Masters of Engineering - Structural Earthquake Engineering

Mission Statement of University

Acquire education and research excellence in engineering and allied disciplines to produce leadership and enabling application of knowledge and skills for the benefit of the society with integrity and wisdom.
 

Mission Statement of Department

The Department aims to produce highly skilled professionals and researchers who are current with the latest developments in different aspects of earthquake engineering and disaster mitigation so that they are able to provide safer and economical built environment. 
 

Mission Statement of Programme

Structural Earthquake Engineering Programme aims at producing graduates who are able to understand the complex context of activities required before, during and after a disaster and are well equipped to undertake research in earthquake engineering and disaster management both at national and international levels. 
 

Measurable Objectives of Programme

•    Understand, analyse and manage the dynamic factors of disasters on individual and society levels, such as physical, environmental, social, cultural, economical, legal, organisational aspects, that influence vulnerabilities and capacities of individuals and communities.
•    To design safe and economical civil infrastructure and perform seismic vulnerability assessment of existing structures.
•    Plan and implement risk reduction, evaluate and coordinate recovery needs of disaster struck individuals and societies.
•    Prepare students for advanced research and development.
 

Programme Outcomes 

The programme consist of a number of core subjects and electives modules that are career-orientated and cover both the theoretical background and practical design considerations which enable our graduates to display a higher degree of skills, capabilities and performance as structural earthquake engineers. The outcomes are as follows

PO-1:  Advanced Knowledge: graduate students will demonstrate advanced knowledge and understanding of the essential facts, concepts, principles and theories relevant to the chosen specialized area of the graduate program. 
 

PO-2:  Methods: graduate students will demonstrate quantitative and qualitative skills in the use of data gathering methods and data analysis techniques used for typical analyses in conducting research and problem solving using a multidisciplinary approach, applying professional judgements to balance costs, benefits, safety and social and environmental impact.
 

PO-3:  Research: graduate students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the research techniques which might include information retrieval, experimental design, modelling and may conduct independent research resulting in an original contribution to knowledge in the focused areas of their graduate program.
 

PO-4:  Communication: Communicate educational research to both researchers and practitioners through writing and/or presentations.
 

PO-5:  Professionalism: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of ethical     standards in executing advanced research.
 

Programme objectives related to expected outcomes

 

Porgramme objectives PO-1 PO-2 PO-3 PO-4 PO-5
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Course Outline

 

Compulsory Courses (3 credits)

 

EQ-501        Structural Dynamics 
EQ-502        Fundamentals of Earthquake Engineering 
EQ-503        Seismic Design of RC Buildings 
EQ-504        Advanced Structural Analysis
EQ-505        Structural Reliability Analysis

 

Elective Courses 

EQ-521       Displacement Based Seismic Design (3 credits)
EQ-522       Performance Based Seismic Design (3 credits)
EQ-523       Seismic Design of Steel and Composite Structures (3 credits)
EQ-524       Seismic Design and Assessment of Masonry Structures (3 credits)
EQ-525       Loss Estimation and Hazard Mitigation (3 credits)
EQ-526       Fundamentals of Fire Dynamics (3 credits)
EQ-527       Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Bridges (3 credits)
EQ-528       Finite Element Method (3 credits)
EQ-529       FRP Reinforced Concrete Design (3 credits)
EQ-530       Fracture Mechanics of Concrete (3 credits)
EQ-531       Structural Fire Engineering (3 credits)
EQ-532       Fire Safety and Management (3 credits)
EQ-600       Independent Study Project (6 credits)
EQ-601       Dissertation (9 credits)

EQ-501 Structural Dynamics

Single degree of freedom system: formulation of equation of motion and its methods of formulation, free vibration response; undamped free vibration and damped free vibration; response to different types of dynamic loadings and different methods of analysis of nonlinear structural response.

Multi degree of freedom system: formulation of equation of motion and evaluation of structural property matrix, undamped free vibration, vibration frequencies; mode shapes, orthogonality conditions, methods of practical vibration analysis and analysis of nonlinear systems, introduction to random vibration, application of structural dynamics to earthquake engineering  and  methods  of  deterministic  analysis,  soil  frame  interaction.

EQ-502 Fundamentals of Earthquake Engineering

Plate tectonics and earthquake types, introduction to wave propagation and monitoring, earthquake ground motion measures, influence of source, path and site effects, introduction to ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) and seismic hazard assessment, inelastic response at section, member and global level, drift and lateral stability, floor diaphragm response, review of structural vibration theory, linear elastic and inelastic seismic response of single degree of freedom (SDF) systems to seismic excitation, development of inelastic response spectrum and its application in force and displacement based seismic design and assessment, inelastic seismic response of multi degree of freedom (MDF) systems, applications and limitations of nonlinear pushover analysis, seismic design and assessment procedures in codes.

