Civil Engineering

Core modules:

Research and Professional Skills

This module fosters best practice in engineering-related research/professional skills and delivers a range of training activities to meet the needs of professional engineers dealing with research and technological development.

15 credits

Structural Analysis

This module is designed to give you fundamental knowledge and skills related to the analysis and design of concrete and steel structural elements. Significant emphasis in this module is on the fundamental understanding of how structural members work and of the analysis behind the design codes. This helps the engineer develop a feel for the behaviour of beam and column elements that is often missing when design is based solely by using codes of practice or by the direct application of prescribed equations. This understanding will become more vital for efficient and sustainable structures into the future.

15 credits

Advanced Geotechnics

The module will provide students with a greater understanding of 'modelling' in geotechnical engineering, applied to the analysis and design of large scale geotechnical structures and systems, such as embankment dams, levees and tunnels. This will critically extend to the interpretation, analysis and forensic review of both successively implemented and failed geotechnical systems. Aspects of uncertainty and risk will be developed related to ultimate and serviceability limit states, using a range of historical case histories within the published literature. Investigative analysis will be conducted in the context of a student project that is focused on forensic analysis of failure, benefiting from data from the literature and numerical modelling. This will be complemented by a consideration of soil having a particulate / continuum duality, and by an examination of the role of physical modelling (such as using a geotechnical centrifuge), analytical models, constitutive models, and the geological model.

15 credits

Geotechnical Design

This module is designed to develop (a) your understanding of the use of limit analysis in geotechnical engineering and (b) the concepts behind geotechnical limit state design and how safety and idealisations are built into design calculations to deal with the complexity of groundwater, soil behaviour and modelling issues. Through lectures, tutorial sheets, and software exercises, you will develop your knowledge of design calculations for retaining structures and foundations in the context of Eurocode 7. You will also develop your ability to use a range of state of the art engineering design concepts and tools.

15 credits

Advanced Engineering Research Study

This module represents a major element of the Masters programme, with the aim of enabling you to learn skills in scientific investigation and in running and presenting a project. You are required to submit a comprehensive (bound) report describing the individual work that you have done during the summer semester.

60 credits

Optional modules:

Engineering Hydraulics

This module aims to provide a solid base for the analysis of water flows in closed and open ducts. The module provides basic physical insights of the dynamics of laminar and turbulent flows in pipes and open channels. It will also give you a detailed overview of the governing equations and assumptions involved in their application at different scales of analysis. You will gain understanding and competence in the analysis of flows in different contexts and the practical application of these to solve common water engineering problems.

15 credits

Engineering Hydrology and Hydrogeology

This module is intended to provide an introduction to Hydrology and Hydrogeology for MSc Water Engineering and MSc Civil Engineering students, to equip you with basic quantitative skills for conducting mass balance calculations as well as hydrological and hydrogeological investigations. The module content comprises the prediction of rainfalls, quantitative and qualitative analysis of water movement over the surface and through the subsurface, the estimation of flood flows, the study of hydrologic and hydrogeological processes along with the range of space and time scales at which they occur, an overview of hydrological and hydrogeological measurement techniques, and an overview of current issues in the field, such as climate change.

15 credits

Advanced Concrete Design

This module aims to give those with a basic background in the design of reinforced concrete structures an understanding of selected advanced topics in the field, including the use of new concepts, construction techniques and materials. The module also provides a revision of some of the fundamental principles of reinforced concrete design. In particular, it deals with short and long-term deflections, creep, shrinkage, ductility, section analysis, prestressing, shear and cracking.

15 credits

Design of Earthquake Resistant Structures

The aim of this module is to teach the principles of modern seismic design of structures, the methodology of the European design code (Eurocode 8) and the main concepts of seismic performance of structures. The module will be delivered through lectures and computer-lab sessions in which you will be working on a project.

15 credits

Sustainable Drainage and Green Infrastructure

This module will introduce you to Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) and Green Infrastructure. Lectures and design exercises will be used to develop your understanding of why SuDS are preferred to conventional stormwater management approaches, and to equip you with the skills to design SuDS schemes to meet relevant performance objectives. Guest lectures will raise your awareness of the inter-disciplinary aspects of SuDS, through topics focusing on, for example, urban planning, ecology and biodiversity, plant and soil processes, rainwater harvesting and evapotranspiration. The module will also include a site visit to a local SuDS scheme and discussion/interaction with an industry practitioner. Independent literature research will enable you to explore a current topic in SuDS research in detail.

15 credits

Computational Methods in Water Engineering

This core module is designed to improve your conceptual understanding of computational skills and numerical methods applied to solve practical hydraulic engineering problems. It introduces you to several mathematical and computer programming skills and involves writing your own computer codes and use openly-accessible freeware. They will be applied for computing groundwater flow with contaminant transport and free-surface flows. Through the lectures, tutorials, weekly and final assessment coursework, as well as group discussion, you will develop your knowledge in the field of computational hydraulics, including both theoretical and practical capabilities. You will also develop your ability to communicate effectively and professionally through individual report writing and interactive class participation.

15 credits

Design and Management of Sewer Systems

This module will provide students with a high level of knowledge and understanding as to how sewer and stormwater drainage systems operate in the UK. Teaching will focus on acquiring knowledge about current and emerging regulatory, management and design practices. Students will be required to understand the environmental and sustainbility issues associated with this type of infrastructure system. Students will apply industry standard design approaches in a case study, considering hydraulic and pollution concepts to evaluate and modify the performance of the case study network to meet current regulatory requirements, anticipated future pressures whilst considering the long term sustainability of the system. Students will be expected to demonstrate their level of knowledge and understanding via application in the case study sewer network.

15 credits

Sustainable Water Resources Systems

What are the many aspects to consider for the sustainable planning, design and operation of water infrastructure? And to begin with, what is sustainability in practice? This six-block module is aimed at providing you with concepts and analytical tools to handle the complexity of delivering solutions for water sustainability. More specifically, the course covers tools to a) navigate the competing demands from the various sectors that rely on water systems, including trading-off economic, social, ecological and regulatory considerations across multiple scales; and to b) navigate the uncertain impacts of climatic, social, environmental and economic change on water supplies and demands.

15 credits