Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Mackenzie Building 3432
Telephone: 788-5784
Fax: 788-3951
The Department
Chair of the Department: J.L. Humar
Departmental Supervisor of Graduate Studies: K.T. Law
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 page 115.
The Department conducts research and has developed graduate programs
in the following areas:
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:
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.
Earth Retaining Structures
Experimental and analytical studies of anchored and braced excavations,
flexible and rigid retaining walls, soil reinforcement, tunnels
and conduits, field behaviour.
Bearing Capacity and Settlement
Problems related to design of bridge abutments and footings located
on sloped granular fill, experimental and field studies.
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.
Mechanics of Geological Structures
Large strain phenomena; buckling of strata; applications to underground
storage structures; hydraulic fracture of oil- and gas-bearing
geological media.
Performance of Anchors
Theoretical and experimental analysis of deep and shallow anchors
in soil, rock and concrete; group action; creep effects; prestress
loss.
Nuclear Waste Disposal
Theoretical modelling of rockmass-buffer-canister interaction
during moisture migration; non-homogeneous swelling of buffer
materials; swelling pressures in buffer systems; coupled heat
and moisture flow in materials.
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 and bridges.
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; integrated treatment
of structural, mechanical and electrical building requirements;
construction economics; project planning; and bridge engineering.
Graduate research in structural engineering is primarily directed
towards the following areas:
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.
Seismic Analysis and Design
Seismic response of set-back and other irregular buildings; computer
analyses of linear and non-linear structural response; design
of buildings for seismic forces; seismic behaviour of liquid storage
tanks; fluid structure interaction problems.
Continuum Mechanics
Linear and non-linear problems in elasticity; analysis of contact
problems in elasticity, plasticity, and viscoelasticity; mechanics
of composite materials; fracture processes in geological materials;
finite deformations of rubber-like materials; poro-elasticity
and micromechanics.
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.
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.
Masonry Behaviour and Design
Study of strength and serviceability issues by means of theoretical
approaches, testing and field work.
Timber Structures
Analysis, design and performance evaluation of wood-structured
systems and components; structural reliability.
- Transportation Planning and Technology
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:
Transport Policy
Assessment and impact analysis of national, regional,
and urban transportation policies.
Planning and Design Methodology
Development and application of models for optimization of
transport supply, transportation system management.
Travel and Traffic Analysis
Behavioural theories of passenger travel, goods movement,
empirical traffic studies.
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.
Departmental Facilities
The structures laboratory facility includes an 11 m x 27 m strong
floor with a clear height of 11 m; a strong pit, measuring 3 m
x 3.7 m x 6.6 m for geotechnical and highway material testing;
a 400,000 lb. universal testing machine with auxiliary equipment
for load and displacement control; numerous hydraulic actuators;
test frames; specialized equipment for torsion and impact studies;
and a wide selection of measurement devices (strain gauges, LVDTs,
pressure transducers, load cells, thermocouples) and several data
acquisition systems for testing structural materials and components.
The concrete laboratory has facilities for the casting, curing,
and testing of reinforced concrete members. Laboratory facilities
in geotechnical engineering include both large scale and conventional
tri-axial testing, consolidation testing, pore water pressure
measurements, and model studies of contact stress measurements.
The soil dynamics and highway materials laboratories provide facilities
for studies of the physical properties of soil, stabilized soil,
aggregate and bituminous mixtures.
Computer-related equipment with the department comprises an HP9000,
several Apollo and SUN workstations, a network of microcomputers
and related peripherals. The computing centre of the University
provides access to a Honeywell Level 66 computer and SUN4 workstation.
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.
Please consult the current course listing at the beginning of
the fall and winter terms.
- 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 constants: 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, application of classical
solutions to problems of engineering interest.
- Engineering 82.512 (CVG7121)
Advanced Elasticity
Continuation of topics introduced in Engineering 82.511. Complex
variable solutions: torsional and thermal stresses; axially symmetric
three-dimensional problems, Love's strain potential, Boussinesq-Galerkin
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. Introduction to the theory
of thin plates; overview at plate bending elements. General formulation
of the finite element method.
- Engineering 82.514 (CVG7123)
Earthquake Engineering and Analysis
Advanced topics in earthquake engineering: description of earthquake
motions, seismological background; analysis of earthquake response,
response spectrum approach, multiple input excitation, extended
Ritz coordinates, complex eigen-problem analysis; response analysis
via frequency domain; design considerations and code requirements,
earthquake forces in building codes; dynamic soil-structure interaction,
direct method, substructure method, fundamentals of wave propagation,
half-space modelling of soil; dynamic fluid-structure interaction,
incompressible and compressible fluid elements, substructure method
with liquid continuum; special topics of current interests.
Prerequisite: Engineering 82.516 or permission of the Department.
- Engineering 82.515 (CVG7124)
Advanced Finite Element Analysis in Structural Mechanics
Fundamentals of calculus of variations; variational and Galerkin
formulations: assumed displacement, assumed stress and hybrid
elements; isoparametric elements and numerical integration; plate
bending: convergence, completeness and conformity, patch test,
Kirchhoff and Mindlin plate theories, nonlinear elasticity and
plasticity; cracking and non-linearities in reinforced concrete
structures; incremental and iterative schemes, geometric non-linearity:
small strain-large displacement, large strain-large displacement,
Eulerian and Lagrangian formulations; finite elements in dynamics;
finite element programing.
