HOME	CE 337 Course Description Autumn 2012
CEE 337, Construction Materials, is a laboratory-oriented materials class that attempts to familiarize students with the physical behavior of common construction materials. The course starts with a basis in theoretical behavior of materials, which is followed by an actual examination of physical properties of specific materials in both the lecture and the laboratory. The materials covered include metals (carbon steel, stainless steel, and aluminum) and composites (asphalt concrete, portland cement concrete, and wood). The course includes hands-on laboratory activities in order to help the students understand various aspects of material behavior and material evaluation. Learning objectives for the course include: 1. Understand material behaviors--both physical and mechanical. 2. Explain the need for standards and standards organizations. 3. Describe common test methods, specifications, and applications for construction materials commonly encountered by Civil Engineers (steel, aluminum, aggregates, portland cement concrete, bituminous materials, and wood). 4. Understand typical construction material variability and how that is applied to quality control and assurance. 5. Define best practices associated with recycling for the materials covered in the class. 6. Describe energy requirements and GHG production for the materials covered in the class. The course meets twice per week for 2-hour lectures, and the students are also broken down into laboratory sections (maximum 22 persons per section) which meet once per week for 2 hours. Students learn to prepare graphs for data presentation and incorporate those graphs into the weekly lab memos, which are expected to answer specific questions related to both lab and lecture. Grading in CEE 337 is based on a combination of homeworks, short (un-announced) quizzes, laboratory memos, an evaluation of performance in the laboratory, and midterm and final exams. The relative weighting is given below: Activity Relative Weighting Homework   5 Quizzes 10 Lab Memos 30 Lab Performance   5 Midterm Exam 20 Final Exam 30 All work (unless specifically told otherwise) should be individual work. Students are permitted to discuss assignments, etc. with other students, but the work turned in should be individual work. For example, a student can talk with another student about a spreadsheet being used to analyze lab data, but each student should produce their own spreadsheet. Homeworks and lab memos must be turned in at the beginning of the class period that they are due. Since one goal of this class is to develop professionalism, late assignments will be penalized 10% per day (or portion of a day) that they are late. The exams will be closed-book; equations, tables, and design charts will be provided where necessary. The final exam will be cumulative over the entire course. The average grade in CEE 337 is normally in the range of 2.6 to 2.9 The course website can be found at http://courses.washington.edu/ce337/ Back to Top