Civil and Environmental Engineering

The Department

In addition to University and Graduate Faculty regulations, all Engineering departments share common procedures that are described in Section 18 of the General Regulations (see p.66)

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers programs of study and research leading to the Master of Engineering and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering. These degrees are offered through the Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Civil Engineering which is jointly administered by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carleton University, and the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa. For further information, including admission and program requirements, see p. 114

The Department conducts research and has developed graduate programs in the following areas:

* Environmental Engineering
 

The program in environmental engineering offers opportunities for research in a wide range of topics. Current graduate research in environmental engineering is primarily directed towards the following areas:

Air Pollution
Air quality issues in micro-environments, emissions from mobile sources, receptor modelling, transport and fate of vapours and particulates, dispersion modelling, indoor air quality, innovative treatment technologies for contaminated air streams.

Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental impact assessment, risk assessment, identification and quantification of contaminant exposure pathways, uncertainty related to these processes, technical issues and the important contributions of environmental engineers to this complex multi-disciplinary process.

Solid, Hazardous, and Radioactive Waste Management and Pollution Prevention
Reduction of waste streams through improved manufacturing processes and waste diversion programs, minimization of the impact of long-term disposal of solid hazardous and radioactive wastes, waste disposal alternatives, landfill design and landfill leachate and gas management strategies.

Water and Wastewater Treatment
Study of innovative treatment technologies for water and wastewater treatment, fate of VOCs in municipal and industrial waste streams, treatment of effluents from various industries, passive treatment systems for mitigation of acid mine drainage, enhanced UV oxidation processes.

Water Resources Management, Groundwater and Contaminant Transport
Quantification and protection of existing water resources, hydrogeology, processes impacting contaminant migration, natural attentuation of groundwater impacted by landfill leachate, petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents, unsaturated and multiphase environments, site characterization and remediation.

The program is intended to be complementary to that at the University of Ottawa, and courses can be selected from either department.

The graduate program in geotechnical engineering places an emphasis on both theoretical and applied problems related to soil and rock mechanics and foundation engineering. These generally include the study of mechanical properties of soil and rock materials, stability of natural slopes and earth embankments, soil-foundation-structure interaction, and problems in foundation design and geomechanics. Broader programs in geotechnical engineering may be arranged by making use of courses offered in the Department of Geography at Carleton University and in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Ottawa.

Graduate research in geotechnical engineering is primarily directed towards the following areas:

Bearing Capacity and Settlement
Problems related to design of bridge abutments and footings located on sloped granular fill, experimental and field studies.

Design and Analysis of Pipelines in Permafrost Regions
Development and use of advanced finite element techniques in the study of frost-heave and its effect on the stresses and deformations of chilled gas pipelines buried in discontinuous permafrost.

Earth Retaining Structures
Experimental and analytical studies of anchored and braced excavations, flexible and rigid retaining walls, soil reinforcement, tunnels and conduits, field behaviour.

In-Situ Testing of Soils
The use of devices such as the pressuremeter, the screw plate test, the borehole shear device, and borehole dilatometer in the assessment of geotechnical properties of soils.

Mechanical Behaviour
Development of constitutive relations for soils and rock masses with yield and creep characteristics; applications to foundation engineering.

Performance of Anchors
Theoretical and experimental analysis of deep and shallow anchors in soil, rock and concrete; group action; creep effects; prestress loss.

Reinforced Soil Systems
Characterization of the material properties and reinforcement-soil interaction problems comprising geogrids and geotextiles. Extensive facilities for tension, creep, pull-out and interface shear testing of geosynthetics are available..

Soil-Foundation Interaction
Elastic and consolidation effects of soil-foundation interaction; soil-frame interaction; contact stress measurement; performance of rigid and flexible foundations; buried pipelines.

The graduate program in structural engineering embodies a broad spectrum of topics involving material behaviour, structural mechanics and analysis, and the behaviour and design of buildings, bridges, and other types of structures, including liquid storage tanks, dams, and buried pipe systems, etc. These topics are in the following fields: computer applications in structural analysis; structural dynamics, seismic analysis, earthquake engineering; finite element analysis; structural systems and design optimization; behaviour and design of steel, concrete, composite, timber and masonry structures; construction economics; and bridge engineering. Graduate research in structural engineering is primarily directed towards the following areas:

Behaviour and Design of Steel, Concrete and Composite Structures
Analytical and experimental studies of structural members, substructures, and connections for buildings, bridges, and offshore structures. Development of the corresponding limit states design format design rules.

