Undergraduate Course: Civil Engineering 1 (CIVE08001)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course is an introduction to the civil engineering profession. Civil engineers design, build and maintain infrastructure. We work on bridges, tunnels, railways, water supply systems, buildings and flood defences and help tackle many of the big challenges (such as population growth and climate change) that face society. Civil engineering is a creative discipline that tackles complex problems, underpinned by theory, knowledge, and experience.
Civil Engineering 1 starts to develop your technical knowledge by describing theoretical tools that are essential to civil engineers. These include structural analysis (to understand how bridges and buildings stand up), together with methods that describe of soils, water, transport, fire, and construction. The course also introduces other tools required in the profession, including design, sustainability and ethics. Students tackle three projects during the course: a road design, a bridge assessment, and a large-scale hydropower scheme design. These introduce the challenges of solving open-ended design problems, and the benefits of group work. |
| Course description |
A. Structural Engineering
Static equilibrium is the first fundamental building block needed by a structural engineer and is the main focus of the structural engineering lectures.
- Static equilibrium, force resolution, couples and moments (2D and 3D), overall stability.
- Free body diagrams, internal forces and moments.
- Application of free body diagrams to understand the forces within different types of structure (e.g. buildings, bridges, towers, dams).
- Different types of structural form (trusses, beams, three-pin arches, suspension and cable-stayed structures).
- An introduction to structural materials and assessment of structural strength (based on a simple maximum stress criteria).
B. Civil Engineering
- Water: the hydrological cycle, water treatment, waste water, flooding, groundwater and contamination.
- Soils: soil as a construction material, slopes, embankments; soil as foundations, site investigation.
- Transport systems: highways, rail.
- Fire safety engineering.
- Civil engineering construction.
C. Introductions to other areas of Civil Engineering
- The civil engineering profession.
- Health, safety and welfare.
- Risk.
- Ethics in civil engineering.
- Sustainability in civil engineering.
- The engineer's toolbox: the role of sketches, drawings, calculations, communication, and computers in civil engineering.
The topics introduced in the lectures will be explored and practised in the tutorial sessions. These will be based on tutorial question sheets that students tackle in their own time, so that they can be discussed during the timetabled tutorial session. The tutorials will not be marked or assessed, but example solutions will be provided that allow you to self-assess your work.
D. Projects
Three projects will be tackled on road design, bridge assessment, and hydropower scheme design. These projects involve group work within the timetabled hours, and hence you must attend all of the sessions.
The first two projects involve the design, planning, and costing of a new road, and the assessment of a footbridge. They will be issued during the Week 1 tutorial session, and are due to be submitted in Week 5.
The third project is more substantial, and involves the design of a large-scale hydropower scheme in the Scottish Highlands. This is a substantial design project for which there are many possible solutions. The project is an introduction to the open-ended and iterative nature of major design projects: the challenge is to not only find a solution that works, but to refine the design to find the optimal solution. This project will run from Week 6 to the end of the semester.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 30,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 9,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 20,
Formative Assessment Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 9,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
127 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
65 %,
Coursework
35 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
35% coursework; 65% Degree Examination
Coursework Breakdown:
Bridge Project - 20%
Road Project - 20%
Hydropower Project - 60% |
| Feedback |
Facilitated discussion is used to provide feedback on students' tutorial work and to help them develop good learning methods.
Written proforma feedback is provided upon design project work. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 2:00 | | | Resit Exam Diet (August) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe the civil engineering profession.
- Interpret and illustrate basic concepts in structural engineering, including static equilibrium and free body diagrams.
- Interpret and illustrate basic concepts of civil engineering, including the water cycle, water and wastewater treatment, soils in civil engineering, road and rail transport systems and fire safety.
- Tackle an open-ended design problem that does not have a single correct answer.
- Use basic drawing, team working, written and verbal communication skills to solve engineering problems.
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Reading List
These books are suitable for 1st, 2nd and part of 3rd year structures courses:
Seward, D. Understanding structures, Analysis, Materials, Design.
Palgrave MacMillan, 4rd edition.
M.S.Williams Structures, Theory and Analysis Macmillian Press
T.H.G.Megson Structural and Stress Analysis Butterworth-Heinemann
R.C.Hibbeler Mechanics of Materials Pearson Education
J.M. Gere Mechanics of Materials Thomson
An excellent background reading book (conceptual material without equations and therefore is an easy and valuable read):
J.E.Gordon Structures or why things don't fall down Penguin (£7)
These books are suitable for 1st, 2nd and 3rd year water and environmental engineering courses:
Cornwell, David A (1998) Introduction to Environmental Engineering. Boston, Mass. : WCB McGraw-Hill
Mihelcic, J.R., Zimmerman, J.B. (2010) Environmental Engineering: Fundamentals, Sustainability, Design. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Nazaroff, W.W., Alvarez-Cohen, L. (2001) Environmental Engineering Science. John Wiley & Sons, Inc |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Additional Class Delivery Information |
Attendance at all timetabled sessions is necessary to complete the design project work and is recorded. |
| Keywords | civil engineering,design,analysis |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Timothy Stratford
Tel: (0131 6)50 5722
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Megan Inch
Tel: (0131 6)50 5687
Email: |
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