Environmental Engineering

Required Preparatory Courses. Chemistry and Biochemistry 20A, 20B, 20L; Mathematics 32A, 33A; Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 103, M105A; Civil and Environmental Engineering 150 or 151, 153; Physics 1A, 1B, 4AL, 4BL.

Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 254A, 255A, 255B.

Elective Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 155, 157B, 157C, 163, 164, M166, 253, 258A, 263A, 263B, 265A, 265B, 266; a maximum of two of the following courses for students electing the thesis plan or a maximum of three of the following courses for students electing the comprehensive examination plan: Civil and Environmental Engineering 150, 226, 250A, 250B, 250C, 251, 252, 260, M262A, M262B, Chemical Engineering 101C or Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 105D, Chemical Engineering 106, 210, C218, 220, C240, Chemistry and Biochemistry 110A, 110B, Computer Science 270A, 271A, 271B, Electrical Engineering 236A, 236B, 236C, Environmental Health Sciences 240, 252D, 255, 264, 410A, 410B.

Geotechnical Engineering

Required Preparatory Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 108, 120, 121.

Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 220, 221, 223, 224.

Major Field Elective Courses. Minimum of three courses must be selected from Civil and Environmental Engineering 125, 222, 225, 226, 227, 228L.

Elective Courses. General: Earth and Space Sciences 139, 222, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 256A; earthquake/structural engineering: Civil and Environmental Engineering 135A, 135B, 137, 235A, 235B, 235C, 244, 246, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 174; environmental engineering: Civil and Environmental Engineering 153, 164, 250B, 250C.

Structural/Earthquake Engineering

Required Preparatory Courses . Civil and Environmental Engineering 135A, 135B, 141, 142.

Required Graduate Courses . Civil and Environmental Engineering 235A, 246; at least three of the following courses: Civil and Environmental Engineering 241, 242, 243A, 243B, 244, 247, 248.

Elective Courses. Undergraduate: No more than two courses from Civil and Environmental Engineering 125, 135C, 137, 143; geotechnical area: Civil and Environmental Engineering 220, 221, 222, 223, 225, 227; general graduate: Civil and Environmental Engineering M230A, M230B, 232, 233, 235B, 235C, 236, 238, M239, 241, 242, 243A, 243B, 244, 247, 248, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering M256A, 269B.

Structural Mechanics

Required Preparatory Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 130, 135A, 135B.

Required Graduate Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 232, 235A, 235B, 236, M237A.

Elective Courses. Undergraduate: No more than two courses from Civil and Environmental Engineering 135C, 137, 137L; graduate: Civil and Environmental Engineering M230A, M230B, 233, 234, 235C, 238, M239, 244, 246, 247, 248, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering M256A, 269B.

Water Resources Engineering

Required Preparatory Courses. Chemistry and Biochemistry 20A, 20B, 20L, Mathematics 32A, 32B, 33A; Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 103, M105A; Civil and Environmental Engineering 150 or 151, 153; Physics 1A, 1B, 4AL, 4BL.

Required Graduate Courses. Minimum of five courses must be selected from Civil and Environmental Engineering 250A, 250B, 250C, 251, 252, 253, 260, 265A, 265B.

Elective Courses. Civil and Environmental Engineering 150, 164, 254A, 255A, 255B, 263A; a maximum of two of the following courses for students electing the thesis plan or a maximum of three of the following courses for students electing the comprehensive examination plan: Atmospheric Sciences M203A, 218, Computer Science 270A, 271A, 271B, Electrical Engineering 236A, 236B, 236C, M237, Mathematics 269A, 269B, 269C.

Students may petition the department for permission to pursue programs of study that differ from the above norms.

Comprehensive Examination Plan

In addition to the course requirements, under this plan there is a comprehensive written examination covering the subject matter contained in the program of study. The examination is administered by a comprehensive examination committee, which may conduct an oral examination in addition to the written examination. In case of failure, the examination may be repeated once with the consent of the graduate adviser.

Thesis Plan

In addition to the course requirements, under this plan students are required to write a thesis on a research topic in civil and environmental engineering supervised by the thesis adviser. An M.S. thesis committee reviews and approves the thesis. No oral examination is required.

Civil Engineering Ph.D.

Major Fields or Subdisciplines

Environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, structural/earthquake engineering, structural mechanics, and water resources engineering.

