Civil Engineering, Ph.D.
Civil Engineering
Head: Dr. Shawn Clark, P.Eng.
Associate Head: Dr. Mohamed Bassuoni, P.Eng. (Graduate Programs); Dr. Jonathan Regehr, P.Eng. (Undergraduate Programs)
Campus Address/General Office: E1 - 368 Engineering
Telephone: 204-474-8596
Fax: 204-474-7513
Email Address: ce_graduate@umanitoba.ca
Website: umanitoba.ca/engineering/civil
Academic Staff: Please refer to the Civil Engineering website for Faculty information.
Civil Engineering Program Information
The Department of Civil Engineering offers programs of coursework and research leading to the Master of Science, Master of Engineering and Doctor of Philosophy in: environmental engineering; geotechnical engineering; structural engineering; transportation engineering and water resources engineering.
Admission Information
Admission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
Application and Admission Procedures are found in the Academic Guide.
Admission requirements for doctoral students are found in the Doctor of Philosophy General Regulations section of the Guide.
Civil Engineering Ph.D. Admission Requirements
Admission to the Ph.D. program is normally from the Master’s degree level, i.e., M.Eng. or M.Sc. Students in a Master’s program who have achieved an average GPA of 4.0 in their last 60 credit hours of undergraduate studies may be allowed to transfer to the PhD program without being required to write a Master’s thesis provided they meet the following conditions:
- Completion of 6 graduate courses (18 credits) with a grade of A or better in each;
- Satisfactory progress in the research program;
- Written recommendation from the supervisor, the thesis advisory committee and a selection committee (appointed by the head);
- Approval by the department and Faculty of Graduate Studies.
The transfer must take place within 20 months of initial registration in the Master's program. Following transfer, all the requirements of the doctoral program apply, including the completion of an additional 12 credit hours at the 7000 level.
Application Information
Students should complete and submit their online application with supporting documentation by the date indicated on the Civil Engineering Ph.D. program of study page.
Degree Requirements
The Ph.D. program consists of coursework, original research and thesis. A minimum of 12 credit hours of coursework (all at the 7000 level) is required beyond the Master’s degree or its equivalent. The program of study must be approved by the student's advisor, the advisory committee and the Department Head.
It is the department's policy that graduate students shall take at least 6 credit hours in their core area of research within Civil Engineering with no more than 6 credit hours of graduate level courses from one professor.
Expected Time to Graduate: 4 years
Progression Chart
All students must register in GRAD 8020 each term (Fall, Winter & Summer) as long as they are in the program.
| Year 1 | Hours | |
|---|---|---|
| GRAD 7300 | Research Integrity Tutorial | 0 |
| GRAD 7500 | Academic Integrity Tutorial (must be completed first term) | 0 |
| COURSE 7XXX | Courses designated 7000 level or above 1 | 12 |
| GRAD 8010 | Doctoral Candidacy Examination 2 | 0 |
| Hours | 12 | |
| Year 2 | ||
| GRAD 8000 | Doctoral Thesis 3 | 0 |
| Hours | 0 | |
| Years 3-4 | ||
| GRAD 8000 | Doctoral Thesis 4 | 0 |
| Hours | 0 | |
| Total Hours | 12 | |
- 1
The Ph.D. program consists of coursework, original research and a thesis. A minimum of 12 credit hours of coursework (all at the 7000 level) is required beyond the Master’s degree. The program of study must be approved by the student’s advisor, the advisory committee and the Department Head. For students who have transferred directly from the Master’s program, all the requirements of the doctoral program apply, including the completion of an additional 12 credit hours at the 7000 level. It is the Department’s policy that graduate students shall take at least 6 credit hours in his/her core area of research within Civil Engineering with no more than 6 credit hours of graduate level courses from one professor.
- 2
The examination process starts upon completion of most of the required coursework but must be completed within the first 12 months after the student’s initial registration in the Ph.D. program. The student must complete a Ph.D. Proposed Program of Study Form and have it approved by the advisor and the department before starting the candidacy exam process.
