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Properties and behaviour of rocks. Formation, properties and classification of soils. Strength and stiffness of soils. Applications to slopes, retaining walls, and site characterisation.
This first course in geomechanics focuses on soil as an engineering material, including soilclassification, stresses in soil, soil deformation and strength, flow of water in soil, and the origins ofsoil. The soil mechanics concepts and calculations learned in ENCN253 are used extensively ingeotechnical engineering and geotechnical earthquake engineering courses in the Second and ThirdProfessional Years. Generally speaking, the course content has been developed on the assumption that ideas and understanding, as opposed to codes or rote-learned formulae, are the backbone of successful engineering – our aim is to understand the behaviour of soil, and then put this understanding to work to solve practical engineering problems and make decisions.
Subject to approval of the Dean of Engineering and Forestry
ENCI252, ENCI271
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering Head of Department
Exam: A minimum mark of 40% must be achieved in the final exam in order to pass the course. Astudent who narrowly fails to achieve 40% in the exam, but who performs very well in the test may be eligible to pass the course.Aegrotat eligibility: “Aegrotat provisions are intended to assist students who have covered the workof the course but have been prevented by illness or other critical circumstance from demonstratingtheir mastery of the material or skills at the time of assessment” (UC Calendar). As a generalguideline, a student may only apply for an aegrotat for the exam if they have sat the mid-semester test and submitted at least 60% of the coursework (labs and homework's).Homeworks: Homeworks should be submitted to the box marked ‘ENCN253’, located on the secondfloor of the engineering block, adjacent to the civil computer suite. Official Department coversheetsshould be used for all submissions. Homework submitted without a coversheet will receive a mark of zero.You are strongly encouraged to make a copy of your homeworks prior to submitting them to theboxes. Very occasionally submitted homeworks go missing and by making a copy you will still beable to compare your work to the model solutions and learn from any mistakes.All homeworks should be submitted by the due date. Late submissions will not be accepted. If astudent is unable to complete and submit a homework by the due date owing to circumstances beyond their control, they should discuss this with the course coordinator at the earliest opportunity.Tutorials: At the end of tutorials you will be asked to hand in your work. This will not be formallymarked, with ‘full marks’ instead being given for making a good attempt at the set problem(s). Inorder to obtain the full 5% of the course grade associated with tutorials you need to hand in a goodattempt at the set material for at least 5 of the weekly tutorials for the soil mechanics part of thecourse - i.e. Modules 1-4 in weeks 1-9.Repeating students: those students repeating ENCN 253 should submit all homeworks, attend theweekly tutorials, and sit both the test and the exam. If you are repeating, you are not required torepeat the labs for the course (in which case your mark(s) will be carried over from last year),however you may wish to do the labs again in order to obtain a better mark. Siale Faitotonu canprovide you with your lab marks from last year. You can choose whether or not to repeat a lab on a case-by-case basis (i.e. repeat lab 1, but not lab 2).
Domestic fee $874.00
International fee $4,725.00
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Civil and Natural Resources Engineering .