Course Descriptions
Department of Civil Engineering
Civil Engineering: S. D. Anderson, C. P. Aubeny, R. L. Autenrieth, L. R. Barroso, B. Batchelor, W. L. Beason, G. Biscontin, J. S. Bonner, J. M. Bracci, J. L. Briaud, K. Brumbelow, M. W. Burris, A. T. Cahill*, K. Chang, H. C. Chen, M. Y. Corapcioglu, J. A. Cunningham, C. L. Dudek, B. L. Edge, A. Epps Martin, D. N. Ford, G. T. Fry, P. Gardoni, R. W. Hann, Jr., H. E. Hawkins, Jr., M. B. D. Hueste, R. W. James, H. L. Jones, P. B. Keating, C. H. Kim, M. H. Kim, T. A. Kramer, D. N. Little, Jr., L. L. Lowery, Jr., J. Lord, P. J. Lynett, R. L. Lytton, E. Masad, D. A. Maxwell, R. S. Mercier, C. J. Messer, J. R. Morgan, J. M. Niedzwecki, F. Olivera, A. M. Raich, K. R. Rajagopal, R. E. Randall, J. N. Reddy, K. F. Reinschmidt, L. R. Rilett, J. M. Roesset, P. N. Roschke, D. V. Rosowsky (Head), H. E. Ross, Jr., D. Saylak, R. E. Smith, S. A. Socolofsky, N. Stubbs, D. Trejo, L. D. Webb, C. E. Woods, R. A. Wurbs, J. Zhang, Y. Zhang, D. G. Zollinger
Ocean Engineering: K. Chang, H. C. Chen, D. T. Crow, B. L. Edge (Program Head), C. H. Kim, M. H. Kim, P. J. Lynett, R. S. Mercier, J. M. Niedzwecki, R. E. Randall, J. M. Roesset, S. A. Socolofsky, J. Zhang
* Graduate Advisor
Civil Engineering
A variety of courses is offered in civil engineering to permit a student to study in a given branch. The department is especially well equipped to offer, with support from other departments, areas of study in civil engineering systems; coastal and ocean engineering; construction engineering; environmental engineering; geotechnical engineering; hydraulic engineering and fluid mechanics; hydrology; water resources engineering; materials engineering; public works engineering; structural engineering and structural mechanics; transportation engineering; urban management; and urban planning.
Modern facilities and current equipment are available to enhance study and instruction in engineering design graphics. These facilities include a graphics library, a reproduction and visual aid center, a computer graphics facility and special equipment.
No foreign language is required for the PhD in civil engineering.
Civil Engineering
(CVEN)
601. Environmental Engineering Processes III. (3-0). Credit 3.
Biological processes that describe behavior of materials in natural and engineered environmental systems including fundamental theory of kinetics, bioenergetics, genetics and cellular functions. Prerequisites: CHEM 222; CVEN 301.
603. Environmental Engineering Management. (3-0). Credit 3.
Federal and state regulatory framework for environmental engineering; techniques for environmental control; risk assessment; evaluation of critical environmental problems with multimedia aspects. Prerequisite: CVEN 301 or approval of instructor.
604. Engineering Analysis of Treatment Systems. (3-0). Credit 3.
Theory of processes used to treat water, wastewater and hazardous wastes; applications of theory to design and operation of treatment systems, including biological treatment, adsorption, coagulation, filtration and precipitation. Prerequisites: CVEN 601, 619, 620.
605. Environmental Measurement. (1-6). Credit 3.
Theory and practice of analytical methods used in the environmental engineering field; instrumental and wet chemical techniques used in measurement of environmental quality parameters and pollutants. Prerequisite: CVEN 620 or approval of instructor.
606. Environmental Engineering Design I. (1-6). Credit 3.
Design of engineered environmental systems for water or wastewater treatment in domestic or industrial applications. Prerequisite: CVEN 604 or approval of instructor.
