Civil Engineering Capstone Design
The final civil design project, followed through a student team's design of the Kestrel Creek trail link in Duluth: client brief and scope, requirements and design criteria under the AASHTO LRFD and pedestrian bridge specifications, site data, concept evaluation with embodied carbon, a weathering steel pedestrian truss with vibration checks, driven pile abutments, stormwater and permits, accessible approaches and parking, estimate and schedule, risk and life-cycle cost, independent checking and certification, and the final review.
CIV-499 Year 4 3 credits 12 lessons · 3 h 48 min ▶ Video lessons coming soon
Offered by HSM University · Civil Engineering
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Interpret a client brief, separate requirements, constraints, wishes and assumptions, map stakeholders, and plan a team's scope and hours with a reserve.
- Write verifiable requirements and a design criteria memo that records codes, owner criteria, loads, serviceability limits and assumptions with their owners.
- Judge inherited site data, plan targeted investigation, and turn survey, borehole and hydraulic results into documented design values.
- Develop distinct concept options, evaluate them with client-weighted criteria including cost and embodied carbon, test the sensitivity of the ranking and recommend.
- Design a pedestrian truss superstructure to the AASHTO LRFD specifications and pedestrian bridge guide, with vibration criteria, U-frame restraint and weathering steel details.
- Select and size abutment foundations in soft clay over artesian till, and set out bearings, joints and scour protection.
- Check a bridge's effect on flood levels, design bioretention for a trailhead, and plan the federal, state and municipal approvals.
- Design accessible approaches, cyclist sight distance, trailhead parking and a road crossing to the ADA Standards and federal right-of-way guidelines, and review the design with users.
- Prepare a Class 3 estimate with risk-based contingency, a critical path schedule for one construction season, and a constructability review.
- Build a risk register, apply safety in design, compare life-cycle costs and stress-test a design against climate hazards.
- Produce a design report and drawings, check key results independently, and explain the Minnesota rules for certifying engineering documents.
- Present a design for a client decision, respond to review comments with evidence, hand over a complete package, and reflect on individual and team performance.
Course content
12 lessons · 3 h 48 min total · final exam
- 1 The capstone and the client brief 20 min · quiz
- 2 Requirements and design criteria 20 min · quiz
- 3 Site investigation and design data 18 min · quiz
- 4 Concept options and multi-criteria evaluation 19 min · quiz
- 5 Superstructure design 19 min · quiz
- 6 Substructure and foundations 19 min · quiz
- 7 Hydraulics, stormwater and environmental approvals 19 min · quiz
- 8 The path, parking and accessibility 19 min · quiz
- 9 Cost estimate, schedule and constructability 19 min · quiz
- 10 Risk, safety in design and life-cycle performance 19 min · quiz
- 11 Professional practice: the design report, drawings, checking and certification 19 min · quiz
- 12 Final review, presentation and reflection 18 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
The final civil design project, followed through a student team's design of the Kestrel Creek trail link in Duluth: client brief and scope, requirements and design criteria under the AASHTO LRFD and pedestrian bridge specifications, site data, concept evaluation with embodied carbon, a weathering steel pedestrian truss with vibration checks, driven pile abutments, stormwater and permits, accessible approaches and parking, estimate and schedule, risk and life-cycle cost, independent checking and certification, and the final review.
Part of the Engineering stream, typically taken in year 4.