Undergraduate Courses | Civil Engineering

Engineering approach to design process: conceptual, preliminary, intermediate, and final, Design methodology in problem identification, design requirements and constraints, design alternatives, final design and design documentation. Importance of environmental factors, team-work effort and ethics in engineering design projects. Use of computers and software in analysis, execution, and documentation of design. Practical examples and case studies in different civil engineering disciplines.

This course provides students with fundamental knowledge of ecology and earth systems and how they are interrelated. The course covers the biotic characteristics of the environment, biogeochemical cycles, physical-chemical characteristics of waters, atmosphere, soils and the subsurface, physical, chemical and microbial contaminants, process affecting contaminant transport and fate

This is an intensive field work course, the main objective of this course is the understanding of basic surveying for construction, different methods of measurements are provided along with the use of different instrumentation and computing techniques.

Manufacturing process of cements, types and properties of cements, use of chemical and mineral admixtures, properties and gradation of aggregates, site operations, factors affecting workability and strength of concrete, mix design of concrete, tests on plastic and hardened properties of concrete, test for assessment of concrete in existing structures, durability of concrete, hot-weather concreting, properties and tests of bituminous binders and mixtures, uses of bituminous mixtures, manufacturing process, composition and heat treatment of steel, and alloy steels, sustainability of building materials.

Determination of dead, live and wind loads on structures according to building code. Introduction to various types of structural systems and load tracing in building structural system. Analysis and deformation of determinate trusses, beams and frames using geometric and energy methods. Analysis of statically indeterminate structures by the consistent deformation method. Influence lines for statically determinate structures and criteria for maximum effects.

Fluid statics, conservation laws, Bernoulli\'s equation, dimensional analysis, pipe flow, pipe networks, flow measurement.

Basic principles of open channel hydraulics, energy and momentum concepts, uniform, gradually varied, and rapidly varied flows, surface hydrology, analysis of precipitation, infiltration, evapotranspiration, rainfall-runoff relations, hydrographs, hydrologic flood routing, basic principles of flow in porous media, groundwater occurrence and distribution, hydraulics of wells, estimates of recharge and surcharge, various laboratory experiments are performed to illustrate the basic principles of hydraulics and water resources.

Characteristics of water, air and their contaminants, environmental equilibrium chemistry, environmental chemical kinetics, transport processes and reactor models, water quality issues in the natural environment, water supply and pollution control systems, treatment processes, physical process, chemical process, biological process, air quality, solid wastes and residues.

Basic characteristics of soils, soil compaction, permeability and seepage, effective stress principle, stresses in a soil mass, consolidation theory and settlement, shear strength of soils, introduction to geo-synthetics, various laboratory experiments are performed to illustrate the basic principles of soil mechanics.

This course is designed to present to undergraduate students the principles and tools of the broad area of transportation engineering and systems. This includes traffic and highway engineering with laboratory work involved once a week. Mathematical models and concepts for the study of transportation systems are presented. Some basic concepts of transport economics and optimization are introduced in this course.

Analysis of indeterminate structures by classical methods i.e. consistent deformations method using flexibility matrices, slope-deflection method, and moment distribution method. Static and kinematic indeterminacy, direct stiffness matrix method for trusses, beam and frames. Coordinate transformation and assembling technique using element approach with computer applications.

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of design of reinforced concrete structural elements. This course discusses properties of concrete as a structural material, behavior of reinforced concrete structural elements such as beams and one way slab. The course covers design specifications required for elements experiencing shear and flexure behavior, and serviceability requirements. The course includes design of reinforcements in concrete for bond and development length for various conditions. The design specifications are according to the building code of practice of American Concrete Institute (ACI).

Introduction to coastal engineering, linear wave theory, dispersion, kinematic & dynamic properties of waves, shoaling, refraction, diffraction, wave run-up, overtopping and reflection, wind waves and statistics, wave forecasting, astronomical tides, wave pressure, wave forces on circular piles and seawalls.

Applications of basic wave theory and numerical models to coastal problems, short- and long-term wave analyses, wave-induced processes: mass transport, sediment motion, longshore currents and sediment transport, wave setup and set-down, wave run-up and overtopping, and wave scour, response of sheltered bays, marinas, and harbors to wave agitation, coastal structures: types, functionality, limitations, design factors, breakwater design principles and groin systems, modeling and scaling laws in coastal engineering, applications/predictions based on computer software systems.

