Teaching

This course provides an introduction to the nature and scope of the civil and environmental engineering disciplines and specialty programs. Includes case studies from practice and information about academic and professional opportunities for CEE students.

The objective of this course is to introduce the fundamental principles of mechanics and their applications to engineering problems. Statics topics include: particle and rigid body equilibrium, fundamentals of structural analysis (static determinacy and stability, solution of trusses, internal forces and diagrams), centroids and centers of gravity, distributed loads, moments of inertia of areas and masses; friction. Dynamics topics include: kinematics of particles and planar rigid bodies, equations of motion for particles and planar rigid bodies, concepts of work and energy, concepts of impulse and momentum.

This course explore the theoretical foundations of matrix methods for structural analysis. Students will learn the direct stiffness method to formulate force-deformation relationships for trusses, beams, and frames, taking into account various support conditions, geometric configurations, member end conditions, and load effect; how to assemble structural elements for a 2D structural system; how to solve matrix equations for displacements, reaction forces, and member forces; how to write computer code to implement structural elements in a matrix structural analysis program.

This course is designed to introduce graduate and senior undergraduate students to fundamental methods in structural reliability analysis as well as emerging methods for the efficient estimation of structural reliability through stochastic simulation. Students acquire theoretical knowledge of the various approaches as well as an understanding of how to apply them to engineering projects.

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with state-of-the-art performance-based earthquake engineering and the theoretical and practical tools necessary for carrying out this form of assessment analysis. The course is project-based, with groups of students assessing, after having learnt the fundamental theory through classroom lectures, the seismic performance of a real world commercial building located in a hypothetical site of California.

Presentation and discussion of selected topics relating to structural engineering practice and research by invited lecturers.