Civil and Environmental Engineering
All courses are 3 credits unless otherwise noted.
CE 501. Professional Practice
Professional practices in engineering. Legal issues of business organizations, contracts and liability; business practice of staffing, fee structures, accounts receivable, negotiation and dispute resolution, and loss prevention; marketing and proposal development; project management involving organizing and staffing, budgeting, scheduling, performance and monitoring, and presentation of deliverables; professionalism, ethics and responsibilities.
CE 510. Structural Mechanics
Analysis of structural components: uniform and nonuniform torsion of structural shapes, analysis of determinate and indeterminate beams (including elastic foundation conditions) by classical methods, finite difference equations, numerical integrations, series approximation, elastic stability of beams and frames, lateral stability of beams, beams-columns, analysis of frames including the effect of axial compression. This course is offered by special arrangement only, based on expressed student interest.
CE 511. Structural Dynamics
Analysis and design of beams and frames under dynamic loads; dynamics of continuous beams, multistory building frames, floor systems and bridges; dynamic analysis and design of structures subjected to wind and earthquake loads; approximate methods of analysis and practical design applications.
CE 519. Advanced Structural Analysis
Energy methods in structural analysis, concepts of force method and displacement methods, methods of relaxation and numerical techniques for the solution of problems in buildings, and long-span structures and aircraft structural systems. Effects of secondary stress in structures. Course may be offered by special arrangement. (Prerequisites: Structural mechanics and undergraduate courses in structural analysis, differential equations.)
CE 523. Advanced Matrix Structural Analysis
Matrix methods of structural analysis, displacement and flexibility methods; substructuring, tall buildings, energy methods, finite elements, including plane stress and strain elements, approximate methods, solution of linear systems.
CE 527/ME 5327. Impact Strength of Materials
This course provides the student with a basic understanding of the mechanics of impact and contact as well as the behavior of materials subjected to dynamic loadings. Topics will include elastic and plastic stress waves in rods; longitudinal, torsional and flexure waves; shock waves; impulsively loaded beams and plates; impact of rough bodies in three dimensions, impact of bodies with compliance, impact of slender deformable rods, continuum modeling of contact regions and progressive collapse of structures.
CE 529/ME 5329. Impact Finite Element Analysis
Modern practical contact/impact problems like the design of auotobiles, aircraft, ships, packaging, etc. depend on the use of nonlinear dynamic large-deformation high-strain rate explicit finite element computer programs. The purpose of this course is to provide the student with background sufficient for them to understand the workings of such programs and the ability to use such programs to build models and perform analyses of contact/impact problems. Topics will include explicit time integration, penalty and constraint contact methods, under-integrated element formulations, hourglass control, developing finite element models and performing and interpreting finite element anlaysis results.
CE 531. Advanced Design of Steel Structures
Advanced design of steel members and connections; ultimate strength design in structural steel; codes and specifications; loads and working stresses; economic proportions; and buckling of slender elements and built-up sections, torsion, lateral-torsional buckling, beam-columns, design for lateral forces, and connections for building frames.
CE 532. Advanced Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures
Advanced design of reinforced concrete members and structural systems; effect of continuity; codes and specifications; ultimate strength theory of design; economic proportions and constructibility considerations; and deep beams, torsion, beam-columns, two-way slabs, design for lateral forces, and beam-to-column joints.
CE 534. Structural Design for Fire Conditions
The development of structural analysis and design methods for steel and reinforced concrete members subjected to elevated temperatures caused by building fires. Beams, columns and rigid frames will be covered. The course is based on research conducted during the past three decades in Europe, Canada and the United States. Course may be offered by special arrangement. (Prerequisites: Knowledge of statically indeterminate structural analysis, structural steel design and reinforced concrete design.)
CE 535. Integration of Design and Construction
As an interactive case study of the project development process, student groups design a facility and prepare a construction plan, including cost and schedule, to build the project. The students present their design-build proposal to participating industrial clients. Emphasis is on developing skills to generate, evaluate and select design alternatives that satisfy the needs of the owner and the constraints imposed by codes and regulations, as well as by the availability of construction resources. Emphasis is also in developing team-building skills and efficient communication. Computer-based methods for design, construction cost estimating and scheduling, and personal communications are extensively used. The interactive case study is specifically chosen to balance the content between design, construction engineering and management. Students taking this course are expected to have a background in at least two of these disciplines.