Computer Applications in Structural Design
Development of knowledge-based systems for the analysis, design, detailing, fabrication, and erection of buildings and bridges. Includes graphic interfaces, pre- and post-processing of frame analysis, load determination, and finite element analysis packages.

Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRP)
Analysis and laboratory testing of structural members and systems reinforced, retrofitted or repaired with FRP. Development of design rules and code provisions for FRP reinforced/repaired structures. The research encompasses all aspects of FRP applications in structures, including bridges, buildings, pipes and tanks. Advanced numerical modelling and large scale testing are integral components of the research program.

Masonry Behaviour and Design
Study of strength and serviceability issues by means of theoretical approaches, testing, and field work.

Materials Durability
Research on the durability of concrete, masonry, FRP and reinforcing steel. Both laboratory experimentation and numerical techniques are used to devleop predictive models for practical applications.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Structures
Behaviour and performance of bridges, buildings, and other structures; field and laboratory monitoring techniques; instrumentation; data processing and interpretation.

Numerical Modelling of Buildings and Bridges
Advanced analytical modelling of reinforced and prestressed concrete, steel, and composite concrete-steel buildings and bridges. Material and geometric non-linearities, bond-slip, the advent and propagation of cracks, tension-stiffening, and shear-connectors behaviour are modelled to predict the full response of structures up to failure.

Seismic Analysis and Design
Seismic response of buildings; computer analyses of linear and non-linear structural response; design of buildings for seismic forces; development of code provisions for seismic design; seismic behaviour of liquid storage tanks and dams; fluid structures interaction problems.

Timber Structures
Analysis, design, and performance evaluation of wood-structured systems and components; structural reliability.

The graduate program in transportation planning and technology deals with problems of policy, planning, economics, design, and operations in all modes of transportation. In the area of transportation planning, the focus is on the design of transport systems, including terminals, modelling and simulation, urban and regional studies, traffic engineering, and geometric design. In the transportation technology area, programs deal with technology of vehicles and facilities, acoustics and noise, materials and pavement design. Graduate research in transportation is currently focused on the following areas:

Asphalt Concrete
Research on asphalt concrete, including compaction, rutting, thermal stresses, stripping, and reinforced asphalt systems. Novel compaction techniques and equipment, and in-situ asphalt testing equipment have been developed and patented.

Planning and Design Methodology
Development and application of models for optimization of transport supply; transportation system management.

Transport Policy
Assessment and impact analysis of national, regional, and urban transportation policies.

Transportation Terminals
Airport planning, air terminal design; bus, rail, subway terminal design, layout methods, pedestrian traffic.

Transportation Technology Development and Assessment
Modernization of passenger and freight rail services; soil properties; pavement design, multi-layered systems, low temperature cracking of pavements, thermo-mechanical modelling of fracture processes in pavements; highway design, energy and emissions.

Travel and Traffic Analysis
Behavioural theories of passenger travel, goods movement; empirical traffic studies.

Departmental Facilities

The environmental engineering laboratories comprise a total space of 170 square meters with excellent facilities for bench scale chemical and biochemical experiments. Analytical equipment and sensors are available for air, water and soil sample testing and analyses. A laboratory specially equipped with four fume hoods is available for conducting research involving volatile and hazardous substances.
Computer-related equipment with the department comprises networks of SUN workstations and PC-based workstations and related peripherals. The computing centre of the University provides access to additional computing resources such as mainframe computers and multi-processor SUN workstations. A library of computer programs in structural, geotechnical, and transportation engineering provides a significant resource for advanced study and research.

Graduate Courses

All courses listed are one-term courses and may be offered in either fall or winter with the exception of projects and theses.
 

Engineering 82.511 (CVG7120)

Introductory Elasticity

Stresses and strains in a continuum; transformations, invariants; equations of motion; constitutive relations, generalized Hooke's Law, bounds for elastic constant: strain energy, superposition, uniqueness; formulation of plane stress and plane strain problems in rectangular Cartesian and curvilinear coordinates, Airy-Mitchell stress functions and Fourier solutions.

Engineering 82.512 (CVG7121)

Advanced Elasticity

Continuation of topics introduced in Engineering 82.511. Complex vairable solutions: torsional and thermal stresses; axially symmetric three-dimensional problems, Love's strain potential, Boussinesq-Galerkian stress functions; problems related to infinite and semi-infinite domains. Introduction to numerical methods of stress analysis, comparison of solutions.

Prerequisite: Engineering 82.511 or permission of the Department.