EQ-503 Seismic Design of RC Buildings

Material behaviour of concrete, steel, reinforced concrete and masonry under monotonic and cyclic loading, flexural analysis of sections and members, pre-cracking, post-cracking and  behaviour  at  ultimate  load,  moment-curvature  (M-Ö)  curve,  moment-curvature relationships and ductility, plastic rotation capacity and curvature ductility relationships, effect of tension in concrete and tension stiffening and load deflection diagram, deflection and crack control mechanism, shear in reinforced concrete, shear-flexure interaction, torsion in reinforced concrete, seismic design limit states and structural properties, essentials of structural systems for seismic resistance, factors influencing seismic response, capacity design philosophy, determination of design forces, principles of member design and aspects of detailing, design of reinforced concrete buildings.

EQ-504 Advanced Structural Analysis

Matrix algebra, solution of equations, review of energy principles, virtual work; degree of redundancy, choice of redundants, flexibility method, kinematic indeterminacy, development of element stiffness method of analysis of structures, computer applications and software development, axial force effects and eigenvalue analysis, introduction to finite element method, introduction to structural stability.

EQ-505 Structural Reliability Analysis

Reliability function, measures of central tendency and dispersion of data, theory of probability, probability distribution, fundamentals of structural reliability theory, first and second-order methods of reliability analysis, structural component and system reliability, reliability sensitivity measures, structural time-invariant and time-variant reliability analysis, dynamic analysis of linear and nonlinear structural systems subjected to stationary and non-stationary random excitations, finite element sensitivity and reliability analysis methods, application of structural reliability analysis in performance based seismic design, probabilistic seismic design codes.

EQ-521  Displacement Based Seismic Design

Philosophy and need for displacement based design (DBD), review of conventional force based design (FBD) methods with particular reference to seismic design codes, review for DBD methods, advantages of DBD over FBD with illustrative examples, seismic input for DBD method such as displacement spectrum; concept of hysteretic damping and displacement ductility; influence of displacement and ductility on spectral displacement response; attenuation model for displacement spectrum, fundamental considerations of DBD, design limit states and performance levels, single degree of freedom (SDF) structures, multi-degree of freedom (MDF) structures, p-delta effects, combination of seismic and gravity loadings, considerations for torsional response, capacity design of members, nonlinear analysis tools, force-displacement response for reinforced concrete members, force-displacement response for steel members, analysis related to capacity design philosophy, application of DBD in buildings,  bridges  and  structures  with  base  isolation  and  added  damping.

EQ-522 Performance Based Seismic Design

Mechanics of earthquakes and strong ground motion characteristics, response spectra and seismic response of elastic and inelastic systems, mechanical behaviour of structural members under earthquake excitations, seismic design philosophies, philosophy of seismic design for reinforced concrete structures, building code procedures for seismic design, advantages of performance-based seismic design, seismic performance levels, measures of seismic performance, seismic hazard, performance objectives, general approaches for estimating deformation capacity of the structures, response spectra, fundamental consideration of direct displacement-based design, analysis tools for direct displacement-based design, framed buildings, dual wall-frame buildings, masonry buildings, structures with isolation and added damping, pushover analysis.

EQ-523  Seismic Design of Steel and Composite Structures

Elastic and inelastic behaviour of steel subjected to static and dynamic loading, mechanical behaviour of steel beams, types of connection, behaviour of connections, methods of global analysis, seismic design of steel structures using seismic design provisions, concepts of ductility, inter-storey drift; behaviour factors/force reduction factors and damage, capacity design principles, typology of steel structures, effect of global instability, effects of diaphragms, semi-rigid connections and axial forces, seismic design of moment resisting steel frames; braced steel frames and composite structures, introduction to performance and displacement based design, hybrid force and displacement based design and use of advanced methods of analysis.

EQ-524 Seismic Design and Assessment of Masonry Structures

An introduction to masonry and non-engineered construction, mechanical properties of clay brick, cellular concrete block, autoclave aerated concrete (AAC) block, adobe and stone masonry units, categories of masonry walls for seismic resistance, in-plane and out-of-plane behaviour of masonry assemblages and walls, analytical methods for masonry walls, seismic design of masonry moment resisting wall frames and masonry-infilled frames, assessment of unreinforced masonry structures, design principles and code specifications for masonry construction, repair and strengthening techniques for damaged masonry buildings after earthquakes, displacement based design of masonry structures.

