Course syllabus

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BOM065 BOM065 Materials performance lp1 HT21 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Contact details

Building Technology

AA:   Arezou Ahmadi   arezou.ahmadi@chalmers.se (Examiner)

TL:    Tang Luping         tang.luping@chalmers.se 

YG:   Yutaka Goto         yutaka@chalmers.se

LH:   Liming Huang       limingh@chalmers.se

AH:   Amrita Hazarika   hazarika@chalmers.se

Structural Engineering

RJ:    Robert Jockwer     robert.jockwer@chalmers.se

Guest Lecturers

AM:   Alisa Machner      alisa.machner@tum.de - Technical University of Munich

WK:   Wolfgang Kunther wolku@byg.dtu.dk     - Technical University of Denmark 

Course purpose

Introduction

Building materials have extremely great importance for sustainable development and economic growth through sustainable construction owing to their high usage of resource and structural function with requirements of long service life. Failure of materials used in buildings and infrastructures can cause catastrophes and result in serious economic, environmental as well as social consequences. Therefore, the knowledge of materials performance is prerequisite for performance-based design of buildings and infrastructures. 

Materials performance is an advanced course for those who intend to complete his/her master degree in Master’s Programme “Structural Engineering and Building Technology”.

Aim

The aim of this course is to provide more intensified scientific based knowledge for students to understand commonly used construction materials, their structures, properties and behaviours under different conditions, so as to be able to critically evaluate materials and apply the knowledge in a performance-based design of buildings and civil engineering constructions.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

“Construction Materials – Their nature and behaviour”, 5th edition by Marios Soutsos and Peter Domone, CRC Press, 2018.

Separate hand-outs, papers and reports.

Course design

The course by means of lectures, laboratory exercises, modelling exercises and project works, will deal with the following contents:

  • M1: Introduction to construction materials: cementitious materials, structural timber, Mineral materials, composite materials, with respect to:

    • Composition and purpose
    • Environmental impact (sustainable development)

    M2: Concrete:

    • fresh and hardened properties,
    • Durability design:
    • long-term behaviours and influencing factors
    • service life design of concrete structures.
    • Performance assessment of concrete structures
    • Corrosion of steel, and
    • Corrosion protection and prevention.
    • Non-destructive tests (NDT)

    M3: Timber:

    • Production and properties: mechanical and hygrothermal properties
    • Durability: long-term behaviors and influencing factors.
    • Performance assessments

Since concrete is by volume the most used man-made structural material in civil engineering, involving large amount of raw materials (cement and aggregates), proper and optimal use of concrete has a great significance from the point view of resource and environmental protection for sustainable development of social structure and construction sector. The properties of concrete and its performance will, therefore, be emphasized in the course.

Teaching and learning activities

Class activities: To promote deep learning the class activities will include lectures, mini-seminars and group discussions. Students need to pre-read the contents in order to prepare their presentations and discussions.

Laboratory activities:  Three laboratory exercises are designed to give students a practical insight into materials properties, test methods and measurement uncertainty. 

Tasks and exercises:  Tasks are designed to give students opportunities for group work and presentation. Exercises are given to students for individually solving the questions.

Study trips: These activities are designed to give students the real pictures of materials and structures. Two study trips are arranged in combination with the parallel course “Structural systems” (VBB122).

Project work: The project work is designed to assess students’ ability in applying the learning outcomes to solve “open questions”. It is a group work. Students should choose and specify suitable structural materials for the important components in specified structures, considering functionality, environmental impact and durability. The work will be reported/disputed in the end of the course.

Summary of time distributions (approximately)

Teaching/Learning activities

Hours*

Lectures

36

Class exercises/discussions/presentations

10

Laboratory exercises

12

Study visiting (with Structural System)

10

Project work (task distribution & presentation)

10

Feedback & supervision

6

Tests & examination

6

* excluding homework

It should be noted that some parts of the course are designed as home study, aside from the homeworks. The materials for the self study are provided as some chapters of the course book, handouts and videos.

Changes made since the last occasion

. New course examiner. 

. Course syllabus is updated.

. Course schedule is modified.

. Few guest lecturing occations are added. 

. Project work is exapnded, with a timebr section added to it. 

. Assignment 1 and 2 are changed to class exercises to balance the pressure. 

. A labratory session for timber is added minimizing the lab hours dedicated to concrete section. 

Learning objectives and syllabus

After the course the students will be able to:

  • describe structures and properties of commonly used construction materials in both micro and macro scales;
  • explain materials behaviour under environmental and mechanical loads;
  • explain usual deterioration of a given material under the given conditions;
  • apply certain models for describing materials behaviour and their deterioration;
  • critically evaluate a material or a combination of materials for its functional properties, durability and impact to a sustainable development; and
  • apply the achieved knowledge in a performance-based design of buildings and civil engineering constructions.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

Examination form

Assessment and feedbacks

The assessment in the course “Materials performance” consists of the following parts:

  • Three laboratory exercises (in group) with maximum 12 points (4 points per each)
  • One periodic test (about 1.5 hours, individual) with maximum 20 points;
  • One project work (in group) with maximum 28 points; and
  • A final examination (about 4 hours, individual) with maximum 40 points.

The periodic test (in the beginning of the 6th week, including both multiple-choice and written questions) are designed to assess students’ learning as a summary of certain parts of course contents. The final examination (in the 9th week) is traditionally designed to assess students’ learning as a summary of the whole course.

Feedbacks are made mainly in class or in disscussion tool via Canvas.

Assessment and grading criteria

Total points including final examination (max 40), periodic test (max 20), project work (max 28), and laboratory (max 12)                                                              

Grade

<55 (or if the final exam<20)

Fail

>=55

3

>=70

4

>=85

5

There will be possibilities to gain bonus points during the course, which you will be informed about during the course. 

Course summary:

Date Details Due