Atmospheric air movement dynamic, Physics of particle motion, Mathematical modeling of sand flux, Physical modeling of sand flux (wind tunnel), Sand accumulation and erosion, Computer exercises. Field trips.

Water quality and standards, Population studies. Plant layout. Design of physical, chemical and biological processes for water and wastewater treatment. Water desalination. Water reuse. Disposal methods and processing of biosolids. Development of design parameters based on laboratory and pilot plant data.

Principles of hydraulics of open channels including energy and momentum approaches, concepts of critical flow, surface roughness and velocity distribution, theory and application of uniform, gradually varied, and rapidly varied flows, Elements of unsteady open channel flow.

Groundwater occurrence, Mechanics of flow through porous media, Darcy's law, ground flow equation, groundwater storage, steady and unsteady groundwater flow to wells, estimation of aquifer parameters, regional groundwater flow, groundwater flow in coastal aquifers, response of groundwater flow to pumping (steady, unsteady, leaky, and non-leaky), numerical and analytical models for groundwater flow, management of groundwater resources, case studies.

Design and analysis of hydraulic systems such as open channels, street gutters, culverts, water supply networks, pumps and storage tanks, drainage and flood control components, storm sewers, sanitary sewers.

An environmental engineering course that emphasizes student's ability to integrate knowledge gained in basic sciences, fluid mechanics, and water resources to control various types of environmental pollution and conserve resources. Evaluation and analysis of environmental quality factors, population and resource use, air pollution, water pollution, solid waste management, thermal pollution, noise pollution, radiation, energy and the environment, and environmental impact of development projects.

Use of computers in the analysis of water resources and environmental engineering problems. Computation of uniform and non-uniform flows in open channels, culvert design and hydraulics. Storm sewer systems modeling and design.

An introduction to groundwater and well hydraulics with emphasis on groundwater contaminations processes (point source and non-point source), groundwater quality standards, basic reactions influencing groundwater chemistry, saltwater intrusion modeling, coastal aquifers management, hydraulic control in groundwater wells, and groundwater remediation.

Building and construction contract procedures, general conditions of contract and contract documents, bond and insurance requirements, preparation of technical specifications. The development of the concepts of professionalism and ethics and the traditional practice of these concepts are considered in relation to changing situations in practice in a variety of employment conditions. Case histories are discussed.

Fundamental definition and concepts of estimation, conceptual estimation, preliminary estimation, detailed estimation, building systems, measurements, pricing, computer tools and applications, bidding extensions of estimation to cash flow analysis.

Construction project initiation, budgeting, planning, scheduling, and control for construction operations using Critical Path Method (CPM). Concepts of networking techniques including activity-on-node (precedence) and activity-on-arrow, network computations, resource allocation and leveling, and time/cost tradeoffs, project control concepts and techniques are also taught. The course is supplemented with a 3-hour weekly session for various computer applications in construction engineering and management and for site visits to major projects.

An overview of the construction industry characteristics, construction organizations, and productivity improvement methods., It introduces data gathering techniques including questionnaires, interviews, surveys, work sampling and five minutes rating, techniques for presenting and implementing productivity improvement findings such as crew balance charts, process charts, and flow diagrams. It also covers safety and environmental health aspects on the construction sites.

Employment of major construction equipment and estimation of their production. A comprehensive introduction to concrete constituents, admixtures, construction methods, and testing. The course also introduces the types of mixers, ready mix concrete, pumping equipment, hot weather concreting, shotcreting, precast, cast-in-place, and prestressed concrete construction. It also covers formwork design for walls, columns and slabs as well as the employment of concrete construction equipment and calculation of their productivity of equipment including excavators, pile drivers, dumping trucks, and other types of heavy equipment.

Functional design of civil engineering systems, optimization of resources, linear programming, applied probability theory, economic analysis, cost benefit studies and applications, systems engineering techniques, value management.

Soil exploration, sampling and field measurements, types of foundations and criteria for selection, shallow foundations: ultimate bearing capacity, settlements, allowable soil pressure, mat foundations, deep foundations, earth pressure theories and retaining walls.