EQ-525  Loss Estimation and Hazard Mitigation

Modelling parameters, geometric nonlinearity and material inelasticity, concentrated vs. distributed plasticity modelling approach, nonlinear dynamic analysis, selection, scaling and matching of accelerograms, nonlinear static analysis, conventional pushover analysis, multi-modal pushover analysis and adaptive pushover analysis, nonlinear static procedures, capacity spectrum method (CSM), adaptive capacity spectrum method (ACSM), N2 method, modal pushover analysis (MPA) method and displacement based earthquake loss assessment (DBELA) method, seismic vulnerability assessment of single structures using nonlinear static and dynamic procedures with special reference to  (FEMA) and Applied Technology Council (ATC) provisions, seismic vulnerability assessment of groups of structures (empirical and analytical methods), hazard, exposure, human/economic losses, remote sensing and global earthquake model (GEM) initiative.

EQ-526 Fundamentals of Fire Dynamics

Fire and its ingredients, chemistry and physics of fires, smouldering, fuels and materials, combustion process, fire combustion products and toxicity, forms of heat transfer, heat flux as an indication of damage, radiation form fires, piloted and auto-ignition, ignition time, diffusion and premixed flames, flame spread, flame spread rate, burning rate, fire development, fire growth rate, fully developed fires, fire plumes, compartment fires, fire spread, smoke movement, smoke spread, smoke hazard management

EQ-527 Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Bridges

Bridge Typologies and Bridge components; Classification of Road Bridges; functional and operational requirements; Bridge planning and selection of Bridge site; Collection of bridge design data; Standard loading for bridge design and design process for highway bridges; Bridge management systems (process, characteristics and practice); Bridge management cycle; Bridge inventory data; Bridge inspection methods; Collection of bridge condition information; Bridge condition assessment (historical & recent perspective); Bridge assessment models and assessing a bridge in terms of damage and defects; Aging and deterioration processes; Performance problems and threats; Identifying functional deficiencies; Recognizing reduced redundancy; Bridge condition ratings; Bridge condition index; Challenges associated with various bridge component rating methods; Seismic vulnerability and assessment of damage; Systematic evaluations of bridges based on failure modes; Fragility curves; Repair and retrofitting, Priorization; Optimization of retrofit methods

EQ-528 Finite Element Method

Basic equations of elasticity; virtual work; stiffness; properties of structural elements; variational and weighted residual methods; application to trusses, beams, plane frames, two-dimensional, axi-symmetric and three-dimensional solids; higher order and isoparametric elements; field and time-dependent problems of fluid and heat flow; computational modelling

EQ-529 FRP Reinforced Concrete

Basic equations of elasticity; virtual work; stiffness; properties of structural elements; variational and weighted Overview of FRP reinforcement; constituent materials for FRP; properties of FRP composites; design issues such as cover delamination, FRP debonding; design basis for FRP reinforcement and strengthening; flexure and shear design; serviceability design of FRP RC beams; FRP reinforcement detailing; flexure strengthening of beams and slabs; shear strengthening of RC members; FRP confining for columns; fire resistance and endurance of FRP reinforced structures

EQ-530 Fracture Mechanics of Concrete

Introduction to fracture mechanics; applications of fracture mechanics to concrete; principles of linear-elastic fracture mechanics; principles of nonlinear fracture mechanics; dynamic fracture mechanics; nonlinear fracture models; structure and fracture process of concrete; nonlinear fracture mechanics for mode I quasi-brittle fracture; test methods to determine mode I fracture properties for concrete; fracture resistance curves (R-curves) for quasi-brittle materials; tension softening response of concrete; applications of fracture mechanics to plain and reinforced concrete structures under static and temperature load

EQ-531 Structural Fire Engineering

Fire safety in buildings; fundamentals of fire behaviour in buildings; room fires and post-flashover fires; estimating the temperatures in building compartments and individual structural members; fire severity and the concept of equivalent fire severity; standard test results and calculation methods for fire resistance; fundamentals of the behaviour of common construction materials under fire; application of structural analysis principles to the fire problem; design of structures exposed to fire; fire resistance design of steel structures; fire resistance design of concrete structures; fire resistance design of lightweight frame structures

EQ-532 Fire Safety and Management

Fire safety concepts; design fires; flame spread, modelling of flame spread and fire growth; external fire spread and heat radiation; smoke movement; buoyancy; principles of smoke hazard management; smoke spread; smoke hazard management subsystems; fire safety measures; fire safety system design principles, occupant evacuation; fire department response; qualitative and quantitative risk assessment; fire safety risk management; logic trees

EQ-600  Independent Study Project

Independent Study Project (ISP) provides an alternative to the credit-bearing taught courses. It allows a student to complete a supervised study in a specific area of interest. It is aimed at increasing the knowledge in a field of study. The student is required to initiate, design and execute the work under the supervision of a faculty member.

EQ-601  Dissertation

The dissertation provides an alternative to the credit-bearing taught courses. It must demonstrate a substantial research component and contribution to knowledge with a focus in the specific area of interest. The student should be able to design and execute the work for the dissertation under the supervision of a faculty member. The dissertation should reflect the knowledge and expertise developed by the student in the chosen research area.