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civil engineering course descriptions
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UVA Commonwealth Graduate Engineering Program
civil engineering

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I. General Comments

The extended graduate education program of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of Virginia is a five-year program leading toward the Master of Engineering (ME) degree with an emphasis in structural mechanics/structural design.

A tentative program is presented in this document. Students beginning study in a given year can schedule their courses appropriately, after consultation with an academic advisor. Typically, the University of Virginia requires certain courses for students pursuing Master's degrees. This includes:

1. A course in partial differential equations; e.g. APMA 641 (UVa), or MATH 517-518 (VCU), or MATH 501-502 (ODU). This course should, preferably, be taken early in the program of studies.

2. CE 601, Advanced Mechanics of Materials, or CE 602, Continuum Mechanics

3. A course in Finite Element Analysis; e.g., CE 671 or MAE 671.

4. For students pursuing the structural design option, a minimum of two structural design courses.

5. A concentration of courses within the area of structural mechanics, or structural design.

Students wishing to obtain a strong structural design flavor in their graduate program will probably want to take as many of the offered design courses as possible. These students should also consider any courses in Geotechnical Engineering which may be offered by Virginia Tech as part of the Commonwealth program. Students located in the Tidewater area may wish to consider courses offered by Old Dominion University as part of their program of study.

Students wishing to obtain mechanics oriented master's degrees may want to substitute additional math courses from the appropriate participating university. These should be approved by the faculty advisor for the program in advance. Additional mechanics courses available to students include MAE 541 or MSE 732 (UVA). In addition, students may wish to consider mechanics courses offered by the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech. Students located in the Tidewater area may wish to consider mechanics oriented courses offered by the Mechanical Engineering Department at Old Dominion University as part of their program.

II. Tentative Programs

• A typical design oriented program might appear somewhat like the following:
  
  • CE 671 - Introduction to Finite Element Methods
  • CE 601 - Advanced Mechanics of Materials
  • CE 604 - Plates and Shells
  • CE 681 - Advanced Design of Metal Structures I
  • CE 683 - Prestressed Concrete Design
  • CE 684 - Advanced Reinforced Concrete Design
  • CE 620 - Energy Methods in Mechanics
  • APMA 641 - Engineering Mathematics I, or equivalent
  • CE 675 - Structural Stability
  • CE 623 - Vibrations
  • Design electrive from cooperating institution (as available - subject to advisor's approval)

• A typical mechanics oriented program might consist of the following courses:
  
  • APMA 641 - Engineering Mathematics I, or equivalent
  • CE 602 - Continuum Mechanics
  • CE 604 - Plates and Shells
  • CE 607 - Theory of Elasticity
  • CE 620 - Energy Methods in Mechanics
  • CE 671 - Introduction to Finite Element Methods
  • CE 623 - Vibrations
  • MSE 532 - Deformation & Fracture of Materials during Processing and Service
  • CE 665 - Mechanics of Composites
  • Math or Mechanics requirement from cooperating institution            (as available - subject to advisor's approval)

III. Suggested Course Alternatives

• Virginia Tech Courses

  For design oriented programs: Any geotechnical course offered by the Civil Engineering Department.

• UVA Courses
  
  • MSE 532 - Deformation & Fracture of Materials during Processing and Service
  • MAE 631 - Fluid Mechanics I
  • MAE 671 - Applied Finite Element Analysis
  • MAE 662 - Mechanical Design Analysis

• VCU Math and Statistics Courses
  
  • MATH 517-518 - Methods of Applied Mathematics I, II
  • MATH 515-516 - Numerical Analysis I, II
  • MATH 617-618 - Applied Mathematics I, II

• GMU Courses
  
  • MATH 620 - Applied Matrix Analysis
  • PHYS 510 - Mechanics of Continuous Media
  • STAT 654 - Applied Statistics

• ODU Courses
  
  Any of the Civil Engineering Department graduate courses with numbers between CE 610-635, CE 711/811, and CE 713/813. Other Civil Engineering graduate courses may also be approved, provided they contribute to a cohesive program.

  Any of the solid mechanics oriented Mechanical Engineering courses. Other Mechanical Engineering courses may also be approved, provided they contribute to a cohesive program.

Brief descriptions of the courses which will typically be offered under the program are listed in Civil Engineering Course Descriptions. Additional courses may also be announced as it becomes feasible to offer them.

9/30/05