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.
- Engineering 82.522 (CVG7139)
Behaviour and Design of Steel Structures
Brittle fracture and fatigue; behaviour of plate girders; composite
beams, girders and columns; stub girders; plastic design principles;
frame behaviour; structural stability; bracing of members and
frames.
Prerequisite: Engineering 82.524 or permission of the Department.
- 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 Structural Steel Members
Limit states design philosophy; material behaviour; tension members;
plate buckling; torsion; lateral torsional buckling; beams, axially
loaded columns and beam-column behaviour; bolted and welded connections;
applications in design.
- Engineering 82.525 (CVG7127)
Analysis of Elastic Structures
Application of matrices to structural analysis; force and displacement
method of analysis for framed elastic planar and space structures;
symmetric and anti-symmetric structures.
- 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 82.527 (CVG7129)
Advanced Structural Design
A number of topics, such as the evolution of a structure, structural
form, aesthetics, progressive collapse, and design in various
structural materials, are treated by members of the Department
and outside experts.
- 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 I
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.
- Engineering 82.531 (CVG7102)
Advanced Soil Mechanics II
Plasticity in soil mechanics; failure and yield criteria, plastic
equilibrium, upper and lower bound solutions, uniqueness theorems;
statically and kinematically admissible states; stability analysis
of cohesive and cohesionless soils.
- 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 evaluation 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
Scope of a subsurface exploration program. Techniques of soil
and rock sampling. Geo-physical methods. Mechanical and hydraulic
properties of soil and rock. In-situ determination of strength,
deformability and permeability of soils and rocks. Critical evaluation
of vane, pressuremeter, screw plate, flat dilatometer, borehole
shear and plate load tests. Pumping, recharge and packer tests.
Permeability of jointed rocks. Rock testing techniques, borehole
dilatometer, flat jack, cable jacking tests. Properties of rock
joints. In-situ stress measurements.
- Engineering 82.553 (CVG7107)
Numerical Methods in Geomechanics
Critical review of advanced theories of soil and rock behaviour.
Linear elasticity, non-homogeneity and anisotropy. Plasticity
models. Generalized Mohr-Coulomb and Rucker-Prager failure criteria.
Critical state and cap models. Dilatancy effects. Associative
and non-associative flow rules. Hardening rules, hypo-elasticity.
Soil consolidation, visco-elasticity and creep behaviour of rock
masses. Rock joints. Finite element formulation of nonlinear problems.
Iterative schemes; tangent stiffness, initial stress and initial
strain techniques, mixed methods. Time marching schemes. Solution
of typical boundary value problems in geomechanics with the aid
of existing research class finite element codes.
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
Introduction to managing the development, design, and construction
of buildings. Examination of project management for the total
development process, including interrelationships among owners,
developers, financing sources, designers, contractors, and users;
role and tasks of the project manager; setting of project objectives;
feasibility analyses; budgets and financing; government regulations;
environmental and social constraints, control of cost, time, and
content quality and process; human factors.
- Engineering 82.561 (CVG7140)
Statistics, Probabilities and Decision-Making Applications in
Civil Engineering
Review of basic concepts in statistics and the Theory of Probabilities.
Bayes' Theorem. Probability distributions. Moments. Parameter
Estimation. Goodness-of-fit. Regression and correlation. OC curves.
Monte Carlo simulation. Probability-based design criteria. Systems
reliability. Limit States Design. Selected applications in transportation,
geomechanics and structures. Emphasis will be given to problem
solving. Use of existing computer software.
- 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 82.563 (CVG7132)
Computer-Aided Design of Building Structures
Relevant aspects of computer systems, information handling, auxiliary
storage; design methods, computerized design systems, computer
graphics; application of structural theory; examination of a selected
series of structural engineering programs and programming systems.
- Engineering 82.564 (CVG7142)
Engineering Management
Engineering management principles, including program and project
organization, personnel management, major management systems,
project management, legal aspects of management, communication
problems, politics and management, management of the engineering
competition and union-management problems.
- 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 82.575-82.579 (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 and 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 Ground Transportation Systems and Vehicles
- 88.517 Experimental Stress Analysis
- 88.521 Methods of Energy Conversion
- 88.550 Advanced Vibration Analysis
- 88.561 Creative Problem Solving and Design
- 88.562 Failure Prevention (Fracture Mechanics and Fatigue)
- 88.568 Advanced Engineering Materials
Systems and Computer Engineering
- 94.501 Simulation and Modelling
Geography
- 45.415 Slope Development: Forms, Processes and Stability
- 45.417 Glacial Geomorphology
- 45.532 Soil Thermal and Hydrologic Properties
- 45.533 Periglacial Geomorphology
- 45.534 Aspects of Clay Mineralogy and Soil Chemistry
Public Administration
- 50.510 Management Accounting
- 50.511 Financial Management