Engineering 82.513 (CVG7122)

Finite Element Methods in Stress Analysis

Stress-strain and strain-displacement relationships from elasticity. Plane stress and plane strain finite elements. Lagrange interpolation and Lagrange based element families. Theory of thin plates; overview of plate bending elements. Theory of shells; practical shell elements. Finite element methods formulation. Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as Engineering 82.421«, for which additional credit is precluded.

Engineering 82.514 (CVG7123)

Earthquake Engineering and Analysis

Advanced vibration analysis techniques; Rayleigh-Ritz procedure; subspace iteration; derived Ritz coordinates; proportional and non-proportional damping; introduction to seismology; earthquake response analysis via time and frequency domain; response spectrum approach; multiple input excitations; design considerations and code requirements; other advanced topics in earthquake engineering.

Prerequisite: Engineering 82.516 or permission of the Department.

Engineering 82.515 (CVG7124)

Advanced Finite Element Analysis in Structural Mechanics

Variational and Galerkin formulations: assumed displacement, assumed stress and hybrid ele
ments; plate bending: convergence, completeness and conformity, patch test, Kirchhoff and Mindlin plate theories, nonlinear elasticity and plasticity; geometric non-linearity, Eulerian and Lagrangian formulations; incremental and iterative schemes, finite elements in dynamics.

Prerequisite: Engineering 82.513 or permission of the Department.

Engineering 82.516 (CVG7137)

Dynamics of Structures

Structural dynamics, single and multi-degree-of-freedom systems, formulation of equations of motion, methods of analytical mechanics, free and forced vibrations, normal mode analysis, numerical methods for the response analyses of single and multiple-degree-of-freedom systems.

Engineering 82.520 (CVG7138)

Engineered Masonry Behaviour and Design

Properties of masonry materials and assemblages. Behaviour and design of walls, columns and lintels. Treatment of specialized design and construction topics. Design of lowrise and highrise structures. Discussion of masonry problems. Emphasis throughout the course is placed on a practice-oriented approach. Also offered at the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as Engineering 82.443«, for which additional credit is precluded.

Engineering 82.523 (CVG7125)

Theory of Structural Stability

Elastic and inelastic behaviour of beam-columns; elastic and inelastic buckling of frames; application of energy methods to buckling problems; lateral-torsional buckling of columns and beams; buckling of plates; local buckling of columns and beams.

Prerequisite: Engineering 82.525 or equivalent.

Engineering 82.524 (CVG7126)

Behaviour and Design of Steel Structures

Limit states design philosophy; material behaviour; tension members; plate buckling; torsion; lateral torsional buckling; beams, axially loaded columns and beam-column behaviour; brittle fracture and fatigue; frame stability and second order effects.

Engineering 82.525 (CVG7127)

Advanced Modelling and Analysis of Structures

Matrix structural analysis; force and displacement method of analysis for planar and space structures; symmetric and anti-symmetric structures; analysis of nonlinear structures: geometric and material nonlinearities; large displacement theory and iteration strategy.

Engineering 82.526 (CVG7128)

Prestressed Concrete

Prestressed concrete materials; working stress design for flexure; ultimate strength design for flexure, shear, and torsion; prestress losses; deflection and camber; slabs; indeterminate beams and frames; introduction to prestressed bridges and circular tanks.

Engineering 82.528 (CVG7130)

Advanced Reinforced Concrete

The research background, development, and limitations in current building code provisions for reinforced concrete; yield line theory of slabs; safety and limit state design; computer design of concrete structures.

Engineering 82.529 (CVG7100)

Case Studies in Geotechnical Engineering

The critical study of case histories relating to current procedures of design and construction in geotechnical engineering. The importance of instrumentation and monitoring field behaviour will be stressed. In-situ testing.

Engineering 82.530 (CVG7101)

Advanced Soil Mechanics

Effective stress, pore pressure parameters, saturated and partially saturated soils; seepage; permeability tensor, solutions of the Laplace equation; elastic equilibrium; anisotropy, non-homogeneity, consolidation theories; shear strength of cohesive and cohesionless soils; failure and yield criteria.

Engineering 82.533 (CVG7160)

Pavements and Materials

An analysis of the interaction of materials, traffic, and climate in the planning, design construction, evaluation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of highway and airport pavements.

Engineering 82.534 (CVG7150)

Intercity Transportation, Planning and Management

Current modal and intermodal issues, including energy. Framework and process of intercity transport planning and management. Recent trends and system development. Passenger and freight demand and service characteristics. Future prospects and possibilities.

