Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Home

Research

Courses

Vita

Email

CIVE 202 Numerical Modeling
and Risk Analysis

Civil and Environmental Engineers often confront problems that involve complex systems with uncertain and variable inputs. Numerical modeling is a valuable tool in such circumstances because it allows engineers to make forecasts for unobserved conditions and to determine strategies that might improve the behavior of the system. Probability and statistics are also valuable tools because they allow engineers to characterize uncertainty and its implications in terms of risk of failure. This course provides and introduction to numerical modeling including both simulation and optimization modeling. It also introduces basic tools in probability and statistics that are applicable to the analysis of complex systems.

~12 Assignments 20%, 3 Modeling Projects 30%,
Midterm Exam 25%, Final Exam 25%
 

CIVE 322 Basic Hydrology

Water is an important resource. It's used for human consumption, waste transport, agricultural irrigation, and industrial processes. Water is also a dangerous hazard. Floods and droughts cause significant economic impacts and loss of life. This course surveys the natural processes that are responsible for the distribution and movement of water in the environment. It focuses on analyzing and synthesizing precipitation and streamflow records. It also develops practical tools to forecast streamflow rates from precipitation intensities.

Introduction to Hydrology, Fifth Edition
 Viessman and Lewis, 2003

~11 Assignments 20%, First Midterm 25%,
Second Midterm 25%, Final Exam 30%

 
CIVE 520 Physical Hydrology

Hydrology is the study of the movement and storage of water in the terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric environments. This course provides a graduate level introduction to this field. The course develops quantitative descriptions of the processes responsible for the movement of water between environments including: precipitation, interception, evaporation, transpiration, snowmelt, infiltration, surface runoff, recharge, and streamflow.

Physical Hydrology, Second Edition
Dingman, 2002

Hydrology: An Introduction to Hydrology Science
Bras, 1990

~6 Assignments 40%, First Exam 20%,
Second Exam 20%, Third Exam 20%


CIVE 524 Modeling Watershed Hydrology

Many problems in hydrology involve multiple hydrologic processes that are interacting in heterogeneous environments.  Numerical models are powerful tools for simulating complex  hydrologic systems and for making forecasts for unobserved conditions.  This course focuses on both the conceptual foundations and appropriate application of hydrologic models with a particular emphasis on watershed hydrology.  Topics include:  process representations, numerical approximations, model selection, parameter calibration, parameter identifiability, sensitivity analysis, and uncertainty assessment.

~7 Modeling Assignments 70%,
Final Exam 20%, Class Participation 10%


CIVE 525 Water Engineering for
International Development

Many rural areas in developing countries lack water systems that meet the basic needs of their populations. Development of such systems is heavily constrained by funding limitations and technical considerations. In addition, appropriate designs must consider local customs and cultural values. This course provides training in the design of small-scale, low-cost systems for drinking water supply, crop irrigation, and wastewater disposal. Topics include gravity diversions, wells, storage tanks, water distribution systems, irrigation demands, water quality testing, septic tanks, leach fields, and oxidation ponds. The course emphasizes on-site data collection methods and practical design issues.

No required text (various references used)

~7 Assignments 30%
First Exam 35%, Second Exam 35%


CIVE 724 River Basin Morphology

River basins display interesting dendritic patterns that extend over a wide range of spatial scales. These patterns are fractals and have an important role in a number of scientific and engineering problems. They influence the production of runoff and the collection of runoff into streamflow. They give important insights into the fluvial erosion, which helps shape the land surface. In addition, because other physical phenomena such as trees and blood vessels display similar properties, river patterns provide clues about more fundamental processes of self-organization in nature. This course examines river basin evolution and morphology with a particular emphasis on scaling-invariance and fractality.

Fractal River Basins:  Chance and Self-Organization
Rodriguez-Iturbe and Rinaldo, 1997

~4 Assignments 30%, Paper Presentation 20%,
Project 40%, Class Participation 10%

Columbia River Valley (NASA)