A minimum of 30 credits consisting of 12 required credits given in list I, plus either a zero credit report, a 3-credit project or a 6-credit thesis from list II. The remainder credits should be taken from the list III: Electives. However, other graduate engineering courses in the Department, and graduate courses from other departments, may be allowed for elective credit with approval from the Structures Master’s Program Advisor.
I. Required Courses
Choose a minimum of four courses [12 credits] from the list:
1. CE H3000 Advanced Strength of Materials (3 credits)
Introduction to elasticity including basic ideas of stress, strain, and constitutive relations. Theories of failure and fracture. Analysis of unsymmetrical bending. Shear center and shear flow. Torsion. Twisting of thin-walled sections. Buckling criteria. This course is crosslisted with CE 53000 Advanced Strength of Materials, and therefore is not available to students who have already completed CE 53000.
2. CE I1700 Finite Element Methods in Engineering (3 credits)
Equilibrium and variational formulations of finite element methods. Plane, axisymmetric, and shell elements. Isoparametric elements. Static and transient response of structures. Applications in potential flow, electrostatic thermal conduction field problems, and diffusion equations.
3. CE I3000 Structural Dynamics (3 credits)
Vibrations of elastic structures: Single degree and mul-ti-degree-of-freedom systems; free and forced vibration; harmonic, im-pulsive and arbitrary loading; lumped parameter models. Analysis of dynamic response: Modal superposition; Numerical integration: introduc-tion to inelastic behavior. Structural response to earthquake and wind loads. Damping characteristics of structures: Viscous, Viscoelastic and Friction Damping. Tuned mass dampers, passive energy dissipation systems.
4. CE I5400 Elastic and Inelastic Analysis of Structures (3 credits)
Overview of the theory of structures including energy methods. Review of stiffness matrix and finite element analysis of structures. Structural modeling of large and complex systems. Computer implementation. Static condensation and substructuring. Semi-Rigid connections. Material non-linearity. Plastic Hinge Method. Geometric nonlinearity. Flexible members and theory of large deformations.
5. CE I5600 Earthquake Engineering (3 credits)
Seismological background. Characteristics and measurement of strong earthquake motions. Elastic response of simple oscillators to earthquakes. Response spectra. Inelastic response of SDOF systems. Ductility capacity and demand. Response of multi-degree-of-freedom systems. Seismic wave propagation. Soil amplification. Soil liquefaction. Seismic hazard and risk analysis. Seismic regulations.
II. Master's Report (0 to 6 credits):
1. CE I9700 Report (0 credit)
Examinations, exploration, analysis, and chronicle of an engineering design, project, or system, from its inception through its development, consummation and consequent impacts. Written final report.
2. CE I9800 Project (3 credits)
Analytical or experimental project, preferably of student's own choice. Under direction of a faculty advisor, student submits written proposal, performs the required task, and submits a written final report.
3. CE I9900 Master Thesis (6 credits)
Master Thesis
III. Electives
Choose two to six [6-18 credits] courses from the list:
1. CE H5000 Advanced Reinforced Concrete (3 credits)
Mechanical properties of reinforced concrete materials including shrinkage, and creep. Ultimate load theory and ultimate strength design. Moment-curvature and load-deflection relationships. Columns subjected to biaxial bending. Combined shear and torsion. Design of flat plates and two-way slabs. Yield line theory. This course is crosslisted with CE 55000 Advanced Reinforced Concrete, and therefore is not available to students who have already completed CE 55000.
2. CE H5100 Prestressed Concrete (3 credits)
Properties of prestressed concrete materials. Simple, composite and continuous prestressed beams. Prestressed rigid frames, buildings and bridges.
3. CE H5200 Bridge Engineering (3 credits)
General considerations for design and load capacity evaluation of highway bridges. Introduction to Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) philosophy. Bridge loads. Influence lines. Grillage analysis of bridges. Reinforced and prestressed concrete bridges. Composite steel bridges. Bridge substructures. Load rating. Introduction to seismic analysis and design.
4. CE H5300 Advanced Structural Design (3 credits)
Structural loads. Behavior of structural steel members. Simple shear and moment connections. Plate girders. Composite construction. Fatigue and fracture of structural materials. Braced and unbraced frames. Plastic analysis and design.
5. CE H5500 Concrete Sustainability (3 credits)
Concepts, knowledge and methods for producing environmentally-friendly concrete. Concept of sustainable development. Properties of concrete. Environmental impact of cement production. Types of aggregates and their effect on durability and performance of concrete. Use of waste materials and industrial byproducts in concrete. Enhancement of short-term and long-term properties of concrete. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of concretes with alternative compositions. This course is crosslisted with CE 55500 Concrete Sustainability, and therefore is not available to students who have already completed CE 55500.
6. CE H5600 Design of Wood Structures (3 credits)
Applications in buildings, large-span structures, and bridges. Wood products as sawn lumber and composite laminates and particulates. Material microstructure and orthotropic macrostructure simulation. Species and species groups. Grading of structural lumber, design values and adjustment factors (NDS). Design of solid wood beams, columns, and beam-columns. Design of Glued-Laminated Timber (Glulam) continuous beams, bilateral and axial loads, tapered and curved members, arches, bridge girders, and panelized construction for large-scale floor and roof systems. Structural panels for sheathing and diaphragms with plywood and Oriented-Strand Board (OSB) products. Wood connections with bolts, lag-bolts, split-rings, shear plates, and specialized assemblies. This course is crosslisted with CE 55600 Design of Wood Structures, and therefore is not available to students who have already completed CE 55600.
7. CE H5700 Condition Assessment & Rehab of Structures (3 credits)
Mechanics of damage and deterioration of structural materials. Nondestructive techniques. Condition assessment of structures. Service life prediction, rating and load capacity evaluation of structural systems. Structural repair and strengthening methods.
8. CE H9000 Foundation Engineering (3 credits)
Soil exploration and sampling. Engineering properties of soils. Bearing capacity and settlement of foundations. Beams on elastic foundation. Design of footings and mats. Bearing capacity and settlement of piles and pile groups. Analysis of pile-raft foundations. Design of retaining structures. Slope stability. This course is crosslisted with CE 59000 Foundation Engineering, and therefore is not available to students who have already completed CE 59000.
9. CE I3500 Applied Elasticity and Plasticity (3 credits)
States of stress at a point. Constituitive equations. Formulation of equilibrium problems. Two-dimensional problems in rectangular and polar coordinates. Axisymmetrically loaded members. Plastic behavior of materials. True stress and true strain. Yielding criteria. Plastic stress-strain relations. Plastic analysis of structures. Elastic-plastic stresses in thick-walled cylinders and rotating disks.
10. CE I5500 Stability of Structures (3 credits)
Fundamentals of structural stability theory. Classical buckling of columns, trusses, frames, rings, arches, thin plates and shells. Energy methods and approximate methods of analysis. Torsional and lateral buckling. Design formulas. Dynamic instability.
11. CE H1000 Analytical Methods in Civil Engineering (3 credits)
Survey of analytical methods encountered in Civil Engineering: ordinary differential equations (first and second order), linear algebra (inverse matrices, eigenvectors), differential equations systems, partial differential equations, Laplace transforms, Fourier Analysis, vector analysis (line and surface integrals, Green, Stokes and Gauss theorems), probability and statistics (probability distributions, sampling distributions of mean and standard deviation), and optimization (gradient search, simplex method). Applications in Structural, Geotechnical, Environmental, Water Resources, and Transportation Engineering.
Last Updated: 07/31/2026 12:47