609. Environmental Control of Oil and Hazardous Materials. (2-3). Credit 3.
Oil and hazardous material (OHM) spills in the engineering design process; evaluation of OHM properties and their behavior and impact to environmental systems; prevention programs and documents, technology for spill containment and removal; contingency planning cycle including administrative site-specific plans and resource acquisition; response organization; restoration and documentation. Prerequisite: CVEN 301 or approval of instructor.
610. Environmental Risk Assessment. (3-0). Credit 3.
Risk assessment of the environment and human exposure in a statistically-based approach to determine allowable levels of exposure without significant deleterious effects; the basic approach of hazard identification; data collection and analysis; toxicity assessment; risk characterization; applications in ecological and human risk assessment; risk analysis performed. Prerequisite: CHEM 222 or equivalent. Cross-listed with PHEO 650.
613. Micromechanics of Civil Engineering Materials. (2-2). Credit 3.
Discrete-particle and continuum micromechanics energy principles; finite-element and discrete-element formulations for constitutive modeling of asphalt, concrete, and coarse and fine-grained soils; adhesive and cohesive fracture and healing; stress-dependent plasticity; principles and measurement of surface energy and pseudo-strain. Prerequisite: CVEN 615, 616 or approval of instructor.
614. Stabilization of Soil-Aggregate Systems. (2-0). Credit 2.
Theory of mechanical and chemical stabilization of soils and soil-aggregate systems.
615. Structural Design of Pavements. (3-0). Credit 3.
Characteristics of pavement loads, stress analysis in pavements, design practices, construction, rehabilitation and maintenance. Prerequisite: CVEN 418.
616. Systems Design of Pavements. (2-3). Credit 3.
Optimization of the design of rigid and flexible pavement systems; empirical and mechanistic stochastic structural subsystems; utility theory, serviceability concept, cost studies, traffic delay, environmental deterioration, rehabilitation and maintenance optimization systems. Prerequisite: CVEN 418.
617. Traffic Engineering: Characteristics. (2-3). Credit 3.
Human, vehicular and traffic characteristics as they relate to driver-vehicle-roadway operational systems; traffic studies and methods of analysis and evaluation. Prerequisite: CVEN 457 or equivalent.
618. Traffic Engineering: Operations. (2-3). Credit 3.
Advanced theory and application of traffic control; signalization and freeway operations. Prerequisite: CVEN 457 or equivalent.
619. Environmental Engineering Processes I. (3-0). Credit 3.
Physical processes that describe behavior of materials in natural and engineered environmental systems including transport phenomenon, sorption, desorption, flocculation and sedimentation. Prerequisite: CVEN 301.
620. Environmental Engineering Processes II. (3-0). Credit 3.
Chemical processes that describe behavior of materials in natural and engineered environmental systems including neutralization, precipitation, complex formation, adsorption, oxidation-reduction, coagulation, volatilization and absorption. Prerequisites: CVEN 301; course in organic chemistry.
621. Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design. (3-0). Credit 3.
Reinforced concrete principles; analysis of rigid building frames, design of building frames, slabs, biaxially loaded columns, rectangular and circular tanks, and deep beams. Prerequisite: CVEN 444 or equivalent.
622. Properties of Concrete. (3-0). Credit 3.
Materials, properties and behavior of concrete; cement, cement types, aggregate characteristics; properties of fresh concrete; structure of portland cement paste; mechanical properties of hardened concrete; durability and repair of concrete structures. Prerequisites: CVEN 342.
624. Infrastructure Engineering and Management. (3-0). Credit 3.
Defines the infrastructure deterioration problems in the United States and describes the engineering and management approaches to arrest the deterioration. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering or approval of instructor.
625. Traffic Engineering: Design. (2-3). Credit 3.
Design of traffic control device installations with special emphasis on traffic signal design and installation, including the design features of detector placement and operation; national and state design standards and guidelines for traffic control device installation. Prerequisite: CVEN 457.