Course Requirements

There is no formal course requirement for the Ph.D. degree, and students may theoretically substitute coursework by examinations. However, students normally take courses to acquire the knowledge needed for the required written and oral preliminary examinations. The basic program of study for the Ph.D. degree is built around one major field and two minor fields. The major field has a scope corresponding to a body of knowledge contained in a detailed Ph.D. field syllabus available on request from the department office. Each minor field normally embraces a body of knowledge equivalent to three courses from the selected field, at least two of which are graduate courses. Grades of B- or better, with a grade-point average of at least 3.33 in all courses included in the minor field, are required. If students fail to satisfy the minor field requirements through coursework, a minor field examination may be taken (once only). The minor fields are chosen to support the major field and are usually subsets of other major fields.

Written and Oral Qualifying Examinations

After mastering the body of knowledge defined in the major field, students take a written preliminary examination. When the examination is passed and all coursework is completed, students take an oral preliminary examination that encompasses the major and minor fields. Both preliminary examinations should be completed within the first two years of full-time enrollment in the Ph.D. program. Students may not take an examination more than twice.

After passing both preliminary examinations, students take the University Oral Qualifying Examination. The nature and content of the examination are at the discretion of the doctoral committee, but ordinarily include a broad inquiry into the student's preparation for research. The doctoral committee also reviews the prospectus of the dissertation at the oral qualifying examination.

Note: Doctoral Committees. A doctoral committee consists of a minimum of four members. Three members, including the chair, must be "inside" members who hold full-time faculty appointments at UCLA in the student's major department in HSSEAS. The "outside" member must be a UCLA faculty member outside the student's major department.

Fields of Study

Environmental Engineering

Research in environmental engineering focuses on the understanding and management of physical, chemical, and biological processes in the environment and in engineering systems. Areas of research include process development for water and wastewater treatment systems and the investigation of the fate and transport of contaminants in the environment.

Geotechnical Engineering

Research in geotechnical engineering focuses on understanding and advancing the state of knowledge on the effects that soils and soil deposits have on the performance, stability, and safety of civil engineering structures. Areas of research include laboratory investigations of soil behavior under static and dynamic loads, constitutive modeling of soil behavior, behavior of structural foundations under static and dynamic loads, soil improvement techniques, response of soil deposits and earth structures to earthquake loads, and the investigation of geotechnical aspects of environmental engineering.

Structures (Structural Mechanics and Earthquake Engineering)

Research in structural mechanics is directed toward improving the ability of engineers to understand and interpret structural behavior through experiments and computer analyses. Areas of special interest include computer analysis using finite-element techniques, structural dynamics, nonlinear behavior, plasticity, micromechanics of composites, damage and fracture mechanics, structural optimization, probabilistic static and dynamic analysis of structures, and experimental stress analysis.

Designing structural systems capable of surviving major earthquakes is the goal of experimental studies on the strength of full-scale reinforced concrete structures, computer analysis of soils/structural systems, design of earthquake resistant masonry, and design of seismic-resistant buildings and bridges

Teaching and research areas in structural/earthquake engineering involve assessing the performance of new and existing structures subjected to earthquake ground motions. Specific interests include assessing the behavior of reinforced concrete buildings and bridges, as well as structural steel, masonry, and timber structures. Integration of analytical studies with laboratory and field experiments is emphasized to assist in the development of robust analysis and design tools, as well as design recommendations. Reliability-based design and performance assessment methodologies are also an important field of study.

Water Resources Engineering

Ongoing research programs deal with hydrologic processes, statistics related to climate and hydrology, multiobjective water resources planning and management, numerical modeling of solute transport in groundwater, remediation studies of contaminated soil and groundwater, and optimization of conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater.

Facilities

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department has a number of laboratories to support its teaching and research:

Instructional Laboratories

1. 1. Experimental Fracture Mechanics Laboratory. For preparing and testing specimens using modern dynamic testing machines to develop an understanding of fracture mechanics and to become familiar with experimental techniques available to study crack tip stress fields, strain energy release rate, surface flaws, and crack growth in laboratory samples.
2. 2. Structural Design and Testing Laboratory. For the design/optimization, construction, instrumentation, and testing of small-scale structural models to compare theoretical and observed behavior. Projects provide integrated design/laboratory experience involving synthesis of structural systems and procedures for measuring and analyzing response under load.
3. 3. Reinforced Concrete Laboratory. For students to conduct monotonic and cyclic loading to verify analysis and design methods for moderate-scale reinforced concrete slabs, beams, columns, and joints, which are tested to failure.
4. 4. Mechanical Vibrations Laboratory. For conducting free and forced vibration and earthquake response experiments on small model structures such as a three-story building, a portal frame, and a water intake/outlet tower for a reservoir. Two electromagnetic exciters, each with a 30-pound dynamic force rating, are available for generating steady state forced vibrations. A number of accelerometers, LVDTs (displacement transducers), and potentiometers are available for measuring the motions of the structure. A laboratory view-based computer-controlled dynamic data acquisition system, an oscilloscope, and a spectrum analyzer are used to visualize and record the motion of the model structures.
5. Two small electromagnetic and servohydraulic shaking tables (1.5 ft. x 1.5 ft. and 2 ft. x 4 ft.) are available to simulate the dynamic response of structures to base excitation such as earthquake ground motions.
6. 5. Environmental Engineering Laboratories. For the study of basic laboratory techniques for characterizing water and wastewaters. Selected experiments include measurement of biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, dissolved oxygen hardness, and other parameters used in water quality control.
7. 6. Soil Mechanics Laboratory . For performing experiments to establish data required for soil classification, soil compaction, shear strength of soils, soil settlement, and consolidation characteristics of soils.
8. 7. Advanced Soil Mechanics Laboratory. For presenting and performing advanced triaxial, simple shear, and consolidation soil tests. For demonstration of cyclic soil testing techniques and advanced data acquisition and processing.

Research Laboratories

1. 1. Experimental Mechanics Laboratory. For supporting two major activities: the Optical Metrology Laboratory and the Experimental Fracture Mechanics Laboratory.
2. In the Optical Metrology Laboratory , tools of modern optics are applied to engineering problems. Such techniques as holography, speckle-interferometry, Moiré analysis, and fluorescence-photo mechanics are used for obtaining displacement, stress, strain, or velocity fields in either solids or liquids. Recently, real-time video digital processors have been combined with these modern optical technical techniques, allowing direct interfacing with computer-based systems such as computer-aided testing or robotic manufacturing.
3. The Experimental Fracture Mechanics Laboratory is currently involved in computer-aided testing (CAT) of the fatigue fracture mechanics of ductile material. An online dedicated computer controls the experiment as well as records and manipulates data.
4. 2. Large-Scale Structure Test Facility. For investigating the behavior of large-scale structural components and systems subjected to gravity and earthquake loadings. The facility consists of a high-bay area with a 20 ft. x 50 ft. strong floor with anchor points at 3 ft. on center. Actuators with servohydraulic controllers are used to apply monotonic or cyclic loads. The area is serviced by two cranes. The facilities are capable of testing large-scale structural components under a variety of axial and lateral loadings.
5. Associated with the laboratory is an electrohydraulic universal testing machine with force capacity of 100 tons. The machine is used mainly to apply tensile and compressive loads to specimens so that the properties of the materials from which the specimens are made can be determined. It can also be used in fatigue-testing of small components.
6. 3. Soil Mechanics Laboratory. For standard experiments and advanced research in geotechnical engineering, with equipment for static and dynamic triaxial and simple shear testing. Modem computer-controlled servo-hydraulic closed-loop system supports triaxial and simple shear devices. The system is connected to state-of-the-art data acquisition equipment. The laboratory also includes special simple shear apparatuses for small-strain static and cyclic testing and for one-dimensional or two-dimensional cyclic loading across a wide range of frequencies. A humidity room is available for storing soil samples.
7. 4. Building Earthquake Instrumentation Network. More than100 earthquake strong motion instruments in three campus buildings to measure the response of actual buildings during earthquakes. When combined with over 50 instruments placed in four Century City high-rises and retail buildings, this network, which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Society and State of California Division of Mines and Geology Strong Motion Program, represents the most detailed building instrumentation network in the world. The goal of the research conducted using the response of these buildings is to improve computer modeling methods and the ability of structural engineers to predict the performance of buildings during earthquakes.
8. 5. Environmental Engineering Laboratories. For conducting water and wastewater analysis, including instrumental techniques such as GC, GC/MS, HPLC, TOC, IC, and particle counting instruments. A wide range of wet chemical analysis can be made in this facility with 6,000 square feet of laboratory space and an accompanying 4,000-square-foot rooftop facility where large pilot scale experiments can be conducted. Additionally, electron microscopy is available in another laboratory.
9. Recently studies have been conducted on oxygen transfer, storm water toxicity, transport of pollutants in soil, membrane fouling, removal from drinking water, and computer simulation of a variety of environmental processes.

Faculty Areas of Thesis Guidance