Civil Engineering Syllabi & Exam Descriptions

2016 Edition

Group A

Compulsory exams – Six required

16-Civ-A1 Elementary Structural Analysis

Computation of reactions, shearing forces, normal forces, bending moments, and deformations in determinate structures. Influence lines for moving loads. Moment distribution, slope deflection, and energy methods for indeterminate structures without sidesway.

16-Civ-A2 Elementary Structural Design

Limit states design concepts. Loading due to use and occupancy, snow, wind, and earthquake. Design of tension members, beams, and columns in timber and steel. Design of timber connections and simple welded and bolted connections in steel. Design of determinate reinforced concrete beams and columns.

16-Civ-A3 Elementary Environmental Engineering

Population, economic growth, industrialization, urbanization and energy-use, as causes of environmental pollution.

The characteristics of particles, chemistry of solutions and gases, material balances, reaction kinetics, microbiology and ecology, as related to the environment.

The application of environmental principles (technical and non-technical) to: water resource management, water and wastewater treatment, air pollution control, solid waste management, environmental impact assessment, sustainable development and environmental ethics.

16-Civ-A4 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis

Materials: Origin of soils, soil identification and classification. Compaction. Permeability, pore water pressure and effective stress. Compressibility and consolidation. Shear strength, stress paths, and critical states. Frost action. Associated laboratory tests.

Analysis: Elastic stress distribution, settlements, times of settlements. Introductory analysis of lateral earth pressures, bearing capacity, and slopes. Seepage; well flow and confined 2-D flow problems.

16-Civ-A5 Hydraulic Engineering

Dimensional analysis and hydraulic models. Application of continuity, momentum and energy principles. Steady, closed conduit flow in single pipes and pipe networks. Steady, open-channel flow under uniform and gradually varied conditions, control sections, hydraulic jumps, and energy dissipaters. Hydraulic transients; surges and water hammer in closed conduits, surface waves in open channels. Concepts and principles of turbo machinery, especially centrifugal pumps; similarity relations and cavitation; operation of pump-and-pipe systems.

Introductory concepts of hydraulic structures, including environmental aspects of hydraulic works and water quality management.

16-Civ-A6 Highway Design, Construction, and Maintenance

Route surveying. Geometric design, including horizontal and vertical alignment and intersections. Properties of road-making materials. Asphalt mix design. Structural design for flexible and concrete pavements. Earthworks and drainage. Pavement management, including condition evaluation, maintenance, and rehabilitation.

Group B

Elective Exams (three required)

16-Civ-B1 Advanced Structural Analysis

Analysis of statically indeterminate structures, including trusses, beams, frames, and arches. Formulation of flexibility (force) and stiffness (displacement), and matrix methods of analysis.

16-Civ-B2 Advanced Structural Design

Limit states design of steel members and connections in continuous framing; of slabs and footings in reinforced concrete, of pre-stressed concrete members and assemblies; and of composite steel-concrete construction. Influence of creep and shrinkage in concrete construction.

16-Civ-B3 Geotechnical Design

Characterization of natural deposits, subsurface investigation, and field measurements. Design procedures for settlement and stability of shallow and deep foundation systems in soil and rock. Design of excavations and retaining structures; slopes and embankments. Geoenvironmental design topics covering seepage through dams and landfills and the control of seepage through the use of filters and low permeability layers including the use of geosynthetic liners and filters.

16-Civ-B4 Engineering Hydrology

Hydrologic processes: precipitation and snow melt, infiltration, evaporation and evapotranspiration, ground-water flow, runoff. Point and area estimates of precipitation. Stream flow measurement. Runoff hydrographs, unit hydrographs, conceptual models of runoff, and basics of hydrologic modeling. Channel system: reservoir and lake routing, channel routing and flood wave behavior Statistical methods: frequency and probability with application to precipitation, floods, and droughts.

Urban and highway drainage structure design.

16-Civ-B5 Water Supply and Wastewater Treatment

Physical, chemical, and microbiological characteristics of water and wastewater. Regulation of water quality for supply and discharge, elements of receiving water characterization and specification of effluent limits. Elements of water and wastewater treatment including, coagulation, flocculation, filtration, settling, softening, disinfection, fluoridation, taste and odour control and biological processes. Sludge disposal.