626. Roadside Safety Design. (3-0). Credit 3.
Fundamental concepts of designing safety into roadways; safety improvement programs, accident data analysis, safety methodology, safety in cross section design and the design of safety devices; safety improvement programs, sideslopes and ditches, breakaway devices, crash cushions and roadside barriers.
627. Engineering Surface Water Hydrology. (3-0). Credit 3.
Precipitation-runoff processes; watershed and streamflow modeling; frequency analysis; erosion and sedimentation engineering; hydrologic design of hydraulic structures and nonstructural stormwater management strategies. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering or approval of instructor.
628. Advanced Hydraulic Engineering. (2-3). Credit 3.
Newton Raphson pipe network analysis, unsteady flow in pipelines and pipe networks; method of characteristics; river engineering; two-dimensional streamflow modeling; design of hydraulic structures. Prerequisite: CVEN 458 or approval of instructor.
632. Transportation System Engineering Management. (3-0). Credit 3.
Engineering and management principles for transportation systems; engineering evaluation using methods of travel demand, costs, equilibrium and pricing; use of economic principles for the engineering and management of transportation systems. Prerequisite: CVEN 672 or approval of instructor.
633. Advanced Mechanics of Materials. (3-0). Credit 3.
Stresses and strains at a point, torsion of noncircular cross sections, beams with combined axial and lateral loads, energy methods, thick walled pressure vessels, theories of failure, introduction to the theory of elasticity, theory of plates, theory of elastic stability and solution to elementary problems. Prerequisites: MATH 308 or approval of instructor.
635. Street and Highway Design. (3-0). Credit 3.
Advanced concepts of the design of streets and highways, design criteria, controls and standards for design alignment, cross section, intersections and interchanges and environmental impacts of surface transport facilities. Prerequisite: CVEN 456 or equivalent.
637. Rigid Pavement Analysis and Design. (3-0). Credit 3.
Introduction to mechanistic rigid pavement design concepts; development of mathematical pavement models and application of the models to design analysis; relationship of pavement response to performance and fatigue damage concepts in design; evaluation of pavement design practice and procedures for highways and airports; rigid pavement overlay design concept. Prerequisite: CVEN 418.
638. Computer Integrated Construction Engineering Systems. (2-3). Credit 3.
Modeling concepts, issues and techniques of computer integrated construction engineering systems; current research and practice in design and implementation of computer integrated construction systems, with emphasis on the integration of engineering, construction planning, monitoring and control through management information systems, decision support systems, knowledge based systems and discrete event simulation systems. Prerequisite: CVEN 349.
639. Methods Improvement for Construction Engineers. (3-0). Credit 3.
Application of work methods and measurements to civil engineering construction; examination of factors that affect productivity in construction; study of motivational factors; review of the principles of accident prevention. Prerequisites: CVEN 405 and 473 or approval of instructor.
641. Construction Engineering Systems. (3-2). Credit 4.
Application of systems theory to project planning and control; probabilistic network diagramming, resource allocation, statistical bidding analysis, activity planning, financial management of construction projects and project control. Prerequisite: CVEN 473 or approval of instructor.
643. Advanced Construction Methods. (3-0). Credit 3.
To provide an overview of materials used in the construction industry; present methods used to construct facilities with these materials; present practices that can affect the production during construction and the serviceability during operation of these facilities. Prerequisite: graduate classification.
644. Project Risk Management. (3-0). Credit 3.
Identifies the causes of risks in projects; discusses probabilistic description of risks and formulation of risk models; Bayesian methods for revising probabilities; qualitative and quantitative risk assessment; setting contingencies on budgets and schedules; risk mitigation and risk management; handling technological risk; Utility theory and game theory in the management of risks. Prerequisites: STAT 211, 601 or equivalent.
