Risk and Reliability Research Group 
CIE 512: Risk and Reliability in Geotechnical and Structural Engineering
This course is offered every spring semester. Course Web site for Spring 2021This course discusses techniques to perform risk and decision analyses for geotechnical and structural engineering systems based on statistics and reliability modeling. The following topics are typically covered:
- Review of statistics and probability: Frequentist theory, Bayesian theory, histograms and frequency diagrams, random variables, fitting mathematical pdf models to data, covariance among variables
- Characterization and quantification of uncertainties: Aleatory and epistemic uncertainty, random processes and random fields, Bayesian updating technique
- Reliability theory and uncertainty propagation: Reliability index, first- and second-order reliability methods
- Regression analysis
- Monte Carlo simulation technique: Basic considerations, computer programming considerations, simulation of random fields
- Load and resistance factor design: Limit state design and code development
- Introduction to stochastic finite element method
Prerequisites: Undergraduate coursework in probability and statistics, foundation design, steel and concrete design
CIE 530: Mechanical Behavior of Geo-Materials
This course is offered every fall semester.
This course examines the behavior of geo-materials with particular emphasis on soils. The issue of uncertainty in geo-material properties and techniques to deal with it is also discussed. The following topics are typically covered:
- Micro-mechanics of geo-materials
- Nature of soil, its formation and composition
- Stresses in a soil mass; effective stress
- Basic stress-strain relationships and their application
- Drained and undrained characteristics of cohesionless and cohesive soils
- Consolidation
- Critical state; Cam clay model
- Incremental theory of plasticity applied to geo-materials; introduction to probabilistic elasto-plasticity
- Failure theories for geo-materials
- Laboratory methods for determining stress-strain and strength properties
Prerequisites: CIE 334 or equivalent, some programming knowledge
Risk and Reliability Research Group
Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
212 Ketter Hall, Buffalo, New York 14260
PHONE 716-645-2114; FAX 716-645-3733
Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
212 Ketter Hall, Buffalo, New York 14260
PHONE 716-645-2114; FAX 716-645-3733