Quantity and quality estimation of water and wastewater. Water storage and distribution systems. Wastewater collection systems.

16-Civ-B6 Urban and Regional Planning

The context of urban planning; basic planning studies, including population, economic, and land-use studies. The strategy, development, and engineering associated with comprehensive plans and full infrastructure development including housing, industry, transportation, recreation, water and sewerage, social service components. The use of analytical procedures and data systems. Plan implementation measures and controls, including zoning, land subdivision, and urban renewal. The role of the planner in directing and monitoring urban and regional development.

16-Civ-B7 Transportation Planning and Engineering

Socio-economic impacts on transportation, demand modelling. Characteristics of transportation systems; rail, road, air, water, and pipelines. Transportation systems in Canada. Characteristics of traffic flow, queuing theory, capacity analysis, space-time diagrams. Urban traffic management, traffic signals, pedestrians, accidents. Intelligent transportation systems.

16-Civ-B8 Management of Construction

Size and structure of Canadian design and construction sectors. Methods of project delivery, project management, and organizational form. Site investigation. Estimating and bidding, project planning, scheduling and control, activity planning. Safety practices and regulations, insurance, quality assurance and control. Labour relations. Contract administration. Litigation.

16-Civ-B9 The Finite Element Method

Introductory concepts in discretization techniques for solving Civil Engineering problems. The finite element method including; derivation of element and global force-displacement equations employing both the variational and direct stiffness methods, criteria for selection of approximating functions, available finite elements, general constitutive relations, substructure analysis and constraint equations, numerical methods of solution. Finite element applications to structural, geotechnical, and hydraulic engineering analysis.

16-Civ-B10 Traffic Engineering

Introductory concepts in traffic engineering and control. Vehicle – driver – roadway environment; theories of traffic flow; application of queuing theory, capacity and delay analysis of unsignalized and signalized intersections; design optimization of isolated and co-ordinated traffic signal timing plans; traffic simulation model calibration and application; and field data collection and analysis. State-of-practice analysis and design methods.

16-Civ-B11 Structural Materials

Properties and uses of non-renewable and recycled materials; energy efficient design and green material selection. Linear and nonlinear material behavior, time-dependent behavior; structural and engineering properties of structural metals; behavior of wood; production and properties of concrete; bituminous materials, ceramics, plastics; advanced composite materials; cements and aggregates: types, chemistry, microstructure. Sustainability and durability issues of structural materials.

16-Civ-B12 Risk and Safety in Civil Engineering

Introductory concepts in fundamentals of uncertainty, risk, risk analysis, safety and decision-making in civil engineering. Risk and safety issues related to planning, design, construction/implementation and operations in the context of environmental, transportation, structures, geotechnical, natural hazards or other civil engineering disciplines.

16-Civ- B13 Numerical Methods

Numerical solution of systems of linear and non-linear algebraic equations, eigenvalue problems. Numerical solutions of systems of ordinary and partial differential equations. Initial value and boundary value problems. Finite difference and finite element methods. Numerical stability.

16-Civ- B14 Open Channel Hydraulics

Analysis and characteristics of flow in open channels (natural and artificial); channel design considerations including uniform flow (rivers, sewers), flow measuring devices (weirs, flumes), gradually varied flow (backwater and other flow profiles, flood routing), rapidly varied flow (hydraulic jump, spillways), and channel design problems (geometric considerations, scour, channel stabilization, sediment transport).

16-Civ- B15 Coastal Engineering

Basic wave theory, wave measurement, wave statistics, wave record analysis, wave transformation, tides, water levels and storm surges. Design of breakwaters and ocean structures; hydraulic and numerical coastal models. Design of a breakwater, design of a hydraulic model of the breakwater and testing with the hydraulic model to determine breakwater stability. Environmental considerations, coastal zone management, coastal sediment transport and design in the coastal zone.

