Course Outlines

The objective of the MEng project is to provide the student with an opportunity to work on an engineering problem in some depth under the individual supervision of a faculty member. The student will carry out analytical and/or experimental work and prepare a detailed engineering report. The results of the project must be presented in a public lecture. Projects may be assigned in consultation with the candidate’s employer if applicable. [MEng Project Outline]

This course focuses on emerging topics and issues related to the impact of technology on sustainable transportation. The course also addresses the main engineering challenges to realizing efficient and green transit solutions in urban areas. The technological advances and limitations of intelligent transportation systems in active mobility are also examined. [CEE 9411 Course Outline]

This course is intended to introduce students to different technologies used in Smart Mobility. Special emphasis is given to how these relate to traffic operations, active mobility and road safety. We will explore issues related to impact of technologies on mobility and transportation infrastructure. The course is self contained with preliminary concepts explained in advance during the lectures. Students will learn basic Python Programming skills as they will interact, collaborate and work on topics relevant to the smart mobility and infrastructure. They will be exposed to the latest relevant research through papers readings, projects and presentations. Guest lecturers will be invited to present expert related materials, to bring practical experience to the classroom, and to promote interactive discussions on the subject. [CEE 9412 Course Outline]

Development of transportation networks and emerging technologies are growing rapidly for sustainable and efficient travels and mobility. This course will introduce students to the concepts and methods in this domain including basic concepts in transportation networks and minimization problems; equilibrium analysis of transportation networks; formulations of assignment problems; review of optimization algorithms; solving for user equilibrium; variable travel demand; trip distribution and traffic assignment models. [CEE 9413 Course Outline]

Objective of this course is to apprise the students about the basic theory of finite element method in linear analysis; to understand modelling aspects and techniques for 1-D, 2-D and 3-D problems; to learn about modelling of simple and complex structural systems, develop their mathematical and computational models and analyze the results; and to learn how to model structures using professional programs like Sap2000 and ETABS.
3 lecture hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9512 Course Outline]

The objective of this course is to enable structural engineers to comprehend the fundamental principles of masonry materials and behavior and apply them in the analysis, design of contemporary masonry structures. The course presents up-to-date information and experiences on masonry materials, testing methods, analysis techniques, and design of reinforced concrete masonry walls.
[CEE 9517 Course Outline]

The objective of this course is to provide essential knowledge required to manage and implement BIM technologies in construction process, provide professionals with relevant skills to use BIM in the design and construction of facilities, with an emphasis on structural and civil roles, and Use of BIM software in the process of preparing the models, analysis and documentation.
half course; one term. [CEE 9518 Course Outline]

Probability, statistics and reliability with special application to engineering; data analysis, probability distributions, sampling theory, probability of failure and elementary decision theory.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9520 Course Outline]

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.
2 lecture hours, 1 laboratory hour; half course; one term. [CEE 9522 Course Outline]

Land utilization by individuals in relation to geology, mineralogy, physico-chemistry and geotechnical properties of component soils. Cation exchange reactions and effects of pollutants on soil properties. Erodability of soils in relation to moisture content, mineralogy, climate and attack by moving water, mineral water interactions, multiphase flow, acid mine drainage, solution-mineral equilibria, geochemical modeling.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9523 Course Outline]

Much of the damage observed to buildings following severe windstorms is to the components and cladding (C&C). When major structural failures do occur, they are often closely related to the failure of a component or a cladding element. The objectives of this course are to provide an introduction wind effects on these building systems. Wind loads, and the response of C&C to these wind loads will be covered.
2 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9524 Course Outline]

The objectives of this course are to provide a general introduction to the atmospheric boundary layer and its properties, including basic concepts and general characteristics, governing equations, turbulence, the parameterization of turbulence and surface fluxes, measurements and data analysis, and the effects of surface roughness changes and topography.
3 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9525 Course Outline]

A study of meteorological and aerodynamic factors pertinent to wind loading, diffusion and snow loading problems. The aeroelastic behaviour of buildings and bridges.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9526 Course Outline]

