Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Courses

  • Effective stress analysis. Stress & strain invariants. Elasticity theory. Plasticity and yield. Volume change and plastic hardening. Friction. Stress-dilatancy. Critical state concept. Strength & anisotropy. The Cam-Clay model. Soil sampling. In situ parameter measurement. Case Studies. Application of critical state soil mechanics. [CEE 9522 Course Outline]
  • Design of foundation for all types of structures. Spread footings, raft and piled foundations, floated foundations, embankments, etc. The focus is on methods of analysis, and their applications to real soil problems. [CEE 9529 Course Outline]
  • Strengthening and stabilizing soil and rock masses, and resisting structural movements by anchoring them via prestressed reinforcement is achieved by anchoring. Also, to withstand lateral forces, temporary tie-backs in soil are necessary for construction of shallow foundations. This practical and informative course is aimed for graduate students interested in safe and economic methods for strengthening engineering structures. The objective of this course is to provide an in depth review of design, applications and installation methods for anchoring in rock and soil. [CEE 9530 Course Outline]
  • The general objectives of this course are to: (1) introduce the observational method in geotechnical engineering; (2) introduce a broad range of in situ testing devices that students will encounter and use in practice; (3) provide a solid understanding of the applications and limitations of these devices through an examination of their theoretical, experimental, and empirical development; (4) introduce first-hand the use and interpretation of some of these devices, instrumentation, and measurements at real project sites and via selected important case histories; and (5) discuss emerging technologies and trends in in-situ testing. The course includes four written assignments, a term project and a final exam. [CEE 9533 Course Outline]
  • The objectives of the course are for the students to develop an understanding of the engineering properties of rocks, geotechnical investigations and reporting geological and engineering rock classifications, rock failure theories, in-situ stresses in rock, and the fundamental concepts and principles of rock mechanics. This course is the pre-requisite for Rock Mechanics II which covers the applications of rock mechanics principles in the design of foundations, slopes and underground openings in rock. [CEE 9577 Course Outline]
  • Vibrations of foundations on soil, elastic elements and piles, embedded foundations; foundations of nuclear facilities, machine foundations, modal analysis of foundations using complex eigenvalues; soil-structure interaction. [CEE 9619 Course Outline]
  • This course introduces the concepts, theories and procedures of geotechnical earthquake engineering. Topics include: earthquake and ground motion parameters; laboratory and field measurement of dynamic soil properties; ground response analysis and dynamic soil-structure interaction; liquefaction; and seismic design of retaining walls, slopes and dams. [CEE 9702 Course Outline]
  • A gentle introduction to the field of data science and machine learning with applications in civil engineering. Topics include unsupervised and supervised learning, feature engineering, decision trees, support vector machines, and deep neural networks. [CEE 9730 Course Outline]
  • This course deals with groundwater flow and subsurface contamination. The course will examine: (i) groundwater and its importance in the hydrologic cycle, (ii) sources and characteristics of groundwater pollutants, (iii) clean-up of contaminated sites, including remedial design and strategies. Relevant analytical and numerical models are employed throughout the course to better understand the concepts, their application, and the underlying mathematics. [CEE 9870 Course Outline]