Description | Recommended courses
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Description
Structural engineers are concerned with the conception, analysis, design and construction of components or assemblies to resist loads arising from internal and external forces. Solid mechanics is the study of the distribution of stresses that a given load produces when applied to a solid element, and the calculation of the resulting strains, given the characteristics of the materials that make up that element.
The application of solid mechanics enables the structural engineer to assemble elements, such as beams and columns, into a structure that will resist both static and dynamic loads, such as gravity, wind, snow and earthquakes.
In addition to steel and concrete, new materials that are being developed and used in structural engineering include reinforced plastics and polymers. The rehabilitation of existing structures weakened by corrosion continues to be an important task.
While typical civil engineering structures include large buildings, bridges and dams, graduates with a specialization in structural engineering may also be concerned with designing the structures of machinery, vehicles, aircraft and spacecraft.
Employment opportunities include work with consulting structural engineers, construction companies, building development companies, engineering departments of private corporations, aircraft and aerospace related companies, public utilities, and government agencies.
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Recommended courses
In order to achieve a specialization in the area of Structural Engineering at the undergraduate level, the following courses are:
- Strongly recommended:
CIVE 460
Matrix Structural Analysis
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Computer structural analysis, direct stiffness applied to two and three dimensional frames and trusses, matrix force method, nonlinear problems, buckling of trusses and frames, introduction to finite element analysis.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 462
Design of Steel Structures
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Design of structural steel members: plate girders, members under combined loadings, eccentrically loaded connections, composite floor systems. Design of single-storey concentrically braced frame buildings subjected to gravity, wind and seismic loading. Introduction to design software.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 463
Design of Concrete Structures
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Design of reinforced concrete members: beams, one-way slabs, columns, disturbed regions, two-way slabs, shear walls, footings, retaining walls. Aspects of seismic design of columns and shear walls. Introduction to design software and the design of prestressed concrete members.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
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- Recommended:
CIVE 446
Construction Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Project management principles; construction equipment economics, selection, operation; characteristics of building, heavy, marine, underground and route construction projects; international projects.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 507
Wind Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Davenport wind loading chain, wind climate, atmospheric boundary layer and turbulence, wind risk and statistics, bluff body aerodynamics, wind loads and structural responses, aeroelastic effects, building code approaches to estimate design wind loads, wind energy and sustainability, and introduction to wind tunnel tests and computational fluid dynamics.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 512
Advanced Civil Engrg Materials
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Production, structure and properties of engineering materials; ferrous alloys, treatments, welding, special steels, cast iron; ceramic materials; polymers; composite materials; concrete, admixtures, structure, creep, shrinkage; asphalt and asphaltic materials; clay materials and bricks; impact of environment on material response, durability, quality assessment and control, industrial specifications; recent advances.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 527
Renov&Preserv:Infrastructure
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Maintenance, rehabilitation, renovation and preservation of infrastructure; infrastructure degradation mechanisms; mechanical, chemical and biological degradation; corrosion of steel; condition surveys and evaluation of buildings and bridges; repair and preservation of materials, techniques and strategies; codes and guidelines; case studies, sustainable development; group project.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
CIVE 528
Design of Wood Structures
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Civil Engineering: Review of wood material properties and grades. Design of sawn lumber and timber tension, bending, compression and beam-column members. Design of engineered wood products, glued-laminated and cross-laminated timber members. Design of connections. Moisture and humidity effects, deterioration and protection, fire performance, prescriptive design versus engineering design.
Offered by: Civil Engineering
- Prerequisites: CIVE 318 or equivalent, or permission of the instructor