CE 536. Construction Failures: Analysis and Lessons
This course develops an understanding of the integration process of technical, human, capital, social and institutional aspects that drive the life cycle of a construction project. The study of failures provides an excellent vehicle to find ways for the improvement of planning, design and construction of facilities. Student groups are required to complete a term project on the investigation of a failure and present their findings and recommendations. This investigation includes not only the technical analysis of the failure but also requires a comprehensive analysis of the organizational, contractual and regulatory aspects of the process that lead to the failure. The course uses case studies to illustrate different types of failure in the planning, design, construction and operation of constructed facilities. Students taking this course are expected to have a sound academic or practical background in the disciplines mentioned above.
CE 538. Pavement Analysis and Design for Highways and Airports
This course is designed for civil engineers and will provide a detailed survey of analysis and design concepts for flexible and rigid pavements for highways and airports. The materials will cover elastic and inelastic theories of stress pavement components and currently used design methods, i.e., Corps of Engineers, AASHTO, etc. The use of finite element methods for pavement stress and deformation analysis will be presented. A review of pavement rehabilitation methods and processes will be presented. (Prerequisites: differential equations, construction materials, soil mechanics, computer literacy.)
CE 542. Geohydrology
This course addresses engineering problems associated with the migration and use of subsurface water. An emphasis is placed on the geology of water-bearing formations including the study of pertinent physical and chemical characteristics of soil and rock aquifers. Topics include principles of groundwater movement, geology of groundwater occurrence, regional groundwater flow, subsurface characterization, water well technologies, groundwater chemistry and unsaturated flow.
CE 543. Highway Design and Traffic Safety
This course is an in-depth study of highway safety as it affects the geometric design of highways. Topics include the classification and purposes of roadway systems, developing safety design criteria, the design of safe vertical and horizontal alignments, proper selection of cross-sectional elements, providing adequate sight distance, selection of appropriate speed limits, control of speeds, and other highway design issues. While there is no formal prerequisite, the course presumes a basic knowledge of undergraduate highway design as taught in CE 3050. This course is usually offered in alternate spring semesters.
CE 553. Advanced Foundation Engineering
This course covers advanced methods of subsurface exploration and recent developments in prediction of bearing capacity and settlement of shallow foundations. It includes design of mat foundations, analysis and design of pile and drilled shaft foundations, and discussion of case studies. The course content is determined in part by the student’s interests and often also includes design of lateral support systems, reinforced earth, dewatering systems and buried structures.
CE 560. Advanced Principles of Water Treatment
Theory and practice of drinking water treatment. Water quality and regulations; physical and chemical unit processes including disinfection, coagulation, clarification, filtration, membranes, air stripping, adsorption, softening, corrosion control, and other advanced processes.
CE 561. Advanced Principles of Wastewater Treatment
Theory and practice of wastewater treatment. Natural purification of streams; screening; sedimentation; flotation, thickening; aerobic treatment methods; theory of aeration; anaerobic digestion; disposal methods of sludge including vacuum filtration, centrifugation and drying beds; wet oxidation; removal of phosphate and nitrogen compounds; and tertiary treatment methods.
CE 562. Biosystems in Environmental Engineering
Application of microbial and biochemical understanding to river and lake pollution; natural purification processes; biological conversion of important elements such as C, N, S, O and P; biological aspects of wastewater treatment; disease-producing organisms with emphasis on water-borne diseases; and quantitative methods used in indicator organism counts and disinfection.
CE 5621. Open Channel Hydraulics
This course begins with fundamentals of free surface flow, and includes engineering and environmental applications. Development of basic principles, including specific energy, momentum and critical flow. Rapidly varied, uniform and gradually varied steady flow phenomena and analysis. Density-stratified flow. Similitude considerations for hydraulic models. Optional topics: dispersion and heat transfer to atmosphere. Course may be offered by special arrangement.
