FRS 001Q - Sec. 001 - (1 unit)
- CRN 93075 - M 3:10-4:00 pm - 111 Wellman
Life-Cycle Design of Civil Structures
Instructor: John Bolander, Department of Civil & Environmental
Engineering, College of Engineering
Description: This seminar course provides an introduction to life-cycle design
of the built environment and some of the basic science and technologies that support
the design processes. Predicting and/or extending service life is important for
a variety of structures, ranging from major components of the civil infrastructure
(e.g. buildings, bridges, port facilities, dams) to structures in rural, developing
regions of the world (e.g. agricultural storage units and affordable housing).
Premature losses of strength and functionality commonly occur due to: 1) our limited
understanding of the deterioration mechanisms in a structural setting; 2) inadequate
design procedures; and 3) lapses in construction quality. These failures, and
other inefficient uses of construction materials, are unacceptable as major costs
to society and the environment. The course will cover these topics for the design
of structural concrete, which is the most extensively used construction material
in the world. There will be two laboratory sessions to provide students with hands-on
experience in constructing and testing small-scale structural components. The
lab sessions complement the classroom discussions and provide insight into production
issues that can strongly affect the performance of the product. In addition to
the lab experience, students will gain a basic understanding of: 1) traditional
methods for durability design and their inherent shortcomings; 2) emerging methods
for durability design from Europe and Japan, which are based on reliability theory;
3) the use of industrial waste products within concrete, and other green technologies,
to significantly reduce the economical and ecological costs of the structure;
and 4) the role of computer simulation in supporting life-cycle analysis and design
of engineered structures. The instructor will provide lecture notes and reading
materials taken from a variety of sources.
Format: The seminar will meet one hour each week. The meeting times will
be divided into classroom lecture, multi-media presentations, discussions, and
two laboratory sessions involving specimen production and testing. Grading:
Students will be given a letter grade based on three short assignments (30%),
participation in classroom discussions and laboratory sessions (30%), and a report
on a pre-approved topic of their choosing (40%).
About the Instructor: John Bolander is an Associate Professor
within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His teaching and
research interests center on the effective use of both traditional and new materials
within the civil infrastructure, with particular emphasis on cement-based composites.
He is using computer models to quantitatively link micro-mechanical actions to
performance measures defined at the structural scale. These efforts include the
simulation of lifecycle performance based on durability mechanics.