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Engineering courses
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Available learning

Structural engineering

Behaviour, analysis and the design of structures, from equilibrium to dynamic response.

Structural Behaviour

18 modules

Read how structures move and carry load. Compare your predictions with the illustrated response.

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  1. Structural behaviour as a visual language
  2. Equilibrium, reactions and load paths
  3. Stability, mechanisms and determinacy
  4. Stiffness, continuity and compatibility
  5. Qualitative behaviour of beams
  6. Continuous beams and support changes
  7. Qualitative behaviour of frames
  8. Trusses, arches, cables and structural forms
  9. Three-dimensional behaviour and grids
  10. Virtual work and deformation
  11. The flexibility method
  12. The stiffness method
  13. Moment distribution
  14. Plastic behaviour and collapse
  15. Slab behaviour and yield-line thinking
  16. Influence lines and moving loads
  17. Structural modelling and software checking
  18. Integrated structural judgement

Structural Analysis Fundamentals

18 modules

Work from equilibrium through beam, frame and truss analysis, then examine energy and matrix methods.

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  1. Structures, modelling and idealisation
  2. Forces, moments and equilibrium
  3. Internal forces and structural diagrams
  4. Pin-jointed trusses
  5. Cables
  6. Arches
  7. Stress and strain
  8. Engineering materials
  9. Bending of beams
  10. Shear in beams
  11. Torsion
  12. Composite beams
  13. Beam deflection
  14. Complex stress and strain
  15. Virtual work and energy methods
  16. Statically indeterminate structures
  17. Influence lines and moving loads
  18. Structural instability

Reinforced Concrete Design

17 modules

Study reinforced-concrete behaviour, member design and detailing through worked examples.

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  1. How reinforced concrete works
  2. Design basis and limit states
  3. Analysis of reinforced-concrete structures
  4. Flexural behaviour and section analysis
  5. Shear, bond, anchorage, laps and torsion
  6. Serviceability: cracking, deflection and durability
  7. Reinforcement detailing and buildability
  8. Reinforced-concrete beams
  9. Reinforced-concrete slabs
  10. Columns and structural walls
  11. Foundations and pile caps
  12. Retaining walls
  13. Prestressed concrete
  14. Water-retaining and containment structures
  15. Steel–concrete composite construction
  16. An integrated design: one structure, end to end
  17. Checking, review and design assurance

Structural Steel Design

20 modules

Explore steel members, stability and connections, with calculation exercises and model checks.

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  1. Structural steel as a material
  2. Design basis, actions and combinations
  3. Structural forms, load paths and modelling
  4. Analysis methods, imperfections and second-order effects
  5. Steel sections and cross-section classification
  6. Cross-section resistance
  7. Compression members and flexural buckling
  8. Beams and lateral-torsional buckling
  9. Beam-columns and frame stability
  10. Plate girders, built-up members and local effects
  11. Steel–concrete composite beams
  12. Bolts, pins and welds
  13. Connection and joint design
  14. Column bases and anchorages
  15. Single-storey buildings and portal frames
  16. Multi-storey steel buildings
  17. Crane-supporting structures
  18. Fabrication, erection and durability
  19. A complete steel building
  20. Checking, review and knowing what you do not know

Structural Dynamics

20 modules

Study vibration, damping, modal response and numerical methods for dynamic analysis.

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  1. What structural dynamics is
  2. Dynamic modelling and degrees of freedom
  3. Single-degree-of-freedom systems
  4. Free vibration and damping
  5. Forced vibration and resonance
  6. Impulse response, arbitrary loading and convolution
  7. Energy in vibrating structures
  8. Numerical time integration
  9. Two-degree-of-freedom systems
  10. Multi-degree-of-freedom systems
  11. Natural frequencies and mode shapes
  12. Modal analysis and modal superposition
  13. Earthquake ground motion and base excitation
  14. Response-spectrum analysis
  15. Linear time-history analysis
  16. Nonlinear structural dynamics
  17. Base isolation
  18. Supplemental damping devices
  19. Structural control
  20. Dynamic modelling and software-result checking

Geotechnical engineering

Soil, water and the ground models used to understand foundation behaviour.

Soil Mechanics

15 modules

Understand soil description, effective stress, water flow, settlement and shear strength.

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  1. What soil mechanics is
  2. Geology, soil formation and fabric
  3. Ground investigation and ground profiles
  4. Particle size, description and classification
  5. Phase relationships and soil states
  6. Soil compaction and earthworks
  7. Water in soil and Darcy's law
  8. Effective stress and stress in the ground
  9. Stress paths, drainage and loading
  10. Consolidation and settlement with time
  11. Shear strength of soils
  12. Laboratory and field testing
  13. Critical-state soil behaviour
  14. Two-dimensional seepage and flow nets
  15. Integrated soil interpretation

Foundation Engineering

18 modules

Examine bearing resistance, settlement and the behaviour of shallow and deep foundations.

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  1. What a foundation has to do
  2. Choosing a foundation
  3. How a footing fails
  4. The bearing capacity equation
  5. Shape, depth and inclination
  6. Eccentric and inclined loading
  7. Groundwater and layered ground
  8. Bearing capacity from field tests
  9. Immediate settlement of shallow foundations
  10. Consolidation settlement and differential movement
  11. Rafts and mat foundations
  12. Why piles, and what kinds
  13. Load transfer: shaft and base
  14. Pile capacity in clay — the α-method
  15. Pile capacity in sand — the β-method
  16. Pile capacity from SPT and CPT; drilled shafts
  17. Pile groups, settlement and negative skin friction
  18. Laterally loaded piles

Bridge engineering

Components, structural systems and detailing, with guided bridge investigations.

Bridge Engineering

47 component studies

Read component studies and explore detailing, force flow and engineering decisions in the bridge workspace.

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Computational engineering

Numerical methods, model checking and computational design.

Computational Engineering

21 modules

Build, test and question engineering models, from numerical methods to computational design.

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  1. What computational engineering is
  2. Computational design and creativity
  3. Parametric thinking
  4. Programming and automation for engineers
  5. Digital engineering workflows
  6. From physical structure to analytical model
  7. Finite-element building blocks
  8. Modelling structural systems
  9. How the stiffness method works
  10. Second-order, buckling and dynamic methods
  11. Nonlinear and explicit analysis
  12. Diagnosing computational models
  13. Validation, verification and model assurance
  14. Sensitivity and design-space exploration
  15. Structural optimisation
  16. Optimisation algorithms
  17. Multi-objective design and Pareto decisions
  18. AI and machine learning for structural engineers
  19. Digital fabrication, cloud and connected workflows
  20. Computation for low-carbon structural design
  21. The computational engineer in practice

In development

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