- 3
No later than 16 months after the students initial registration in the Ph.D. program, the Ph.D. candidate will be required to submit a detailed research proposal to the Ph.D. Advisory Committee. The proposal must document the research objectives, relevant background literature, required experimental, analytical or computational approaches, and projected timetable for completion of the steps necessary in the research. The proposal is normally about 10,000 words (40 pages), not including the bibliography. The candidate will be required to make an oral presentation of the proposal (approximately 20 minutes), followed by questions directly related to the proposal. Maximum duration of the question period will be 2 hours.
- 4
The final examination for the Ph.D. degree proceeds in two (2) stages:
- Examination of the candidate’s thesis by an internal and external examiner;
- Oral examination of the candidate by all examiners on the subject of the thesis and any matters relating thereto.
Registration Information
Students should familiarize themselves with the Faculty of Graduate Studies ‘GRAD’ courses applicable to their program. If you have questions about which GRAD course(s) to register in, please consult your home department/unit.
Courses are subject to cancellation if there is insufficient enrolment. Courses with insufficient enrolment may be cancelled the first week of classes. Not all courses will be offered each year — contact the department for courses that will not be offered. All returning and newly admitted students must see an academic advisor or the department head prior to attempting to register.
Regulations
Students must meet the requirements as outlined in both Supplementary Regulation and BFAR documents as approved by Senate.
Supplementary Regulations
Individual units may require specific requirements above and beyond those of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and students should consult unit supplementary regulations for these specific regulations.
Bona Fide Academic Requirements (BFAR)
Bona Fide Academic Requirements (BFAR) represent the core academic requirements a graduate student must acquire in order to gain, and demonstrate acquisition of, essential knowledge and skills.
All students must successfully complete:
- GRAD 7300 prior to applying to any ethics boards which are appropriate to the student’s research or within the student’s first year, whichever comes first; and
- GRAD 7500 within the first term of registration;
unless these courses have been completed previously, as per Mandatory Academic Integrity Course and Mandatory Research Integrity Online Course.
Students must also meet additional BFAR requirements that may be specified for their program.
General Regulations
All students must:
- maintain a minimum degree grade point average of 3.0 with no grade below C+,
- meet the minimum and not exceed the maximum course requirements, and
- meet the minimum and not exceed the maximum time requirements (in terms of time in program and lapse or expiration of credit of courses).
Courses
Civil Engineering
A course in aspects of the design, construction, and operation of modern railways, examining main lines, branch lines, and terminals.
Overview of the structure and organization of Canada's freight transport system; measurement, analysis and forecasting of freight movements; transportation system performance; operating, service and cost characteristics of freight transport systems; design considerations for freight handling facilities; case studies in analysis and design of freight transport systems.
PR/CR: A minimum grade of C is required unless otherwise indicated.
Prerequisite: CIVL 4840 or permission of the instructor for non-engineering students specializing in transport studies.
Aspects of transportation in developing regions that differ significantly from those of conventional North American practice. Factors and assumptions in developing region context; analysis and design of surface transportation systems and components in developing regions; special aspects of professional practice; case studies from Third World and northern Canada.
Passenger travel forecasting principles and techniques; demand models; passenger transportation system performance; vehicle cycles; cost functions; congestion; evaluation; examination of case studies.
The application of operations research/systems analysis techniques to water resources and urban and environmental systems.
PR/CR: A minimum grade of C is required unless otherwise indicated.
Prerequisite: permission of instructor.
A study of the analysis and design of prestressed concrete structures; pre-tensioning; post-tensioning; importance of material properties; modern design specifications.
Masonry materials, properties and behaviour. Plain and reinforced masonry, axial load, flexure, combined loading. Design methods, building code developments, building design.
Cartesian Tensors, analysis of stress and strain, constitutive relations, formulation and solution of problems in 2-D and 3-D elasticity, Hankel integral transforms, plasticity; yield surface and criteria, flow rule, plastic potential, hardening, viscoelasticity; creep, relaxation, basic viscoelastic models, stress-strain relations, correspondence principle.
Includes topics such as energy and the environment, solid waste management, and environmental problems in transport. Topics are studied through case histories of contemporary issues.
Advanced engineering principles related to resource recovery and solid waste disposal. Biological conversion technologies and the disposal of solid wastes are discussed in detail.
Study of the actual behaviour and strength of reinforced concrete members; examination of recent significant publications, correlation to research with current design specifications and codes.
Fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) constituents and properties; design of concrete structures internally reinforced with FRP, concrete members prestressed with FRP, externally bonded FRP liminates for strengthening and rehabilitation of structures; construction details and case studies of projects using FRP reinforcement.
Introduction and overview of sustainable construction and green buildings, green building assessment tools; the green building process; green building design, construction and commissioning, the economics of green buildings and future directions in sustainable construction and green buildings.
Lectures and seminars on selected advanced topics in structural engineering; current problems; implications on current research.
Slope movement types and processes in soil and rock masses; recognition and identification: factors influencing stability; field investigation and instrumentation; strength properties and their measurement; stability analysis; assessment of hazard and risk analysis; stability in open pit mining; remedial measures including stabilization, protection, and warning.
Strategic management of construction organizations; strategy systems and processes; health and safety management; human resources management; benchmarking; financing; budgeting; value management and financial performance; and quantitative decision-making for construction organizations.
Review of flexibility and stiffness methods; concept of finite elements and energy formulations; various shape functions; solutions of planar and three-dimensional elasticity problems; beams, plates and shells; special problems, e.g., seepage, non-linear material.
A tutorial approach to the study of topics in soil, rock and ice engineering not covered in the formal coursework.
Testing methods for strength, compressibility and hydraulic conductivity of engineering soils; traditional models for soil characterization; introduction to hypoelastic and elastic plastic modelling; extension of models to account for strain-rate, temperature, and unsaturation; influence of soil chemistry; relationship between laboratory results and computational needs.
Properties and test methods of geosynthetics (i.e., geotextiles, geogrids, geomembranes, geonets and geocomposites); functions of geosynthetics (separation, reinforcement, filtration, drainage and containment); design of reinforced soil structures (retaining walls, slopes, embankments and unpaved roads); design of filtration and drainage works; design of lined waste containment facilities; case histories.
Analysis and design for construction in engineering soils: review of soil strength and compressibility, site characterization, stability and settlements of shallow foundations, deep foundations, earth retaining structures, slope design and remediation, earth dams. Emphasis will be placed on published records comparing predictions with field performance.
Lectures and seminar on selected advanced topics in the field of mechanics; current problems and research.
Lectures and seminars on selected advanced topics in water-resources engineering.
This course will provide students with an introduction to River Ice Engineering topics and principles. River ice processes such as freeze-up, ice growth, break-up and jamming will be explained in detail. The effects of ice on river hydraulics and hydraulic systems operation will be investigated. River and lake ice mechanics, ice safety and ice mitigation strategies will be discussed. Where possible, students will have an opportunity to gain practical experience through labs and project work.
This course provides an introduction to advanced hydraulics, including physical hydraulic modelling, sediment transport (cohesive and non-cohesive) and analysis and design of several different types of hydraulic structures. Additional advanced topics such as coastal engineering and fish passage will be covered as appropriate.
Introduce concepts in advanced fluid mechanics including topics in theoretical fluid mechanics, experimental fluid mechanics and environmental fluid mechanics.
Introduce concepts and procedures for the computational modelling of open channel hydraulic engineering problems including numerical methods and best modelling practices.
Classification of rivers; regime of river channels; channel patterns, sediment transport; design of stable channels; engineering interference (diversions, dams, dredging); river training works; hydraulic-model studies of rivers.
Analysis and design of mechanical and chemical treatment techniques commonly applied to problem foundation soils for civil engineering structures. Mechanical modification; hydraulic modification; modification by admixtures; modification by reinforcement and confinement; in-situ evaluation of soil improvement and monitoring.
Principles and methodologies of planning water resources development projects. An evaluation of a major multi-purpose project from inter-disciplinary viewpoints, incorporating those of designers, planners, critics and political decision makers.
Mechanics of wave motion; wave and water level predictions; types and design of coastal protection; littoral processes.
The physics and numerical solution of mathematical models of steady-state and transient groundwater flow and mass transport in the saturated and unsaturated zones; introduction to the finite difference and finite element methods; popular software; other modelling techniques, including random-walk particle methods; modelling groundwater contamination; non-linear problems; applications to regional groundwater flow and groundwater recharge, aquifer resource evaluations, contamination prediction.