An introduction to design and construction of earth and earth retaining structures. Engineering applications include: retaining walls, flexible earth support, slope stability, dewatering techniques, soil improvement, and earth dams and embankments.

The fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS), Geomatics, is an engineering approach to solve, design and analysis the civil engineering systems related to spatial data. Space related problems of urban infrastructure and soil environmental studies. Spatial/ temporal data analysis, geoprocessing, geostatistical method, visualization, Interaction with Google earth, 3-D modeling, vector/raster data, and terrain-soil mapping.

Use of computer in the analysis of geotechnical problems: stress distribution in soil masses, settlement analysis, seepage flow, earth pressure, shoring (retaining walls, sheet piles, strutted excavations), slope stability, foundation analysis, and embankment and excavation problems. Geotechnical engineering modeling is reviewed. For each application the necessary theoretical background is reviewed and discrete modeling is discussed.

The course introduces the academic discipline of sustainability and explores how today's human societies can endure in the face of resource limitations, global change and environmental degradation. It addresses the issues of sustainability design from several points of view including economics, ecology, and technology. Concepts such as life cycle assessment, triple bottom line, inclusive wealth, and resilience are introduced from an engineering approach. A resource accounting perspective is developed in some detail with the emphasis in areas such as material resources, energy resources, sustainable infrastructure, green buildings and clean technology.

Introduction to traffic engineering, Traffic Flow theory and variables: volume, speed, density, headway and spacing, Traffic studies: speed, travel time and delay, volume, parking, pedestrians, accidents, and environmental impacts. Traffic simulation models: Poisson and queueing. Intersection capacity analysis, traffic signal design, geometric design of intersections, traffic control devices and regulations, traffic system management.

Introduction to existing and new traffic control systems strategies including both off-line signal optimization techniques and real-time computer traffic-responsive control concepts, control concepts and methods for signal intersection, arterial systems and area traffic networks, traffic control system evaluation techniques using measures of effectiveness (MOE's) for signal intersections, arterials and networks.

Application of soil classification methods to evaluate subgrade materials, introduction to various tests used to characterize pavement materials, stabilization techniques of subgrade and subbase materials, introduction to material variability and quality control, pavement evaluation and rehabilitation, pavement construction.

Principles and practices of urban transportation planning process, examination of the characteristics of urban travel, the application of systems approach to transport planning, survey design and data management, and calibrations of urban transport demand and supply models and alternative plan evaluation and the impact of transport systems on the environment.

A comprehensive coverage of flexible and rigid pavement design, including mix and structural designs, analyses of the effects of traffic, environment, soil support, and stiffness of paving materials on the structural design of pavements, design of drainage systems, pavement performance and condition surveys.

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of design of structural elements fabricated with structural steels. This course covers design process and procedures of structural elements experiencing tension, compression, shear and flexure, beam and column joints, and bolted and welded connections. The design specifications are based on LRFD method of AISC.

The course covers mechanics and design procedures for various types of RC elements like two-way slabs, columns, and footings in concrete building systems. The design specifications are according to the code of practice of American Concrete Institute for structural concrete (ACI-318).

Introduction to pre-stressed concrete, pre-stressing systems, materials, analysis and design of sections for flexure, shear and torsion, partial losses of pre-stress force, composite beams, continuous beams, camber and downward deflections.

This course aims at providing students in-depth knowledge of computer aided analysis (CAA) and design (CAD) of reinforced concrete and structural steel structures. The course reviews theoretical background of the analysis and design systems available in CAA and CAD., CAA and CAD include analysis and design of concrete beams, columns, and slabs, and steel beams, columns, and frames. The course requires a design project of simple structural system using CAA and CAD. The design specifications are based on LRFD method of AISC for steel structures, and ACI for reinforced concrete structures.

Materials, mechanical behavior and specifications, flexural behavior and design, design for shear and normal forces, walls and columns, lateral load resisting elements, connections and joints, design of a typical structure.

Design and analysis of advanced reinforced concrete elements: Analysis and design of slab using strip method and yield line theory, slenderness effects in long columns, design of combined footings, strap footing, pile foundations, retaining walls, water tank, mat foundation, and design of torsion effects in beams.