645. Geotechnical Site Investigation. (2-0). Credit 2.
Soil sampling techniques to obtain disturbed and undisturbed samples; in situ field tests including standard penetration test, cone penetration test, vane test, pressuremeter test and their use in practice; other recent advances in sampling, in situ testing and site investigation both onshore and offshore. Prerequisites: CVEN 365; CVEN 435 or equivalent.
646. Foundations on Expansive Soils. (3-0). Credit 3.
Properties of partially saturated soils, analysis of beams and plates on foundations, slab-subgrade friction, design of slabs and drilled piers, soil improvement techniques, risk analysis and foundation rehabilitation operations. Prerequisites: CVEN 365 and MATH 308 or approval of instructor.
647. Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering. (2-2). Credit 3.
Formulation and application of finite element and discrete element methods in solving geotechnical engineering problems related to seepage, diffusion, elasticity, plasticity, fracture and dynamic motion of soil masses, stability and convergence problems and use of existing computer programs in working applied problems. Prerequisite: Degree in engineering or approval of instructor.
648. Advanced Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Formulation and application of finite difference and finite element methods in geotechnical problems related to elasticity, plasticity, seepage, consolidation, dynamic response, and pile analysis; constitutive models of soil behavior; and analysis of nonlinear systems. Prerequisites: MEMA 646 or equivalent; CVEN 651 or registration therein.
649. Physical and Engineering Properties of Soil. (3-3). Credit 4.
Introduction to physico-chemical properties of soils; soil structure; soil classification; permeability; principle of effective stress; stress-deformation and strength characteristics; partly saturated soils; testing procedures. Prerequisites: CVEN 365 and 435 or approval of instructor.
651. Geomechanics. (3-0). Credit 3.
Fundamentals of mechanics of deformable bodies; theory and application of elasticity, plasticity, viscoelasticity and approximate rheological models to soil mechanics problems. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
653. Bituminous Materials. (2-3). Credit 3.
Production, specifications and tests of bituminous materials; design and evaluation of asphaltic concrete for construction and maintenance; inspection control of street, parking and highway paving surfaces. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
654. Design and Analysis of Construction Engineering Operations. (3-0). Credit 3.
Computer simulation modeling techniques for complex construction and project management operations; modeling non-determinate problems and evaluating uncertainty factors; identifying methodologies for schedule versus cost process optimization; productivity improvement; and performance forecasting. Prerequisite: Graduate classification.
655. Structural Reliability. (3-0). Credit 3.
Uncertainties in structural mechanics; probabilistic models for load and resistance variables, fundamentals of structural reliability theory, advanced first-order second moment methods and reliability of complex structural systems; applications to selected structures. Prerequisites: CVEN 345 and 421.
657. Dynamic Loads and Structural Behavior. (3-0). Credit 3.
Dynamic modeling of single, multidegree of freedom and continuous systems; dynamic load factors; damping; node superpositions; numerical integration; dynamic behavior of structures and structural elements under action of dynamic loads resulting from wind, earthquake, blast, impact, moving loads and machinery. Prerequisites: MATH 308 and MEMA 467 or approval of instructor.
658. Civil Engineering Applications of GIS (2-2) Credit 3.
The use of geographic information system (GIS) concepts and methods to solve civil engineering problems; emphasis on different areas of civil engineering. Class presentations and laboratory sessions used to familiarize the students with the computer software. Prerequisite: Graduate classification.
659. Behavior and Design of Steel Structures. (3-0). Credit 3.
Buckling and post-buckling strength of stiffened and unstiffened plate elements and members; torsional behavior and design of beams; stability of frames; frames subject to sidesway; bracing design; non-destructive evaluation and application of fracture mechanics principles to welded structures. Prerequisite: 3 credit hours of structural steel design or approval of instructor.
660. Probabilistic Structural Dynamics. (3-0). Credit 3.
Dynamic response of structural systems to excitations characterized as stochastic processes; approximate methods for single degree-of-freedom nonlinear structures; methods for single and multiple degrees-of-freedom linear structures; probabilities of failure for first passage and for fatigue. Prerequisites: CVEN 657; AERO 310 or OCEN 301; MEEN 459 and 617.
