CE 58N.

01 SPECIAL TOPICS: DESIGN OF EARTH STRUCTURES

1. COURSE & INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Semester: Fall, 2021 – 2022
Lecture Hours: Thursday, 3:00 pm – 5:50 pm
Contact Hours/ Credits: 3 Credits (3+0+0), 8 ECTS
Prerequisite: Consent of the instructor
Course Instructor: I. Zeynep YILDIRIM
Email: zyildirim@boun.edu.tr
Office: Available upon email

2. COURSE DESCRIPTION
Analysis and design of earth structures including slopes, embankment dams/levees, reinforced
earth walls, shallow excavations/cuts using numerical analysis tools. Slope stability. Limit
equilibrium procedures; slope stability methods, seismic slope stability; deformation analysis,
slope stabilization techniques. Design of embankments and levees; 1-D flow principles,
seepage principles; flow nets; seepage forces and uplift; stability w/seepage in earth dams, filter
criteria and filter design. Earth pressures; retaining wall stability principles; mechanically
stabilized (reinforced) earth wall design principles, cantilever and anchored sheet piles;
selected earth retention systems in shallow cuts/ excavations, braced walls.
References:
Coduto et al., Foundation design, Principles and Practices, Prentice Hall.
Duncan, J.M., and Wright, S.G., Soil strength and slope stability, John Wiley & Sons.
Das, B.M., Advanced soil mechanics, 3rd Ed., Taylor & Francis.
Koerner, R. M. Designing with geosynthetics, Prentice Hall.

3. LEARNING METHODS:
 Lectures, Numerical Analysis & Design Assignments
 Slide or GeoStudio, MS Excel, Plaxis-2D
 Literature Search & Paper Presentations

4. GRADING POLICY:
Assignments 50%, Midterm (or Term Paper Presentation) 20%; Final Exam 30 %
Academic dishonesty & copyright: Students displaying dishonest acts such as plagiarism and
copying during examinations or assignments will receive the letter grade F. All course
materials are made available only for personal use by students, and students may not distribute
or reproduce the materials for commercial purposes without the Instructor’s written consent.
Violation of this copyright violates the Code of Academic Integrity.

5. COURSE OBJECTIVES:
This course focuses on the analysis and design of earth structures including slopes,
embankment dams/levees, reinforced earth walls & shallow excavations/cuts. The student will
gain a better an understanding of limit equilibrium analysis and seepage principles in context
of slope and embankment dam/levee design. The students will develop the skill set to perform
two-dimensional (2D) analysis of a range of Earth Structures using numerical tools (software
utilizing limit equilibrium and finite element methods).