The role of geology and hydrogeology in the siting, design of engineering structures; synthesis of groundwater mechanics in various geologic environments; case studies in construction dewatering, groundwater resource evaluation, subsidence, seepage in dams and foundations and slope stability; basic review of analytic solutions and numerical methods.
Selected topics examining the statistical aspects of hydrology. Time series analysis; disaggregation processes; flood frequency analysis; analysis of extremes.
Optimization of Civil Engineering Systems. Use of linear and dynamic programming and network theory in all aspects of civil engineering. Introduction to the use of stochastic processes in operations research. Particular emphasis is given to water resources and environmental and transportation engineering.
Introduction to Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures (ISIS); Introduction to Civionics and Structural Health Monitoring; Sensors and Data Acquisition Systems; Theoretical Evaluation of Bridge Decks; Theoretical Evaluation of Cantilever Slabs; Theoretical Evaluation of Girders; Theoretical Evaluation of Columns; Bridge Inspections and Maintenance; Conceptual Design and Aesthetic Design of Bridges.
Runoff generation and runoff modelling; scale effects in hydrology; ramifications of distributed and lumped approaches; computer models of watershed modelling; optimization schemes and minimization functions; special concerns dealing with digital elevation models.
Advanced properties of concrete are introduced through studying key constituent materials (e.g. cement, mineral and chemical admixtures). Concepts of design and control of concrete mixtures are described through defining performance criteria in the field. Characteristics and applications of special concretes (e.g. high-performance and self-consolidating concrete) are covered. Each topic is discussed with respect to mechanisms of action, construction specifications and requirements in Canadian and American standards.
Durability of concrete as a material. Deterioration of concrete in the field due to various damage mechanisms. Frost damage, corrosion of reinforcement, sulfate attack, etc. Durability-based design requirement in building codes.
Behaviour and design of welded thin-walled members; plate girders, composite construction, beam-columns, and connections. Special topics such as stability of metal structures and bracing requirements are also covered.
Pavement classification, pavement management, performance measures, condition surveys, sensor technology, material sampling, test methods on asphalt binders and unbound layers, non-destructive testing, sources of variability, pavement maintenance, rehabilitation, long-term performance.
Design criteria for metal building systems; behaviour and design of tapered and prismatic built-up columns and girders; design of gable frames; behaviour and design of cold-formed members; bracing requirements for metal buildings and design of connections.
The physics and numerical solution of mathematical models of flow and transport processes in fractured rocks; scale effects; single, dual, and mixed modelling techniques; heat flow and transport in fractured rock systems; applications to local and regional groundwater flow.
Hydrographic analysis; relation between the physical processes and the hydrograph; estimation and prediction. Floods; statistical analysis; maximum probable floods. Water supply; estimates of dependable flow, simulation, synthetic flow series, statistical analysis.
Mathematical theories of traffic flow, introductory queueing theory with application to traffic performance at intersections; travel forecasting principles and techniques; the use of simulation in traffic engineering design.
Responses of single-degree-of-freedom and multi-degree-of-freedom systems, damped and undamped systems, linear and inelastic systems to dynamic excitations; free vibration, forced vibrations. Special emphasis on responses of civil structures to seismic and blast loadings.
Analytical techniques used in engineering, including such topics as the application of complex variables, partial differential equations, generated Fourier series, integral transforms, and special functions, to advanced problems in civil engineering.
Physical and chemical characteristics of water; water treatment processes including coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, softening, adsorption, ion exchange, disinfection, and membrane processes.
Characteristics of waste-specific and generic determinations; unit operations and unit process for physical, chemical and biological treatment and transformation of particulate and dissolved contaminants. Biochemical transformations and degradation of hazardous pollutants; unit processes for enhanced nutrient removal and hazardous waste treatment. Full treatment trains for industrial and municipal waste treatment, including solids handling.
Laboratory work in water and wastewater analysis and treatment processes related to water quality management.
Design of unit operations. Planning, cost effectiveness analysis, and conceptual design of a whole wastewater treatment plant.
PR/CR: A minimum grade of C is required unless otherwise indicated.
Prerequisites: CIVL 7930.
Lectures and seminars on selected topics in transportation not covered in the formal coursework.