Among the seven major disciplines, students shall demonstrate competency in three to four of them.

Relationship between climate, man, and architecture, occupant's thermal and visual comfort assessment and building energy conservation analysis and strategies, techniques to evaluate the energy performance of buildings and ways to enhance their energy performance.

Transport processes in water, turbulent diffusion and longitudinal dispersion in rivers and estuaries, mixing, transport of pollutants, self purification and waste assimilation capacity, thermal pollution, receiving water quality.

Ground water and aquifers, well-flow systems, measurement of aquifer parameters, modeling of aquifer systems, surface-subsurface water relations, subsidence and lateral movement of land surface due to pumping.

Fundamentals of fluid flow, small amplitude wave theory, waves of finite height-Stokes theory, solitary wave, wave propagation and refraction in water of variable depth, wave generation and forecasting techniques, statistical models for ocean waves, long period waves, linear shallow water wave theory, tidal flows, harbor oscillations, basic theory and analysis of harbors of various shapes.

Sediment properties, initiation of sediment motion, suspended load, bed load, total sediment load, bed forms, resistance of movable beds, flow in alluvial channels, stability to alluvial channels, aggradation and degradation, instrumentation and measuring techniques, modeling of fluvial processes, reservoir sedimentation, sediment transport in closed conduits.

Introduction to coastal engineering, coastal environment and coastal structures. Fundamental properties of waves, tides and tidal currents, their analysis, predictions and transformations. Short- and long-term wave analysis, and design waves. Coastal structures: types, functionality, limitations, and design factors. Waves. forces and moments on structures: interia/drag forces and moments; breaking, broken, and non-breaking wave forces and moments. Design of coastal structures: design water levels and wave heights; siting and layout; design of seawalls, breakwaters and groins. Design considerations for harbors and marinas. Modeling and scaling laws in coastal engineering.

Review of basic concepts of steady uniform flow, the energy and momentum concepts in open channel, flow resistance for uniform and non- uniform flow conditions, gradually varied flow, rapidly varied flow, spatially varied flow, gradually varied unsteady flow, rapidly varied unsteady flow, spatially varied unsteady flow, flood routing, channel routing, reservoir routing, method of characteristics, finite difference formulation, computer applications.

Hydrologic proccesses, precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, infiltration, stream flow, hydrograph analysis, flood routing, urban hydrology, statistical concepts and stochastic hydrology, hydrologic design.

Principles of water chemistry: chemical equilibrium; acid-base reactions; oxidation- reduction reaction; colloidal system; chemical precipitation. Basic concepts from Water Microbiology: microbial growth; aquatic food chains; indicator organisms. Water and Wastewater analysis. Water quality standards. Fundamentals of process kinetics: reaction; catalysis, materials balance, biological kinetics.

Theory and application of biological treatment methods, microbiological fundamentals, process kinetics and reactor design, suspended and attached growth systems, aerobic and anaerobic processes, oxygen transfer, soil systems, sludge processing. Laboratory assignments and design projects for selected unit processes.

Reactor dynamics and mass transport processes; theory and design of treatment systems for phase and species transformation processes, particulate separation processes, and solute separation processes; laboratory assignments and design projects for selected unit processes.

Solid waste generation, handling, storage, collection, transfer and transport, processing techniques and ultimate disposal. Engineering systems for materials and energy recovery. Administration of solid waste systems.

Examination of alternative choices for the management of environmental problems. Ecological systems, natural processes, data analysis. Legal, economic and planning techniques. Decision making, measurements of benefits and costs, normative evaluation techniques, environmental risk analysis. Preparation of environmental impact statements. Lectures and seminars are presented by staff, visiting speakers and students and case studies are discussed.

Comprehensive overview of transport and fate of pollutants in natural surface waters. An introduction to modeling fundamentals along with in-depth descriptions of how a variety of pollutants move and react within a variety of water bodies. A coverage of advanced modeling topics such as protozoan pollution and sediment processes.

An upper division of graduate technical elective treating topics in Engineering mostly not covered in other courses, chosen at the discretion of the Graduate Program Committee.

