Program Description
This MSc will develop students' understanding of the principles and theories behind ground engineering, from soil mechanics to site investigation, and from advanced soil testing to foundation design. Students are provided with the necessary skills to address technological challenges in the geotechnical engineering sector.
You’ll explore topics, including deep foundations in urban areas, deep water energy resources exploration, field monitoring, foundations for energy infrastructure and major bridges, and tunnelling.
Students will also have the opportunity to work on a research project, enabling them to acquire, analyse and critically evaluate data, then draw valid conclusions from it. It will test their understanding of scientific methodology, and allow them to graduate as a confident and capable geotechnical engineer.
The course covers the following:
- Analysis techniques:
- Simplified (spreadsheet based)
- Standard (code-based methods or simple software)
- Advanced (finite element method)
- Back analysis of collapse of foundations
- Design and construction of foundations for bridges, buildings, offshore structures, tunnels and deep basements in busy cities
- Dissertation on a geotechnical topic
- Fundamental soil mechanics and its modelling using numerical approaches
- Testing of soils to obtain design parameters – we use our purpose-built SAGE laboratory for teaching.
