Faculty Directory

ENCE 201: Engineering Information Processing. Theory and implementation of algorithms for solving problems in several important areas of engineering computation: function approximation; roots of nonlinear functions; solution of simultaneous linear equations; curve fitting (regression and interpolation); numerical differentiation and integration; and solutions of ordinary differential equations for initial value and boundary value problems. Numerical techniques are presented in the context of civil engineering applications. Issues of solution accuracy, robustness, and efficiency are emphasized. Algorithms implementation is primarily via MATLAB programming and secondarily via spreadsheets. (Converted to a blended online format in 2013-2014.)

ENCE 447: Pavement Engineering. Fundamental principles underlying the design, construction, maintenance and repair, and management of highway and airfield pavement systems. Pavement performance (functional/structural; evaluation); pavement mechanics (multi-layered elastic theory; slab theory); pavement materials (properties and characterization); environmental effects; current rigid and flexible design methods (new/rehabilitation); construction (new construction; maintenance/repair; rehabilitation); economic evaluation; pavement management. 

ENCE 640: Advanced Soil Mechanics. Effective stress principle; elasticity theory for stresses and displacements; soil-structure interaction concepts and analysis; classical settlement (consolidation) and compressibility theories, including finite difference solutions for vertical and radial drainage; Mohr-Coulomb strength theory. Emphasis on problem idealization, identification of key variables, methods for estimating needed but unknown problem data (e.g., soil properties), sources of error, and sensitivity analysis. 

ENCE 740 Computational Geomechanics. The application of computational mechanics, and in particular the finite element method, on the solution of stress and flow problems in geomechanics. Review of theoretical formulation of the finite element method, with particular emphasis on the special features most useful in geomechanics. Thorough treatment of the issues involved in performing robust practical analyses of real-world problems. Course term project enables students to apply these techniques to a geomechanics problem of their choosing.