Students are introduced to Computational Wind Engineering (CWE) focussing on modelling of wind flow in the built-environment with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Students are presented with the fundamentals and the current state-of-the-art of CWE application to assess wind effects of wind on building and bridge structures; familiarised with the terms, questions and problems encountered in the computational design of buildings and bridges for wind performance and to provide details about their possible solutions; introduced to computational evaluation of parameters useful to assess human comfort to wind effects and to secondary flows caused by tall buildings and other structures.
3 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9527 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.
2 hours; half course; one term. [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.
2 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9530 Course Outline]

In this course, students are introduced to environmental issues associated with buildings, passive cooling and heating building systems, as well as concepts of building performance indicators. Students are exposed to modeling methods to evaluate environmental loads and energy demand, to the use of building simulations in life cycle analysis for the selection of energy-efficient building components and systems, and to applicable regulatory and sustainability frameworks. Buildings can produce less greenhouse gas emissions and consume less energy while being comfortable, healthy, and economical through the proper application of sustainable design..
half course; one term. [CEE 9532 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. 2 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9533 Course Outline]

Design, planning, and management of civil infrastructure require understanding, simulation and prediction of hydrological and environmental components. This course gives students a working knowledge of probabilistic and statistical approaches to analyze and interpret growing observed and simulated spatial and temporal data (e.g. climate, hydrology, environment, ecology, geology, population etc.). The emphasis will be on developing analytical skills to simulate and predict natural disasters including floods and droughts in an uncertain and changing climate. Topics covered in this class will be supplemented with computer exercises, which will use graphical and statistical software packages such as Excel, R, MATLAB, and ArcGIS to perform numerical analysis of real-world data.
3 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9535 Course Outline]

This course is intended to extend the Civil Engineering Program in the area of structural engineering to include the design and analysis of wood structures. Recent advances have lead to an increase in the prevalence of engineered wood structures, notably multistory buildings. As wood is a green building material, it is expected that its use will continue to grow as efforts to address climate change expand. Students completing this course will be well positioned to lead the emergence of wood as a structural material and participate in the design and construction of wood structures. [CEE 9538 Course Outline]

Topics covered in this course include: analysis and behaviour of steel structures and industrial buildings; design of steel structures, understand the concepts of structure stability and lateral torsional buckling of steel beams, design of crane-supporting steel structures, plate girders, and steel connections.
3 lecture hours; half course; one term [CEE 9548 Course Outline]

Analysis and design of prestressed, partially prestressed, and reinforced concrete sections and members to resist flexural, shear, and axial loads. Serviceability and durability criteria. Slender columns. Strut-and-tie methods for design.
3 hours lecture/laboratory; half course; one term. [CEE 9549 Course Outline]

The objectives are for the student to become able to: Understand the fundamentals of structure dynamics; Perform seismic analysis of buildings manually and using computer modelling; Apply the seismic-resistant steel buildings; and Design seismic-resistant reinforced concrete buildings.
3 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9550 Course Outline]

This course introduces students to the concepts and applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to water resources management. The students will learn about the application of GIS to hydrologic and hydraulic issues. The course will add insight to a number of hydrologic and hydraulic problems using computer packages such as Arc Hydro, HEC-HMS, HEC-GeoHMS, HEC-RAS,HEC-GeoRAS and PCSWMM and ArcGIS modules. 
2 lecture hours/wk, 1 tutorial hour/wk; half course; one term. [CEE 9567 Course Outline]

To understand environmental impact assessment process applied to water resources engineering projects and the interdisciplinary nature of water resources engineering to protect water resources and the environment. To learn the design of water resources projects that have minimal effect on the natural environment, social or economic environment. 
2 lecture hours/wk, 1 tutorial hour/wk; half course; one term. [CEE 9568 Course Outline]

Cement hydration and microstructure. Rheology of cement-based materials. Mechanical properties and dimensional stability of concrete. Special concretes: high-performance concrete, self-compacting concrete, shotcrete, lightweight concrete, fibre-reinforced concrete, polymer-modified concrete. Introduction to advanced laboratory techniques including: scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, DSC-TGA analysis, calorimetry, mercury intrusion porosimetry, laser diffraction particle size analysis, and BET surface area measurement.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9571 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]