Engineering 82.535 (CVG7151)

Traffic Engineering

Introduction to principles of traffic engineering. Basic characteristics of drivers, vehicles, and traffic. Volume, speed, and delay studies. Traffic stream characteristics and queuing theory. Capacity analysis of roads and intersections. Safety.

Engineering 82.536 (CVG7152)

Highway Materials

Materials characterization and strength evalua

tion of soils, stabilized soils, aggregates, and asphalt concrete. Effects of low temperatures and frost on materials behaviour.

Engineering 82.537 (CVG7153)

Urban Transportation, Planning and Management

Urban transportation systems, planning and management. Urban development models, an introduction. Urban transportation policy.

Engineering 82.538 (CVG7154)

Geometric Design

Basic highway geometric design concepts. Vertical and horizontal alignment. Cross-sections. Interchange forms and design. Adaptability and spacing of interchanges. Design of operational flexibility; operational uniformity, and route continuity on freeways.

Engineering 82.539 (CVG7155)

Transportation Supply

Advanced treatment of transportation planning and management concepts and techniques: transport supply issues, capacity and costs, evaluation of system improvements and extensions, transportation and development, policy impact analysis.

Engineering 82.541 (CVG7156)

Transportation Economics and Policy

Transportation, economic analysis framework. Transport industry output. Carrier operations. Issue of resource utilization, measurement, economics, supply of infrastructure, pricing; subsidies, externalities. Transport policy in Canada.

Engineering 82.542 (CVG7159)

Transportation Terminals

Framework for passenger terminal planning and design. Theory: the transfer function and network modelling; pedestrian flow characteristics; capacity of corridors, stairs, escalators, and elevators; layout planning. Practical applications: air, rail, metro, bus, ferry, and multi-modal terminals.

Engineering 82.543 (CVG7158)

Airport Planning

Framework for airport planning and design. Aircraft characteristics; demand forecasting; airport site selection; noise, airside capacity; geometric design; the passenger terminal complex; cargo area; general aviation; ground transportation; land use planning.

Engineering 82.550 (CVG7104)

Earth Retaining Structures

Approaches to the theoretical and semi-empirical analysis of earth retaining structures. Review of the earth pressure theories. Analysis and design methods for rigid and flexible retaining walls, braced excavations, and tunnels. Instrumentation and performance studies.

Engineering 82.551 (CVG7105)

Foundation Engineering

Review of methods of estimating compression and shear strength of soils. Bearing capacity of shallow and deep foundations. Foundations in slopes. Pile groups. Use of in-situ testing for design purposes.

Engineering 82.552 (CVG7106)

In-Situ Methods in Geomechanics

Subsurface exploration program. Soil and rock sampling. Geo-physical methods. Mechanical and hydraulic properties of soil and rock. Determination of strength and deformability. Critical evaluation of vane, pressuremeter, screw plate, dilatometer, borehole shear and plate load tests. Pumping, recharge and packer tests. In-situ stress measurements.

Engineering 82.553 (CVG7107)

Numerical Methods in Geomechanics

Advanced theories of soil and rock behaviour. Plasticity models. Generalized failure criteria. Critical state and cap models. Dilatancy effects. Associative and non-associative flow rules. Hardening rules. Consolidation, visco-elasticity, creep behaviour. Finite element formulation. Iterative schemes. Time marching schemes. Solution of typical boundary value problems.

Prerequisite: Engineering 82.511, 82.513, or permission of the Department.

Engineering 82.554 (CVG7108)

Seepage and Waterflow through Soils

Surface-subsurface water relations. Steady flow. Flownet techniques. Numerical techniques. Seepage analogy models. Anisotropic and layered soils. Water retaining structures. Safety against erosion and piping. Filter design. Steady and non-steady flow towards wells. Multiple well systems. Subsidence due to ground water pumping.

Engineering 82.560 (CVG7131)

Project Management

Managing building development, design, and construction including interrelationships among owners, developers, financing sources, designers, contractors, and users; project manager role and tasks; project objectives; feasibility analyses; budgets and financing; government regulations; environmental and social constraints; cost, time, and content quality controls and processes; human factors.

Engineering 82.561 (CVG7140)

Statistics, Probabilities and Decision-Making Applications in Civil Engineering

Review of basic concepts in statistics and probabilities. Bayes' Theorem. Distributions. Parameter estimation. Goodness-of-fit. Regression and correlation. OC curves. Monte Carlo

simulation. ANOVA. Probability-based design criteria. System reliability. Selected applications in structures, transportation and geomechanics. Use of computer software. Emphasis on problem solving.

