Course syllabus

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BOM065 Materials performance lp1 HT24 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering- The course will be offered in a physical form on campus. 

Contact details

Building Technology

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

YG:   Yutaka Goto         yutaka@chalmers.se

RJ:    Robert Jockwer  robert.jockwer@chalmers.se

HW:  Holger Wallbaum  holger.wallbaum@chalmers.se

MA:   Mozhdeh Amani mozhdeh.amani@Chalmers.se

AH:   Amrita Hazarika   amrita.hazarika@chalmers.se 

AD:   Archanath Dickwella archanathdickwella@gmail.com

BL:    Baodong Li  baodong.li@chalmers.se

IG: Ingela Gustafson ingela.gustafson@chalmers.se (Study administrator)

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 Program “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 behaviors 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- Please wait until the intro session before purchasing the book 

“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

M3: Timber

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

M4: Steel 

  • Corrosion of steel, and
  • Corrosion protection and prevention.
  • Non-destructive tests (NDT)
  • Steel in structures 

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 

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.

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) which should be passed. 
  • two periodic test (about 1 hour each, individual) with 15 points each;
  • One project work (in group) with maximum 30 points; and
  • A final examination (about 4 hours, individual) with maximum 40 points.

The periodic tests are designed to assess students’ learning as a summary of certain parts of the course contents. The final examination (in the 9th week) is traditionally designed to assess students’ learning as a summary of the whole course.

-the exams are open book and performed digitally through Canvas- USE OF AI DURING THE EXAM IS NOT ALLOWED. 

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

Assessment and grading criteria

Total points including final examination (max 40), periodic test (max 30), project work (max 30)    

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