16-Civ- B16 Advanced Environmental Engineering

Population, economic growth, industrialization, urbanization and energy-use, as causes of environmental pollution. Mass and energy balance for environmental engineering systems under steady state and unsteady state conditions. Physical and transport properties of homogeneous and heterogeneous mixtures. Contaminant partitioning and transport in air, water and solids. Characteristics of particles, chemistry of solutions and gases, material balances, reaction kinetics, microbiology and ecology, as related to the environment. Application of environmental principles (technical and non-technical) to: water resource management, water and wastewater treatment, air pollution control, solid waste management, environmental impact assessment, and environmental ethics. Thermal pollution, noise pollution, greenhouse effect, acid precipitation, ozone depletion, air toxics, and ground-level ozone and fine particulates (photochemical smog). Sustainable development, life cycle analysis, and principles of environmental quality objectives, standards and guidelines.

Applicable federal and provincial environmental regulations. Analysis of environmental impact using technical and non-technical parameters. Environmental impact assessment legislation and regulatory framework. Environmental impact assessment applied to solid and liquid waste management, effluent control, air pollution control, urban development, and transportation systems. Environmental audits. Introduction to geographical information systems (GIS). Environmental management systems (EMS) ISO 14000/14001 standards, and applications. Principles of sustainable development and implications of finite biosphere and complexities for engineering design and decision-making. Design of controlled environments to enhance health and protection of natural resources for sustainable development. Resource problems and design with ecological, economic, demographic and social dimensions. Techniques to integrate knowledge and define policy. Risk analysis. Life cycle analysis. Risk management.

16-Civ-B17 Intelligent Transportations Systems

Modern techniques to optimize the performance of a transportation system with emphasis on traffic networks in congested urban areas; Intelligent Transportation Systems; analysis of advanced traffic management and information systems; history of ITS; ITS user services and subsystems; ITS interoperability and system architecture; enabling technologies for ITS; introductory concepts in telecommunication technologies for ITS; introductory concepts in control theory for transportation systems; traffic flow modelling; static and dynamic transportation network analysis; incident detection; freeway control; and surface street network control.

16-Civ-B18 Geomatics

Satellite-based positioning systems (GPS); observations and development of mathematical models used for absolute and differential static and kinematic positioning; error analysis; quantitative remote sensing methods using optical, infrared and microwave radiation; physical principles, including governing equations; imaging system geometries; space and airborne sensor systems; radiometric corrections, including calibration and atmospheric correction; geometric corrections; geographic Information Systems (GIS); characteristics of GIS data structures and database management systems; applications to map projections; geodetic datums; coordinate systems; georeferencing; spatial modelling and analysis.

16-Civ-B19 Foundation Engineering

Design of spread footings, rafts and pile foundations according to modern professional practice. Procedures for estimation of bearing capacity and settlements, both immediate and long term, design of structures associated with foundation excavations, drainage and site developments such as braced cuts, retaining walls and anchored sheet pile bulkheads. The role of geological history, penetration testing and simple index properties in prediction of foundation performance.

16-Civ-B20 Building Engineering and Services

Functioning of the building enclosure: behaviour of building elements and their sub-assemblies under differential temperature and pressure stresses; fundamentals of acoustics; nature and use of building materials; response of building materials to climatic cycles, radiation, precipitation, heating and cooling; principles of building service systems, including electrical, gas, communications, service-water supply and distribution; introduction to plans, codes, and standards for utility distribution systems.

The range of requirements that drive a building’s design including architecture, engineering, constructability, building codes, and budget. The influence of technology, energy conservation, and environmental constraints on built form. Integration of structural and mechanical systems into building types including residential, office, commercial, and retail.

16-Civ-B21 Advanced Structural Mechanics

Stress and equilibrium conditions, strain and compatibility conditions, stress-strain relations and yield/failure criteria are considered in the context of civil engineering materials. Two-and three-dimensional elasticity theory is developed, with an introduction to the use of tensor notation. Advanced topics in bending, shear and torsion of beams are also covered, as is elementary plate bending theory. Energy methods including virtual work, potential energy, strain energy, and related approaches. Importance of dynamic loads in the design of structures.

16-Civ-B22 Dynamics of Engineering Structures

Structural dynamics related to practical analysis of earthquake-resisting structures. Analysis of single-degree systems include: free vibration, response to time-dependent forces, response to earthquake support motions, response spectra, hysteresis models, and computation of inelastic response. Concepts of energy dissipation, ductility, and inelastic displacement demands. Multi-degree building systems. Earthquake design provisions in national codes including: design loads, and special provisions for earthquake-resisting reinforced concrete and structural steel systems and members.