Engineering 82.562 (CVG7141)

Advanced Methods in Computer-Aided Design

Representation and processing of design constraints (such as building codes and other design rules); decision tables; constraint satisfaction. Automatic integrity and consistency maintenance of design databases; integrated CAD systems. Introduction to geometric modelling. Introduction to artificial intelligence.

Engineering 82.565 (CVG7143)

Design of Steel Bridges

Basic features of steel bridges, design of slab-on-girder, box girder and truss bridges. Composite and non-composite design. Introduction to long span suspension and cable-stayed bridges. Discussion of relevant codes and specifications.

Engineering 82.566 (CVG7144)

Design of Concrete Bridges

Concrete and reinforcing steel properties, basic features of concrete bridges, design of superstructure in reinforced concrete slab, slab-on-girder and box girder bridges, an introduction to prestressed concrete bridges, design of bridge piers and abutments. In all cases the relevant provisions of Canadian bridge codes are discussed.

Engineering 82.567 (CVG7145)

Introduction to Bridge Design

Limit states design of highway bridges; methods of analysis, design and evaluation procedures of superstructure components; design codes; design loads and load factors; concrete deck design; load distributions; computer analysis; impact and dynamics; fatigue and brittle fracture; construction bracing; load capacity rating of existing bridges.

Engineering 82.568 (CVG7146)

Introduction to Fire Protection Engineering

Introduction to basic chemistry and physics of fire; fire growth and fire severity in buildings; simple models for the prediction of the course of a building fire; reaction of building components to exposure by fire; design of fire safe buildings.

Engineering 82.570 (CVG7160)

Biofilm Processes in Wastewater Treatment

Review of microbiology and microbial kinetics; biofilm processes; physical and chemical properties of biofilms; microbial ecology of biofilms; modelling biofilm systems; biofilms

in wastewater treatment; biofilms in porous media; biocorrosion; biofilms in potable water systems.

Engineering 82.571 (CVG7161)

Traffic Related Air Pollution

Pollutant formation, emission characterization, emission control technology and emission modeling from motor vehicles; dispersion and receptor modeling for conservative pollutants in urban microenvironments; personal exposure and health risk assessment.

Engineering 82.572 (CVG7162)

Ambient Air Quality and Pollution Modelling

Dispersion modelling for simple and complex sources and complex terrain; physical and chemical transformations for pollutants in the atmosphere; urban and regional air pollution modelling for reactive pollutants; the urban air shed model; regional air quality modelling case studies.

Engineering 82.573 (CVG7163)

Case Studies in Hydrogeology

Development of conceptual models; geology, hydrology and chemistry, site characterization, initial and boundary conditions; application of industry-recognized computer codes to model groundwater flow and contaminant transport at a particular site; evaluation of remedial alternatives.

Engineering 82.574(CVG7164)

Hazardous and Radioactive Waste Management

Classification of hazardous, radioactive and mixed wastes, hazardous waste treatment processes, wastes generated in the nuclear fuel cycle, radioactive waste classification, radioactive waste treatment and management of residuals, engineered systems for long-term isolation and disposal, mixed waste management.

Engineering 82.575 - 82.579 (CVG7300-7304)

Special Topics in Structural Engineering

Courses in special topics related to building design and construction, not covered by other graduate courses; details will be available some months prior to registration.

Engineering 82.580 - 82.584 (CVG7305-7309)

Special Topics in Geotechnical Engineering

Courses in special topics in geotechnical engineering, not covered by other graduate courses; details will be available some months prior to registration.

Engineering 82.580 (CVG7305)

Analysis of Embankments and Slopes

Stability of embankments of soft clays; stress-strain analysis; anisotropy; strain rate effect; short and long-term settlement; methods of slope stability analysis; progressive failure; use of stability charts; slope analysis for residual and unsaturated soils.

Engineering 82.585 - 82.589 (CVG7310 - 7314)

Special Topics in Transportation Planning and Technology

Courses in special topics in transportation engineering, not covered by other graduate courses; details will be available some months prior to registration.

Engineering 82.590

Civil Engineering Project

Students enrolled in the M.Eng. program by course work will conduct an engineering study, analysis, or design project under the general supervision of a member of the Department.

Engineering 82.596

Directed Studies

Engineering 82.597

Directed Studies

Engineering 82.599

M.Eng. Thesis

Engineering 82.699

Ph.D. Thesis

Other Courses of Particular Interest

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

88.514, 88.517, 88.521, 88.550, 88.561, 88.562, 88.568

Systems and Computer Engineering

94.501

Geography

45.417 Geotechnical Mechanics

45.532, 45.533, 45.534

Public Administration

50.510, 50.511