Introduction to construction management concept, analytical techniques for bringing a project to completion within budget, on time and according to the specifications, including study of cost engineering and control, schedule and resource control, procurement and quality control.

Seminar dealing with the problems of working and communicating with individuals and groups.

A survey of classical and modern organization theory; concepts and functions of management, the behavior of the individual, the work group, and the organization, all linked to construction problems.

Introduction to cost estimating, cost budgeting, cost accounts, CPM cost loading, cost controlling, cost forecasting, and cost accounting of construction and engineering projects. The course also covers feasibility studies, level of influence, cost engineering, cost optimization, cash-flow analysis, cost-schedule compression, and life cycle costing.

Business and management aspects of construction: Kuwait industry profile, company organization, contracting methods, bonding and insurance, subcontracts, cash flow, and markup.

Procedures for deciding under uncertainty. Fundamentals of the expected-utility rule with personal subjective probabilities. Current applications of decision analysis. Analysis of problems using decision trees that include risk and time preference. Determination of the economic value of perfect and imperfect information on one or several variables in a decision problem.

Database management systems. Objective-oriented programming. Expert systems and artificial intelligence. Decision support systems.

Seminar dealing with the problems of building construction. Subjects include search patterns and sortation, standard specifications and control, systems safety, insurance and risk management, materials and workmanship, R&D activities, technological adaptation, development of indigenous capabilities and requirements of the construction industry.

Systematic approach to control the quality and performance of engineering projects while maintaining minimum costs. Real projects are studied by multi-disciplinary groups working in teams to specify the real value of the project.

Contract planning, construction procurement and contract negotiations, contract formation and agreement, contract administration and management. Change orders administration, types of claims and disputes, claims analysis, evaluation and resolution. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), Litigation and arbitration.

Introduction to soil dynamics, review of linear vibration theory, earthquake engineering, dynamic soil properties, response analysis and response spectra, liquefaction, settlement, foundation design for vibratory loads, isolation of foundation.

Behavior and properties of rock as an engineering material, rock exploration, stress analysis in rocks, failure of rocks, design and construction of underground structures and slopes in rock, design of rock abutments for dams, engineering applications, laboratory and field rock testing techniques.

Shear strength of granular and cohesive soils, failure criteria in soils, lab/field tests selections, types of slopes failure, methods of analysis, slope stability of dams and embankments, infinite slope analysis, finite slope analysis, computer applications.

The application of geotechnical engineering principles and methods to site selection and design of municipal solid waste landfills that include settlement analysis, slope stability, liner compaction, and leachate collection system, as they relate to designing a landfill. Computer software is used to assist in the design scenarios.

Consolidation theory and secondary compression. Settlement Analysis. Basic strength principles. Stress-strain-strength behavior of clays with emphasis on effects of sample disturbance, anisotropy and strain rate. Stress-strain-strength behavior of granular soils. Engineering properties of compacted soils. Laboratory on consolidation and strength testing.

Geotechnical properties of local soils (subsurface desert sand, cemented sand, coastal ground). Soil compaction. Subsurface water rise: causes and remedial measures. Slurry trench cutoffs. Soil grouting. Subsurface drainage of cohesive soils. Soil reinforcement. Preloading. Instrumentations. Case studies.

Stress at a point. Strain at a point. Stress-strain relationships in linearly elastic materials. Basic equations of elasticity in solids. Critical state concepts. Plasticity . Basic formulation of viscoelastic materials. Viscoplasticity. Constitutive equations. Applications.

The urban system, urban activities and transport system, spatial interaction modelling, optimization models, econometric models, demographic models, intergrated urban systems modeling and policy analysis.

Public transportation system technologies, urban passenger transport modes, bus system, paratransit, planning public transportation systems, rural public transportation, comparing transit modes, management and operations of public transit systems, public transportation security and safety, environmental impacts of transit systems.

Establishment of goals and objectives of a transport system, the systems approach, methods of identifying available options for management of a transport system, control options versus non- control options, network flow optimization, flexible work hours, reversible lanes, priority assignment to high occupancy vehicles, road taxation, non-auto area restrictions, measures of effectiveness, option-packaging analysis, operations models, performance evaluation models.