CE 563. Industrial Waste Treatment
Legislation; the magnitude of industrial wastes; effects on streams, sewers and treatment units; physical, chemical and biological characteristics; pretreatment methods; physical treatment methods; chemical treatment methods; biological treatment methods; and wastes from specific industries. Lab includes characterization and treatment of typical industrial wastes.
CE 565. Surface Water Quality Modeling
This course provides a quantitative analysis of the fate and transport of contaminants in surface water systems. Water quality models are developed using a mass balance approach to describe the transport, dispersal, and chemical/biological reactions of substances introduced into river and lake systems. Topics covered include water quality standards, model formulation and application, waste load allocation, and water quality parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, and toxic chemicals.
CE 566. Groundwater Flow and Pollution
This course provides a review of the basic principles governing ground water flow and solute transport, and examines the models available for prediction and analysis including computer models. Topics covered include mechanics of flow in porous media; development of the equations of motion and of conservation of solute mass; analytical solutions; and computer-based numerical approaches and application to seepage, well analysis, artificial recharge, groundwater pollution, salinity intrusion and regional groundwater analyses.
CE 567. Hazardous Waste: Containment, Treatment and Prevention
This course provides a survey of the areas associated with hazardous waste management. The course materials deal with identification of hazardous waste legislation, containment, storage, transport, treatment and other hazardous wastes management issues. Topics include hazardous movement and containment strategies, barrier design considerations, hazardous waste risk assessment, spill response and clean-up technologies, centralized treatment facilities, on-site treatment, in situ treatment, and industrial management and control measures. Design of selected containment and treatment systems, and a number of industrial case studies are also covered. This course is offered to students with varying backgrounds. Students interested in taking this course must identify a specific problem that deals with either regulation, containment of hazardous waste, treatment of hazardous waste or industrial source reduction of hazardous waste. This problem becomes the focal point for in-depth study. The arrangement of topics between the students and the instructor must be established by the third week. A knowledge of basic chemistry is assumed.
CE 570. Contaminant Fate and Transport
This course introduces the concepts of contaminant fate and transport processes in the environment, with consideration to exchanges across phase boundaries and the effects of reactions on environmental transport. Topics include equilibrium conditions at environmental interfaces, partitioning and distribution of contaminants in the environment, transport and exchange processes in surface water; dispersion, sorption, and the movement of non-aqueous phase liquids in ground-water, and local, urban and regional scale transport processes in the atmosphere.
CE 571. Water Chemistry
This course covers the topics of chemical equilibrium, acid/base chemistry, the carbonate system, solubility of metals, complexation and oxidation-reduction reactions. These principles will be applied to understanding of the chemistry of surface waters and groundwaters, and to understanding the behavior of chemical processes used in water and wastewater treatment.
CE 572. Physical and Chemical Treatment Processes
This course presents the physical and chemical principles for the treatment of dissolved and particulate contaminants in water and wastewater. These concepts will provide an understanding of the design of commonly used unit operations in treatment systems. Applications will be discussed as well. Topics covered include water characteristics, reactor dynamics, filtration, coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, adsorption, gas stripping, disinfection, and chemical oxidation.
CE 573. Treatment System Hydraulics
Hydraulic principles of water, domestic wastewater and industrial wastewater systems. Hydraulic analysis and design of collection, distribution and treatment systems and equipment. Topics covered include pipe and channel flow, pump characteristics and selection, friction loss, corrosion and material selection.
CE 574. Water Resources Management
This course provides an introduction to water resources engineering and management, with an emphasis on water resources protection and water supply. Course content addresses technical aspects as well as the legal, regulatory and policy aspects of water resources management. Topics include surface water hydrology and watershed protection, development of water supplies, conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water, management of reservoirs and rivers, the role of probability and statistics, systems analysis techniques, and planning of water resources projects.