This course is intended to provide graduate students with practical experience in identifying mechanisms of degradation of concrete structures, understanding the potential causes of such degradation, and developing repair strategies that can efficiently and economically extend the service life of deteriorated structures.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9598 Course Outline]

Vibrations of structural systems subjected to stationary and nonstationary excitations; stochastic processes; power spectral density function; peak response of single and multi-degree of freedom systems and design code.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9603 Course Outline]

The objectives of the course are for the student to become able to:
Understand and derive the governing equations of motion of a single and multi-degree of freedom system.
Perform free and forced vibration response of a dynamical system under a general loading.
Develop the ability to characterize random variables and stationary stochastic processes.
Develop the ability to interpret and analyze random vibration data with the aid of auto-correlation function and power-spectral density functions.
Perform different system identification methods and analyze time-invariant linear dynamical systems.
Develop the ability to perform vibration testing including free vibration, forced vibration and ambient vibration testing to extract relevant system information of structures.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9610 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.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9619 Course Outline]

Principles and methods of prestressing, material properties, prestress losses, analysis and design of prestress members subjected to axial, flexural, combined axial and flexural, and shear, restraint action in indeterminate prestressed concrete structures, calculation of width of cracks and deflections, design of anchorage zones and shear interface of composite beams, fire resilience of prestressed concrete structures.
3 hours lecture/ laboratory; half course; one term. [CEE 9628 Course Outline]

To understand the issues of urban development related to stormwater quality and quantity control and learn the design of Stormwater Management (SWM) system using SWM Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Low Impact Developments (LIDs). Understand the interdisciplinary nature of stormwater pollution control and provide an insight into the design and modeling of a SWM system.
3 hours lecture/tutorial; half course; one term. [CEE 9632 Course Outline]

Application of thermodynamics and kinetics to understand chemical speciation, transformation and partitioning in natural aquatic systems.  Broad applicability in areas including ground and surface water quality and contamination as well as water and wastewater treatment.
3 hours lecture; one term; half course. [CEE 9642 Course Outline]

The course consists of an overview of state-of-the-art modeling and simulation approaches of wastewater systems. In this course students will be introduced to fundamental biological, chemical and physical process modeling concepts for the removal of water pollutants. Students will model different unit processes to elucidate the functioning of processes and communicate knowledge about the performance of the system and recognize limitations and uncertainty of the models. Students will acquire hands-on experience with simulation methods supported with state-of-the-art software(s) that include both commercial and open source, model-based design, optimization, and control of wastewater processes.
3 lecture hours per week; one term; half course. [CEE 9675 Course Outline]

The course develops graduate level concepts for the examination of drinking water quality and discussion of state of the art technologies for treating drinking water. The motivation for the course is the recent recognition that infrastructure and facilities for delivering safe, clean, and adequate supplies of drinking water to citizens are either inadequate or susceptible to failure. This course will involve MANDATORY visit and experimental work at the Walkerton Clean Water Centre’s Demonstration Facility (Pilot Plant). 
33 Lecture hours, 3 tutorial hours, 8 Pilot Plant/Laboratory hours over 3 weeks; half course; one term. [CEE 9692 Course Outline]

This is a graduate course focusing on the advanced fluid mechanical aspects of bluff body aerodynamics. While the theoretical, experimental and computational aspects of the aerodynamics around streamlined bodies are highly developed, flows around bluff bodies have remained more elusive to both theory and computation. This is largely because of the role of turbulence, very high Reynolds numbers, and the complex flow fields that occur in applications such as wind loads on structures. The purpose of the course is to aid the student in understanding the role of the various factors which impact the aerodynamic loads on bluff bodies in the wind, as well as to familiarize the student on the use of the data analysis methods used to understand bluff body flows. 
2 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9693 Course Outline]

