Teaching

Academic Calendar Description:

The hydrologic processes of precipitation and snowmelt, evapotranspiration, groundwater movement, and surface and subsurface runoff are examined. Water resources sustainability issues are discussed, including water usage and water shortages, climate change impacts, land use impacts, and source water protection. Conceptual models of the hydrologic cycle and basics of hydrologic modelling are developed, including precipitation estimation, infiltration and abstraction models, runoff hydrographs, the unit hydrograph method and the Rational method. Methods for statistical analysis of hydrologic data, concepts of risk and design, and hydrological consequences of climate change for design are introduced. Principles of open-channel hydraulics are introduced. Energy and momentum principles are studied with application to channel transitions, critical flow, choked flow, and hydraulic jumps.

Academic Calendar Description:

Global and national water problems, law and legislation. Hydraulic structures. Reservoir analysis. Urban drainage and runoff control: meteorologic data analysis, deterministic and stochastic modelling techniques. Flood control: structural and nonstructural alternatives. Power generation: hydro and thermal power generation. Low flow augmentation. Economics and decision making.

Academic Calendar Description:

This two-week August field camp provides students with the opportunity to further their understanding of the vital interactions between the natural and the built environments. Through fieldwork, students gain hands-on experience in the use of various field instruments used by Civil and Mineral Engineers. The essentials of land surveying and the use of surveying instruments including Global Positioning Systems are taught as students carry out a series of field exercises that include route surveys, topographic surveys and construction surveys. Survey calculations, sources of error, corrections and adjustments are also introduced. In order to better understand our impact on the natural environment, students also perform several additional exercises. These may include the measurement of river flows, remote sensing of soil and rock, remediation of a borrow pit, and the evaluation of the renewable energy potential of the wind and solar radiation. Note: This course requires payment of an extra fee for room and board.