vergil.

Index properties and classification; compaction; permeability and seepage; effective stress and stress distribution; consolidation; shear strength of soil; consolidation; slope stability. View the course listing on Vergil.

The nature, causes and consequences of structural failures and the lessons learned from them. Insight into failure investigation in the practice of forensic structural engineering. Analysis and discussion of case histories of actual failures of real-life structures during construction and in service. Assignments include investigations by the students of causes and responsibilities of selected cases; deliverables include written reports and oral presentations. View the course description on Bulletin.

Stability of framed structures in the elastic and inelastic ranges. Lateral buckling of beams. Torsional buckling of compression members. Buckling of plates of plate-stiffener combinations. Linear stability analysis of cylindrical shells and discussion of its limitations. Discussion of the semi-empirical nature of the elastoplastic relations used in the case of plates and shells. View the course listing on Vergil.

Basic concepts of materials science for civil infrastructure materials. Relate composition, structure, processing to engineering properties (e.g. strength, modulus, ductility-malleability, durability). Materials covered include stone, brick, terra cotta, concrete, cast stone, metals and wood. Overview of sourcing and production, identification, fabrication, chemical, physical and mechanical properties. View the course listing on Vergil.

Advanced soil testing, including triaxial and plane strain compression tests; small-strain measurement. Model testing; application (of test results) to design. View the course description on Bulletin.

Introduction to engineering problems faced by developing communities and exploration of design solutions in the context of a real project with a community client. Emphasis is on the design of sustainable solutions that take account of social, economical, and governance issues and that can be implemented now or in the near future. Multidisciplinary teamwork and approaches are stressed. Outside lectures address issues specific to developing communities and the particular project under consideration. View the course listing on Vergil.

Kinematics of rigid bodies; momentum and energy methods; vibrations of discrete and continuous systems; eigen-value problems; natural frequencies and modes. Basics of computer simulation of dynamic problems using MATLAB or Mathematica. View the course listing on Vergil.

Material behavior and constitutive relations. Mechanical properties of metals and cement composites. Cement hydration. Modern construction materials. Experimental investigation of material properties and behavior of structural elements, including fracture, fatigue, bending, torsion, and buckling. View the course listing on Vergil.

Fluid statics. Fundamental principles and concepts of flow analysis. Differential and finite control volume approach to flow analysis. Dimensional analysis. Application of flow analysis: flow in pipes, external flow, flow in open channels. View the course listing on Vergil.

Direct stiffness approach for trusses. Strong and weak forms for one-dimensional problems. Galerkin finite element formulation, shape functions, Gauss quadrature, convergence. Multidimensional scalar field problems (heat conduction), triangular and rectangular elements, Isoparametric formulation. Multidimensional vector field problems (linear elasticity). Practical FE modeling with commercial software (ABAQUS). Computer implementation of the finite element method. Advanced topics. Not open to undergraduate students. View the course listing on Vergil.

Intended for junior and senior undergraduate and graduate students interested in gaining hands-on experience in biopharmaceutical processing. Processes and unit operations applied widely in the biopharmaceutical industry, including tableting, dissolution, disintegration, fermentation, chromatography, tangential flow filtration, mixing, and crystallization. Process parameters, chemical and molecular properties, process performance, and product attributes. Includes a combination of lectures (given during lab time), experiments, and report writing. View the course listing on Vergil.