This course covers an introduction to ancient, transit and modern masonry, evaluation and retrofit process, site investigation and analysis, retrofit techniques. The general aims are for the student to become able to:

The objectives of this course are for the student to become able to:
1. Introduce the students to the characteristics of ancient, transit and modern masonry materials and systems
2. Understand the evaluation and retrofit process of masonry structures
3. Perform site investigation and analysis of existing masonry structures
4. Recognize available techniques used to repair, strengthen or upgrade existing masonry structures on both the local member level and global system level.
5. Understand how to track building envelope response to structural and environmental loads using local and global monitoring techniques.
6. Recognize maintenance process and activities including cleaning of masonry walls
7. Learn how to develop a rational methodology for different types of masonry assessment and retrofit projects via case studies.

2 Lectures/week (3 hours each); half credit [CEE 9695 Course Outline]

This course is an advanced course in environmental design for waste disposal and includes a complete preliminary design of a landfill facility. The objectives of the course are for the students:

To develop an understanding of modern waste management practice and the role of landfilling in this context.
To recognize the wide range of technical and non-technical considerations associated with site selection, approval, design, construction and operation of a modern waste management facility and understand the impact of the engineering solution in a global and societal context.
To develop an understanding of the sources and characteristics of municipal solid waste and the chemical and biological characteristics of landfill leachate.
To understand the professional and ethical responsibility of an engineer with respect to waste management including consideration of social, economic, environmental, worker health and safety, and legislative and other regulatory issues.
To use state-of-the-art computer techniques for assessing the impact of proposed waste disposal sites on groundwater quality.
To apply mathematical, scientific, and engineering knowledge to the design of the preliminary design for a landfill facility to meet specified needs and legislative requirements.
To improve communication skills by discussing current waste disposal issues and expressing and defending opinions before their peers.
To obtain experience working as a member of a design team and hence prepare for the engineering workplace.
To appreciate the rapidly changing nature of knowledge and technology in this field and the need for life-long learning.

[CEE 9696 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.
2 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9702 Course Outline]

Bending of thin plate. Analysis of thick plates; Mindlin plate theory; locking phenomenon and reduced integration technique. Analysis of thin shells; theory; 2-D shell elements. Analysis of thick shells; degenerated shell elements. Buckling problems; concepts of bifurcation and limit loads; linearized buckling analysis using the finite element method. Finite element analysis of dynamic problems. Introduction to non-linear finite element analysis; large displacement formulation.
3 hours; half course; one term. [CEE 9719 Course Outline]

Pipelines are the safest and most economical means to transport large quantity of hydrocarbons.  There are about 500,000 km and 100,000 km of onshore natural gas transmission pipelines in the US and Canada, respectively. The safe operation of these vast pipeline networks is the top  priority for the pipeline operators in the US and Canada, and has significant social and economic implications. The design and integrity assessment of pipelines is a multi-disciplinary undertaking and involves a broad spectrum of engineering knowledge such as basic structural mechanics, elasticity and plasticity, soil mechanics, fracture mechanics, fatigue, reliability and risk assessments, and corrosion. 
2 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9720 Course Outline]

The objective of the course is for students to develop a hands-on understanding of the field of data science, with a focus on opportunities and more importantly limitations pertaining to applications in geotechnical engineering. Students will work in groups on two projects over the course of the term, which will be scoped with guidance from the course instructor. The projects will be peer-assessed by other groups.
2 hour lecture; 2 hour lab; half course; one term. [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.
3 lecture hours; 1 tutorial hour; half course; one term. [CEE 9870 Course Outline]

This course is intended to introduce the field of offshore geotechnical engineering and to apply fundamental soil mechanics principles to problems associated with this environment. To present the behaviour of offshore soils, the interaction of these soils and structures during cyclic loading events due to wave and wind loading. To show offshore geotechnical engineering systems and the approaches required for their design. On completion of the course, students will have the necessary knowledge and skills for them to approach the design of a wide range of offshore geotechnical engineering problems.
2 hours lecture; half course; one term. [CEE 9880 Course Outline]