661. Research Methods for Civil Engineers. (3-0). Credit 3.
Develop research skills in the scientific method as a process of developing new knowledge by testing theory with data in the field of civil engineering; evaluation of the products of research by professional researchers; preparation of research proposals; practice in the written and oral communication of research results. Prerequisite: Graduate classification.
662. Experimental Methods in Civil Engineering. (2-3). Credit 3.
Introduction to experimental methods, instrumentation, data acquisition and data processing; experimental aspects of static and dynamic testing in the various areas of civil engineering; overview of laboratory work with several hands-on applications in the laboratory. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering.
663. Structural Stability. (3-0). Credit 3.
Buckling of columns, frames, arches, rings, plates and shells, lateral and torsional buckling of beams, Newmark's method, equilibrium method, Rayleigh-Ritz, variational principles; Galerkin method, Treffetz method, review of current literature. Prerequisites: MATH 308; approval of instructor.
664. Water Resources Engineering Planning and Management. (3-0). Credit 3.
Managing water resources; the planning process, systems analysis methods; institutional framework for water resources engineering; comprehensive integration of engineering, economic, environmental, legal and political considerations in water resources development and management. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering or approval of instructor.
665. Water Resources Systems Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Linear and non-linear optimization models and simulation models for planning and management of water systems; single- and multi-objective analysis and deterministic and stochastic techniques. Prerequisites: CVEN 339; CVEN 422 or equivalent.
667. Slope Stability and Retaining Walls. (2-2). Credit 3.
Slope stability; failure analysis including methods of slices; risk analysis; earthquake analysis; monitoring; remedial measures; retaining structures; basic theories; gravity walls; cantilever walls; tieback walls; mechanically stabilized walls; soil nailing; deflecting-based analysis. Prerequisite: CVEN 365 or equivalent; graduate classification.
668. Advanced EPC Project Development. (3-0). Credit 3.
Examines the advanced project development process-business planning and pre-project planning for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC); a process approach is followed. Issues covered are project technical and economic feasibility; scope definition; project risks; preliminary budgeting; scheduling and parametric estimating; execution strategies; negotiations; organizational design and development. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering or approval of instructor.
669. Design of Structures for Hazardous Environmental Loads. (3-0). Credit 3.
Introduction to wind and earthquake engineering with focus on studying the characteristics and effects of various types of windstorms and earthquakes; development of tools that can be used in specifying wind and earthquake loads on structures. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
670. Behavior and Design of Composite Structures. (3-0). Credit 3.
Design of composite structural systems comprising structural steel and reinforced concrete; composite slabs on steel beams; composite slabs on formed metal deck; columns; moment frame systems; shear wall systems; braced frame systems; dual systems; introduction to retrofitting applications. Prerequisites: CVEN 444; CVEN 446 or equivalent; graduate classification.
671. Behavior and Design of Prestressed Concrete Structures. (3-0). Credit 3.
Introduction to the behavior and design of prestressed concrete structural members for several limit states; including flexure, shear, torsion and deflection; exposure to composite beams; indeterminate systems; bridge design and construction. Prerequisites: CVEN 444; graduate classification in civil engineering or approval of instructor.
672. Engineering and Urban Transportation Systems. (3-0). Credit 3.
Characteristics of transportation engineering systems; transportation engineering data collection; modeling effects of engineering project planning, trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice and traffic assignment; use and interpretation of engineering modeling results; engineering project analysis. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering or urban and regional planning or approval of instructor.
673. Transport Phenomena in Porous Media. (3-0). Credit 3.
Transport phenomena in porous media with special emphasis on fundamentals and applications to various geo-environmental problems. Prerequisites: CVEN 311 and MATH 308 or approval of instructor.
