Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Geotechnical Engineering 3

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
CIVE1159	City Campus	Undergraduate	120H Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2007, Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009, Sem 2 2010, Sem 2 2011, Sem 2 2012, Sem 2 2013, Sem 2 2014, Sem 2 2015, Sem 2 2016
CIVE1159	City Campus	Undergraduate	120H Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering	Face-to-Face or Internet	Sem 1 2016
CIVE1159	City Campus	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2017, Sem 2 2018, Sem 2 2019, Sem 2 2020, Sem 2 2021, Sem 2 2022, Sem 2 2023, Sem 2 2024
CIVE1160	SHAPE, VTC	Undergraduate	120H Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering	Face-to-Face	Offsh1 14, Offsh1 15
CIVE1160	SHAPE, VTC	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	Offsh1 17

Flexible Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
CIVE1160	SHAPE, VTC	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	OFFJan2019 (VC6)
CIVE1160	SHAPE, VTC	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	OFFJan2023 (VC12)
CIVE1160	SHAPE, VTC	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	OFFJan2024 (All)
CIVE1160	SHAPE, VTC	Undergraduate	172H School of Engineering	Face-to-Face	OFFJan2025 (All)

Course Coordinator: Professor Jie Li

Course Coordinator Phone: +613 9925 3554

Course Coordinator Email: jie.li@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 10.12.12

Course Coordinator Availability: by appointment

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Pre-requisites:

CIVE1178, Geotechnical Engineering 1, and CIVE1108, Geotechnical Engineering 2. If you have not completed these courses or received an exemption you are advised not to enrol in this course.

Course Description

Building on knowledge and skills developed in CIVE1178 Geotechnical Engineering 1 and GCIVE1108 Geotechnical Engineering 2 you will enhance your ability to approach practical problems in Geotechnical Engineering in a competent and professional manner. On successful completion of this course, graduates will be able to make use of theoretical soil mechanics in the solution of some practical problems in the area of pile foundations, retaining walls, ground improvement techniques, seepage through earth structures and other topics as appropriate.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

This course specifically addresses the following Program Learning Outcome for BH077 Bachelor of Engineering (Civil and Infrastructure) (Honours):

Knowledge and skill base
1.3. In-depth understanding of specialist bodies of knowledge within the engineering discipline

On completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Estimate the allowable axial load capacity and settlement of single piles and pile groups
2. Calculate flow through earth structures and determine the stability of simple geotechnical systems subjected to two-dimensional flow of water
3. Design and check the stability of rigid retaining walls and braced cuts
4. Design the surcharge needed to eliminate the entire primary consolidation settlement with or without sand drains of clay soil layers and describe vibroflotation and dynamic compaction techniques.

Overview of Learning Activities

You will learn the concepts and applications of geotechnical engineering through a series of pre-recorded lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes. You will work both individually and also collaboratively with your lecturer/tutors for better understanding of the theories, design methods and applications.  The course is supported by the Canvas learning management system.

There are four assessment tasks in this course which are aligned with the expected learning outcomes of the course. They include assignments, a laboratory class report, and an online quiz. Details of each assessment are given below. 

Total study hours: 50 hours of formal contact for one semester comprising lectures and tutorials/lab sessions. In addition, you may expect to spend a minimum of 72 hours per semester in independent study.

Overview of Learning Resources

Resources include a textbook, recommended reference books, lecture notes, and a lab manual (available in the course Canvas). 

Overview of Assessment

☒This course has no hurdle requirements.

Assessment tasks

Assessment Task 1:  Assignment 1

Weighting 40% 

This assessment task supports CLOs 1 to 2

Assessment Task 2: Laboratory Class Report

Weighting 10%

This assessment task supports CLO 1 to 4

Assessment Task 3: Assignment 2

Weighting 40% 

This assessment supports CLOs 1 to 4

Assessment Task 4: Online Test (this is a one hour test that must be completed within a 24-hour time window). 

Weighting 10%

This assessment supports CLOs 1 to 4