A proposal of computer practical classes related to geotechnical structures technology for Geological Engineering degrees and master’s degrees

Resumo

The introduction of the European Higher Education Area has produced important changes in the learning and teaching methodologies and in the planning of the subjects. The degrees related to Engineering and Architecture have not been exempt from these important changes. Furthermore, in this new context within the European Higher Education Area, the practical classes play an important role and especially the computer practical classes, based on the learning of specific software. In the particular case of the geotechnical structures field, the use of this specific software and also the development of specific computer applications have a lot of interest. This is due to the fact that the study of geotechnical steel or concrete structures of reasonable complexity includes a high amount of calculations, usually with iterative processes, which makes very difficult their calculation by hand. Besides, the acquisition of skills related to the use and development of geotechnical structures software could also be useful for the students in their future job, because the globalized labour market of engineers brings with it the possibility that the students can carry out a high amount of different tasks during their professional career. As a consequence, in general, computer practical classes produce a better training of future engineers, and especially in the case of steel and concrete geotechnical structures field. In this work, it is shown a proposal of computer practical classes for "Geotechnical Structures Technology" subject, which belongs to the 1st year of the Geological Engineering master's degree at University of Alicante (Spain). This subject has a total of 4.5 ECTS, and the duration of computer practical classes is 1.5 ECTS. This proposal of computer practical classes covers from the calculation of the forces and bending moments to which the foundations of a building are subject, as a consequence of the actions which act on the building structure, up to the design of the reinforcements of foundation elements, such as walls and footings. Along this practical classes, specific commercial software is used, as well as general popular software, such as Microsoft Excel or similar, in order to develop computer applications. A problem-based learning methodology will be followed, which will allow that the students acquire the necessary skills for designing foundations elements with computer software. Finally, this proposal has partially been put into practice in the abovementioned subject "Geotechnical Structures Technology" of the Geological Engineering master's degree at University of Alicante (Spain). The results have been successful until now, and an adequate achievement in relation to this topic has been noted for the majority of the students.