CS4001 - Foundation Engineering and Rock Mechanics

Foundation Engineering: foundation analysis and design bearing capacity, two-dimensional consolidation settlement, settlement of shallow foundations on sand; bearing capacity and settlement of pile foundations; earth retaining structures rigid retaining wall, sheet piles, braced excavations and reinforced earth walls; introduction to reliability based design.Rock Engineering: engineering behaviour of rock and rock discontinuities; hemisphere projection technique with applications to rock slope stability; insitu rock stress and its measurement; introductory underground opening design. Case histories and special topics.

Learning Outcomes

• appreciate the role of case histories in geo-engineering practice;
• appreciate the role of rock material and discontinuity strength in the behaviour of rock slopes and underground openings;
• design shallow and pile foundations;
• estimate consolidation settlements;
• select appropriate types of earth retaining structures;
• apply hemisphere projection techniques to assess rock slope stability;
• assess the stability of slopes.

Subject Assessment

• end of semester exam (50% - 70%)
• on-course assessment, some of which may be invigilated (30% - 50%).

Note: Minor variations might occur due to the continuous Subject quality improvement process, and in case of minor variation(s) in assessment details, the Subject Outline represents the latest official information.