Course syllabus for Infrastructure, civil engineers

Course syllabus adopted 2023-02-06 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameInfrastruktur, civilingenjör
  • CodeBOM360
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTKSAM
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyCivil and Environmental Engineering
  • ThemeEnvironment 1 c
  • DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language Swedish
  • Application code 58112
  • Block schedule
  • Open for exchange studentsNo

Credit distribution

0117 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		 7.5 c

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

BOM356 Geotechnics or ACE235 Geotechnics

Recommended prerequisites 
BOM325 Hydrogeology and geotechnics or BOM370 Hydrogeology and geotechnics

Aim

The course aims to deepen the understanding of the role of Civil Engineers in infrastructure projects (road and rail). Based on technical requirements and regulations, students should learn to plan and construct infrastructure with regards to the law, techniques, economics and sustainable development. The course is a natural progression in the topic area of "infrastructure and urban planning” and is based on a project. The theme will be road or railway in a corridor i.e., Gothenburg - Borås. In the project, students will use the acquired knowledge from earlier courses taken at Chalmers.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

Describe the sub-steps in the planning and design of road and railway projects, as well as the governing laws and regulations.
Evaluate alternative corridors for road/railway from a technical, environmental and economic perspective.
Describe and apply geological and geotechnical investigation methods for the analyses and design.
Describe different sealing and reinforcement methods, and identify their usability for different soil and rock conditions with regards to sustainable construction, operation and maintenance.
Based on technical and environmental requirements and prerequisites, dimension and draw cross sections, plans and profiles for line infrastructure.

Content

The course includes an introduction to the planning and design of roads and railways from traffic engineering, environmental, geological, hydrogeological, rock mechanical and geotechnical perspective.
The course is planned as a project work with supporting deepening lectures. The project work is based on an existing area for transport corridor Gothenburg- Boras, which will provide the opportunity to apply the acquired technical knowledge in the context of a railway project.
An important part of the course is the understanding of the planning process, and to learn the tools to develop a good basis for the decision on the location and design.

Organisation

The course consists of the following learning activities: Project and lectures.

The lectures will support the project. Some of the lectures or textbooks are in English.

Project work:
The grouping is done randomly, resulting in up to five students per group.
Part 1 (20%) comprises of determination the aim and objectives for the project, as well as based on this selecting a corridor for road/railway and the speed standard. The need for geological, geotechnical and hydrogeological studies should be described. Choices must be justified in a part-report.
Part 2 (60%) considers for a given alignment the overall technical design and dimensioning of foundations, earthworks and water management. Reporting is done with intermediate assessments in the form of drawings and system description, and includes a cost estimate and a simplified environmental impact assessment.
Part 3 (20%) includes a selected individual analysis of a technical problem related to any of the topics above, including road safety, traffic analysis, acoustics/vibrations, risk analysis, costing and production planning.

Literature

Bergbyggnad, Ulf Lindblom, 2010, Liber AB.
Ground improvement, Klaus Kirsch, Klaus & Alan Bell (Editors), 2013.  Third Edition, CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, London.
Soil Improvement and Ground Modification Methods, 2014, Peter G. Nicholson, Butterworth-Heinemann.
Provpumpning som geohydrologisk undersökningsmetodik (Carlsson & Gustafson)
Literature Compendium for Engineering Geology, Sara Kvartsberg, Lars O Ericsson, Johan Thörn
Foundations of Engineering Geology, Tony Waltham, 2009, third edition                             
Compendium in vägutformning 2000
Compendium in vägbyggnad nov 2015
Guidance documents from Trafikverket
Selected documents (pdfs)

Examination including compulsory elements

Examination through group presentations and project reports.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.