Air travel demand-capacity analysis, planning and design of an airport, airport site selection, airsite activities and operations, land-side activities and operations, terminal and airfield designs, facility requirements and plans, environmental impacts of airport operations.

Basic components of pavement management, systems-evaluation of pavement performance, structural capacity, design objectives and constraints, alternative design strategies and applied economic evaluation techniques, analysis of predicting distress performance and selection of an optimal design strategy with respect to safety, implementation and feedback data systems, examples of working design and management systems.

Public systems evaluation, elements of supply and demand, economic equilibrium, investment criteria, vehicle operating costs. Value of travel time, accident costs. Consumer surplus in transportation, non-user impacts, evaluation methods of investments in transportation systems.

Traffic control system strategies. Off-line signal optimization and real-time traffic-responsive control techniques. Control methods for single intersections, arterial systems and area wide traffic network. Evaluation of traffic control systems using measures of effectiveness.

The demand for transportation. The supply of transportation. Transportation cost and cost functions. Urban passenger travel demand. Intercity passenger travel demand. Air travel demand. Commodity transport demand.

Category analysis. General linear models. Linear models with transformation. Input-Output analysis. Cohort-Survival model. Multinomial logic models. Time-Series analysis. Simulation.

Principles of engineering economic analysis, price theory and resource allocation, elements of supply, elements of demand, economic equilibrium, welfare economics, investment criteria, principles of benefit-cost analysis. A flood control example, a water pollution control example, a highway transport example, evaluation of large scale projects, other approaches to evaluation including rating scale and goal achievement methods and programming project investments. The course will include case studies from Kuwait and students will each conduct, present and submit a report describing an analysis of a public project in Kuwait.

Numerical analysis of single degree elastic and inelastic systems, analysis of single degree elastic and elastoplastic systems, lumped-mass multidegree freedom systems, structures with distributed mass and loads, beams subject to moving loads, consistent mass method, continuous mass method, numerical applications.

Common types of concrete bridges, design loads, design of T-beam bridges, design of box-girder bridges, design of continuous prestressed concrete slab bridges with a variable cross-section (a haunched or parabolic soffit).

Principles of structural mechanics, element properties, solution techniques and programming of the finite element method, analysis of framed structures, three-dimensional stress analysis, analysis of plate bending, analysis of shells, formulation for dynamic analysis, formulation for instability analysis.

Shear-friction concept, design of deep beams, design of brackets and corbels, torsional strength by the spacetruss analogy approach, limit design method, rotation capacity of concrete plastic hinges, columns subjected to biaxial bending, yield-line theory of slabs, strip method for slab design, design of earthquake-resistant structures.

Applications of mathematical programming in design and analysis of trusses, beams, frames, and other structures. Optimization by calculus of variation and optimal control theory.

Classical theory for bending of plates of various shapes. Numerical methods in analysis of plates, goemetric properties of shells. Curvilinear coordinates, Membrane theory. Analysis of shells of revolution, Bending theory, Introduction to theory of thick plates.

Design of Slab-girder type bridges, design of industrial buildings, roofs, composite construction, arches, crane girders, transverse frames, design of circular and rectangular tanks, shell roofs and folded plates.

Eccentric compression of slender columns, beam- columns, lateral buckling of beams, buckling of thin plates, introduction to stability of shells.

Definition and Design Criteria of Tall Buildings, General Planning Considerations, Vertical Load Analysis, Calculation of Lateral Wind and Earthquake Loads, analysis of Frames; Shear Walls; Shear Wall- Frame Structures, Lateral Load Distribution, Design Consideration of Reinforced Concrete Frames, Shear Walls and Reinforced Masonry Shear Walls, Computer Applications.

An upper division of graduate technical elective treating topics in Engineering mostly not covered in other courses, chosen at the discretion of the Graduate Program Committee.

Built-up sections, design of plate girders, composite (steel and concrete) design, building connections, design of multi-story buildings, design of simply supported bridges.

Factors essential to the enhancement of durability of concrete and structures, designing for durability according to macro and micro climatic conditions, role of supplementary cementitious materials, super plasticizers, corrosion inhibitors, polymers, fibres and structures. Design and use of high strength lightweight concrete for off shore structures. Durable concrete repair.

Project course for non-thesis students.