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- Catalog Description
- 494 Civil and Environmental Engineering Decision Making. I or II; 3cr. Planning, designing, and managing civil engineering systems. Fundamentals of the systems approach; marginal analysis; optimization techniques; decision analysis; economic analysis; cost-effectiveness analysis. Case study applications. P:Math 221 or cons inst. Adams.
- Course Prerequisite(s)
- See catalog description above.
- Prerequisite knowledge and/or skills
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computation of derivatives
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partial derivatives
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application of derivatives
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elementary probability theory
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spreadsheet skills
- Textbook(s) and/or other required material
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Revelle, Whitlatch, and Wright (1997) Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering, Prentice Hall.
- Course objectives
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This course will develop students' knowledge of engineering economic analysis, decision theory, simulation, and optimization.
- Topics covered
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Engineering Economics: Interest and Equivalence, Economic Choice Between Alternatives, Cost Effectiveness, Discount Rate, Depreciation, Taxes and Inflation.
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Decision Theory: Probability, Bayes' Theorem, Decision Analysis, Uncertainty Methods.
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Optimization: Dynamic Programming, Uncontrained Optimization, Calculus with Substitution, Lagrange Multipliers, Gradient Search.
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Marginal Analysis: Cost-effectiveness, Learning Curve, Economies of Scale, Optimal Project Size.
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Simulation: computer tools.
- Class/laboratory schedule
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Students are required to attend two lecture periods per week. Class meets TR 11-12:15.
- Contribution of course to meeting the professional component
- This course contributes primarily to the students' knowledge of engineering topics, and does provide design experience.
The following statement indicates which of the following considerations are included in this course: economic, environmental, ethical, political, societal, health and safety, manufacturability, sustainability.
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economic, societal and sustainability
- Relationship of course to undergraduate degree program objectives and outcomes
- This course primarily serves students in the department. The information below describes how the course contributes to the undergraduate program objectives.
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Outcome 2: CEE students should be able to select an appropriate solution method for a defined problem, obtain and verify that the solution satisfies all conditions, determine the behavior or response of the system being analyzed from the solution that was obtained, and state the limits of the solution. CEE 494: To apply Bayesian decision theory to evaluate a risky situation, to apply decision analysis to develop a plan for dealing with a risky situation, and to apply decision criteria for dealing with uncertain situations.
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Outcome 7: CEE students should have the ability to apply knowledge of mathematics and natural science (physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science) to civil and environmental problems. CEE 494: To find optimum solution to problems with non-linear objective functions. Students should learn the following analysis methods: dynamic programming, unconstrained optimization, calculus with substitution, Lagrange multipliers, and gradient search. To apply optimization techniques to determine important decision parameters such as cost effectiveness functions, learning curves, economies of scale, and optimal project size.
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Outcome 9: CEE students should know the principles and structure of computer programs and be able to apply general-purpose computer tools to solve well-defined problems. CEE 494: To apply spreadsheets and simulation tools.
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Outcome 10: CEE students should recognize the need for life-long learning and have skills that will enable them to engage in life-long learning. CEE 494: To deal with real world complications of depreciation, taxes, and inflation with performing an economic analysis. To perform well on the engineering economics portion of the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Principals of Practice of Engineering (PE) exams.
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Outcome 12: CEE students should be able to perform an economic analysis of alternative CEE solutions and be able to determine the life-cycle cost of a CEE design or process.
CEE 494: Given the time stream of costs and benefits, be able to apply a standard set of equivalence equations to evaluate the present, future, and annual values of a captial investment. To use standard equivalence equations in the context of choosing between alternative capital investments. Students should learn the following analysis methods: present worth, annual cash flow, incremental benefit-cost ratio, incremental rate of return, cost effectiveness, payback period, and break-even analysis.
- Assessment of student progress toward course objectives
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There are individual homework assignments. Some assignments can be completed with the use of computer tools. Homework problems are selected to develop skills in specific areas of the material covered in the lectures and the reading assigments. The mid-term and final exams emphasize the homwork problems and lectures, however, any course material may be included on the exams.
The breakdown of the total grade:
2 Mid-Term Exams 50%;
Homework Assigments 20%;
Final Exam 30%.
- Person(s) who prepared this description
