FRS 001F —
Sec. 001 —
(1 unit) — CRN 45477 — M 5:10-6:00 pm — 1007 Engr III
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 failures and the inefficient use of construction
materials are unacceptable as major costs to society and the environment. The
course will discuss the supporting role of life-cycle design within sustainable
building practices. Applications of structural concrete will be
emphasized, since
concrete is the most extensively used construction material in the world. There
will several 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;
and 3) the use of industrial waste products within concrete, and
other green technologies,
to significantly reduce the economical and ecological costs of the structure.
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 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 life-cycle performance based on durability mechanics.