CE 580. Advanced Project Management
This course develops an understanding of the managerial principles and techniques used throughout a construction project as they are applied to its planning, preconstruction and construction phases. The course emphasizes the integrative challenges of the human, physical and capital resources as experienced from the owner’s point of view in the preconstruction phase of a project. Through assignments and case studies, the course reviews the complex environment of the construction industry and processes, project costing and economic evaluation, project organization, value engineering, time scheduling, contracting and risk allocation alternatives, contract administration, and cost and time control techniques. (Prerequisites: CE 3020, CE 3021, CE 3023, or equivalent.)
CE 581. Real Estate Development
Principles of real estate development, emphasizing the system approach to the process of conception, design, construction and operation; organization and control systems for real estate development, value and decision analysis.
CE 582. Engineering and Construction Information Systems
This course provides an understanding of the various subjects involved in the use, design, development, implementation and maintenance of computer- based information systems in the construction industry. Theoretical and hands-on review of basic building blocks of information and decision support systems including user interfaces, database management systems, object-oriented approaches and multimedia. Applications include project scheduling and cost control, budgeting, project risk analysis, construction accounting, materials management and procurement systems, project document tracking and resource management. Commercial software—such as PRIMAVERA Project Planner, TIMBERLINE, and spreadsheets and databases— is extensively used. Students are required to complete a term project reviewing an existing information system and presenting recommendations for improvement. (Prerequisites: A knowledge of the material covered in CE 580, CE 584 and CE 585 is expected). Course may be offered by special arrangement.
CE 583. Contracts and Law for Civil Engineers
An introduction to the legal aspects of construction project management, emphasis on legal problems directly applied to the practice of project management, contracts and specifications documents, codes and zoning laws, and labor laws.
CE 584. Advanced Cost Estimating Procedures
This course examines cost estimating as a key process in planning, designing and constructing buildings. Topics include the analysis of the elements of cost estimating; database development and management, productivity, unit costs, quantity surveys and pricing, and the application of these tools in business situations; marketing, sales, bidding, negotiating, value engineering, cost control, claims management and cost history. Computerization is evaluated as an enhancement to the process.
CE 585. Information Technology in the Integration of Civil Engineering
This course provides an understanding and hands-on experience of state-of-the-art information technology and its application to the planning, design, construction and management of civil engineering projects. These technologies include integrated database management systems, electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic media for date input/output (bar coding, voice recognition, image processing), networks and knowledge-based systems. The course format includes formal lectures, computer laboratory sessions and a class project developed collaboratively by the students throughout the term. Using information technology, the class develops a package that includes drawings, specifications, cost estimate and schedule of a civil engineering project. (Prerequisites: basic knowledge of computers and construction project management.)
CE 586. Building Systems
This course introduces design concepts, components, materials and processes for major building projects. The topics analyze the choice of foundations, structures, building enclosures and other major building subsystems as affected by environmental and legal conditions, and market and project constraints. Consideration is given to the functional and physical interfaces among building subsystems. Emphasis is given to the processes through which design decisions are made in the evolution of a building project. (Prerequisite: CE 3023, or equivalent.)
CE 590. Special Problems
2 to 4 credits
Individual investigations or studies of any phase of civil engineering as may be selected by the student and approved by the faculty member who supervises the work.
CE 591 Environmental Engineering Seminar
Participation of students in discussing topics of interest to environmental engineers.
CE 592. Constructed Facilities Seminar
Participation of students, faculty and recognized experts outside of WPI in developing modern and advanced topics of interest in the constructed facilities area.
CE 593. Advanced Project
This capstone project is intended for students completing the M.E. degree. The student is expected to identify all aspects of the M.E. curriculum and an integrative, descriptive systems approach. The project activity requires the student to describe the development, design construction, maintenance and operation process for an actual facility; to evaluate the performance of the facility with respect to functional and operational objectives; and to examine alternative solutions. Specific areas of study are selected by the student and approved by the faculty member. The work may be accomplished by individuals or small groups of students working on the same project. (Prerequisite: consent of instructor.)
CE 599. M.S. Thesis
Research study at the M.S. level.
CE 699. Ph.D. Thesis
Research study at the Ph.D. level.