674. Groundwater Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Groundwater hydrology, theory of groundwater movement, steady-state flow, potential flow, mechanics of well flow, multiple-phase flow, salt water intrusion, artificial recharge, groundwater contamination and models. Prerequisite: CVEN 311 or approval of instructor.
675. Stochastic Hydrology. (3-0). Credit 3.
Analysis, simulation and forecasting of hydro-climatic variables. Prerequisites: CVEN 421 and 463 or approval of instructor.
677. Advanced Surface Transportation Systems. (3-0). Credit 3.
Design and operational issues and systems related to advanced traffic systems; advanced studies on traffic management systems, travelers information systems, public transportation systems and commercial vehicle operation. Prerequisite: Graduate classification in engineering or approval of instructor.
679. Theory of Fluid Mechanics Models. (3-0). Credit 3.
Dimensional analysis; model laws; mathematical techniques; applications to fluid mechanics and coastal engineering models; fixed-bed; movable-bed, geometric and distorted models for flows with free surface; sediment transport; waves, tides and estuary models. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
680. Advanced Computation Methods for Fluid Flow. (3-0). Credit 3.
Unsteady three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations in general nonorthogonal curvilinear coordinates; algebraic and elliptic grid generation; turbulence modeling for complex flows; advanced numerical methods for unsteady incompressible turbulent flows; large-eddy simulations; Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes simulation; chimera domain decomposition and interactive zonal approach. Prerequisite: CVEN 688 or approval of instructor.
681. Seminar. (0-2). Credit 1.
Reports and discussion of current research and selected published technical articles.
682. Environmental Remediation of Contaminated Sites. (3-0). Credit 3.
Aspects of characterization and design of plans for remediation of sites contaminated with hazardous wastes; review of federal and state regulations; risk assessment; remedial technology screening and design of remedial plans. Prerequisites: CVEN 601, 619, 620.
683. Dynamic Soil Structure Interaction. (3-0). Credit 3.
Introduction to basic concepts of wave propagation; soil dynamics; applications to the design of machine foundations; geotechnical earthquake engineering; soil effects on the characteristics of earthquake motions; liquefaction; dynamic stiffness of foundations; seismic soil structure interaction. Prerequisite: Graduate classification.
684. Professional Internship. (3-0). Credit 3.
Training under the supervision of practicing professional engineers in settings appropriate to the student's professional objectives, away from Texas A&M campus. Prerequisites: Approval of the department head and one semester of graduate work completed.
685. Directed Studies. Credit 1 to 12 each semester.
Enables majors in civil engineering to undertake and complete with credit in their particular fields of specialization limited investigations not within their thesis research and not covered by other courses in established curriculum.
686. Offshore and Coastal Structures. (3-0). Credit 3.
Fundamental design and analysis techniques; offshore platforms for shallow and deep water, pile supported, gravity based and floating platforms; new design problems faced by the offshore industry will be examined by the class during the semester. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
687. Foundation Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Settlement and bearing capacity analysis of foundations; computer programs used to analyze axially-loaded piles, laterally-loaded piles and sheet-pile walls. Prerequisites: CVEN 365; approval of instructor.
688. Computational Fluid Dynamics. (3-0). Credit 3.
Finite-difference and finite-element methods and basic numerical concepts for the solution of dispersion, propagation and equilibrium problems commonly encountered in real fluid flows; theoretical accuracy analysis techniques. Prerequisites: Undergraduate course in fluid mechanics; MATH 601 and/or basic course in linear algebra; knowledge of one programming language.
689. Special Topics in... Credit 1 to 4.
Selected topics in an identified area of civil engineering. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: Approval of instructor and department head.
691. Research. Credit 1 or more each semester.
Research for thesis or dissertation.
695. Frontiers in Civil Engineering Research. Credit 1 to 3.
The present status of investigative work in a variety of civil engineering fields; content selected based on visiting lecturers of distinguished international recognition in their fields of research. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
The following courses are described in the section entitled Mechanics and Materials (MEMA) and are part of the curriculum in civil engineering.