The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions in every sector of human activity around the world. The education sector is no exception. Due to physical restrictions in accessing campus infrastructures, students and instructors at academic institutions have forcibly adapted to the new norm of virtual learning with mixed expectations and outcomes. There have been several studies conducted by educational practitioners since the pandemic began, which mostly focused on how academic constituents quickly adapt to virtual learning in a general sense. The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of virtual learning infrastructure and environment on student learning, specific to the civil engineering program at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University (PMU). A survey was distributed to civil engineering students at PMU at the end of the fall 2020 term to gather perceptions about virtual learning and check the adequacy of online learning tools and associated environments. Student performance during virtual learning in terms of grade achievement was also investigated and compared with a normal situation. In general, it was found that students are satisfied with the current technology used to facilitate virtual learning. The anticipated outcomes of this study, including online technology readiness, curriculum adjustment, and teaching styles or methods, are to be used for virtual learning improvement should the current pandemic restriction extend to the end of the 2020–21 academic year and possibly far beyond.

Piled raft foundations are a common type of foundation for high-rise buildings. Unlike shallow foundations, deep foundations (piles) pass through weak or soft soil deposits and can reach stiff soil or bedrock to support the weight of the structure. In this paper, the performance of a medium embedment depth piled raft foundation in soft soil is presented. A numerical model was developed and a parametric study was conducted in order to simulate the case of such a foundation system and to investigate its performance in soft clay. This parametric study investigated the effect of the geometry of a piled raft foundation and the stiffness ratio between the pile material and clay on the performance of the foundation system in soft soil. Additionally, the failure mechanism of such a foundation system under load was examined. An analytical model was developed to predict the ultimate carrying capacity based on the observed failure mechanism. A semi-empirical model is proposed for determining the Improvement Factor (IF) of a given soil, pile, and geometric condition. Findings of the study indicate that the performance of piled raft foundations on soft soils is significantly affected by the piles’ spacing. As the ratio S/D increases, the ultimate carrying capacity of a piled raft foundation decreases. However, when this ratio exceeds 10 (S/D> 10), piles have little or no effect on the ultimate carrying capacity of this foundation system. A piled raft foundation system fails by bearing at the base of the piles and also by shear at the side of the pile group on hyperbolic plans. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-04-01 Full Text: PDF

This paper discusses recent updates and developments of computing-based courses in the civil engineering discipline. Competency in computing is one of the most important capabilities for university graduates to obtain given the rapid development of computer technology in professional work. Civil engineering is no exception. In fact, many contemporary civil engineering projects require a high degree of computing skills, ranging from performing basic office work to programming for decision support system application in controlling flood water gates to executing construction automation via digital printing technology. However, the curriculum content for computing in civil engineering has been developmentally stagnant in the past several decades. This could be partly due to learning outcomes for civil engineering graduates, which do not explicitly mention a certain degree of achievement with respect to computing skills. Several computing-based courses offered in various civil engineering programs across Saudi Arabia and the US were examined, and their contents were compared to recent survey results administered by the American Society of Civil Engineering Technical Committee on Computing and Information Technology. The discussion is extended by examining technical courses offered in the Civil Engineering Program in Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University with respect to computing skills. The outcomes of this study are expected to give input and suggestions for future upgrades of computing-based courses offered within the civil engineering curriculum.

Massive timber plate elements, specifically cross laminated timber (CLT), has gained popularity recently in North America as major alternative construction material for building components offering competitive advantages relative to traditional reinforced concrete slab for medium rise applications. There are two major structural applications for this kind of timber plate, as floor slab or shear wall components of multi-storey buildings. The following study will be focused on the structural performance of hybrid multi-storey buildings constructed using CLT plate as the floor slab elements. The specific objective of this paper is to investigate lateral deformability of floor diaphragm that is composed of CLT slab in combination with reinforced concrete and steel floor framing loaded under seismic excitation. Critical irregular floor layouts of medium rise buildings are selected and modeled using computer structural and building analysis software ETABS. Major outputs including lateral floor deformation (drift), storey shear and dynamic characteristic analyses are analyzed and contrasted with the current design practices, i.e. building code application with respect to diaphragm assumption for seismic design. As in the reinforced concrete-based floor diaphragm, expected general outcome from this study is to provide input for design code provision regarding whether rigid, flexible, or in-between (semi-rigid) assumption of CLT-based diaphragm is adequate for performing design standard procedure for seismic design of hybrid multi-storey buildings. Structural analysis and modeling challenges for CLT-based diaphragm used in hybrid multi-storey buildings are presented and design recommendations will be given.

No abstract