Materials engineering

Department of Civil Engineering
Module: Materials Engineering 2
Coursework Brief

Introduction
At 17⁰ 26’ 24” N and 55⁰ 16’ 36” E, at the small township of Hasik, in the Sultanate of Oman (see Figure 1) it is proposed to build a jetty leading to a docking area for ships to export limestone from a proposed limestone quarry which is to be located about 10 km inland. Limestone from the quarry will be brought to the area shown in Figure 1 by trains and loaded onto ships for export. The anticipated life of the quarry is at least 60 years.
Total area set aside for railway sidings, loading equipment and housing is
0.5km2 (approximately 1000m x 500m), shown in green in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Site location

The development comprises the following key elements.
1) Jetty
2) Railway track and sidings
3) Hard standing for aggregate handling and storage area
4) Conveyor systems and plant for handling aggregate
5) Offices
6) Housing

The exact positions of all the above have yet to be finalised. In parallel with the study to optimise sizes and locations of the various elements, it is necessary to undertake a study on the best materials that should be used in the development.

Brief
Your task is to provide a report on locally-available materials that may be best suited for the construction of the jetty, hard standing (for storage of aggregate and relevant plant) and both offices and housing only. The report shall cover all the alternative materials (i.e. imported if necessary) and give their advantages and disadvantages. All measures that are possible to overcome the disadvantages should be considered, with reasoned argument presented before discounting them.
Only the following materials are to be considered for construction: steel, CEM I cement, ground granulated blast furnace slag, fine aggregate (with less than 15% passing 600 micron) and 20mm coarse aggregate, concrete blocks, bricks, bitumen, steel cladding and a range of sizes of timber.
Your final choice of materials should be based on their technical suitability only. Any assumptions made should be clearly stated and justified. You are not required to consider any direct costs, but credit will be given for the use of local materials from the Arabian Gulf.

Additional information

1. You are not required to undertake any structural analysis or consider any specific method of construction. Your proposed materials should be realistically usable in construction.
2. The jetty is 200m long with a wharf area for docking ships. It comprises a platform supported on columns.
3. Hard standing may be between 15,000 m2 to 20,000m2.
4. You should consider material for only the structural elements and roofing of both office and houses.
5. You are not required to consider any building foundations, materials for doors and windows or any finishes. Your report should consider above-ground construction only, except for the jetty, which is to be constructed on piled foundations (e.g. steel, concrete, timber). You will need to discuss selection of materials for jetty foundations.
6. Offices and residential buildings will be limited to two floors. 15 residential houses and one office which occupies the same area as two houses, are to be constructed.
7. There is shortage of potable water in the area and its use must be minimised.
8. You may consider materials in the context BS EN Standards only where there are no implications as to location.
9. Where suitable local Standards are not available, you are expected to present a balanced case to support your decisions, using appropriate guidance for the country/region where available.

Assessment
Assessment will be based on the following matrix
Element of Report Maximum marks
Abstract 10
Structure 5
Content (including Figures and Tables, and use of EduPack software) 60
Conclusions 10
Clarity of text and usage of English 5
Compliance with required format 10

Report
Report shall be submitted in Word through Canvas by midnight on 27 March 2020.
It must not exceed 3000 words. This limit excludes the contents of the cover and the contents pages, and the list of references. The report shall be in good English, suitable for your line manager to use, and not be in bullet points or note format.
Appendix A gives the information that shall be included in the cover page.
Abstract must be limited to 250 words and should be presented on page 1 of the report before the Introduction, as the example layout in Appendix B shows. Show Key words and word count below the abstract.
All sections of the main body of the report shall have section numbers and all pages shall be numbered in the bottom footer. The top footer shall contain the report title and author. Report formatting information is also shown in Appendix B.

Additional information to support your case can be presented in numbered appendices. The report, without the appendices, should be stand-alone document. All key Figures and Tables shall be included in the main body of the report.

Appendix A

Cover page

Cover page should include the following information only.
————————————————————-
Department of Civil Engineering

Module: Materials Engineering 2 — Coursework

Title: Report on the selection of materials for the construction of the jetty, roads and both office and residential building at proposed development at Hasik in Oman.

Your: Name and ID
Date of submission: day/month/year

Page Number 1 of # (Arial 11)

Appendix B

First page

Module: Materials Engineering 2 (Session 2019/20) (Arial Font, 12)

Title: (Arial font, size12)
Author: (Arial font, size 12)
Abstract: (250 words, Arial font, size 12)

Keywords: (maximum six keywords, Arial font, size 12)

Word count for abstract: ###
Word count for report: #####

Page 2 of # (Arial 11pt)

Second and Subsequent pages

—————————————————————————————————
Other Report Formatting Information

1 INTRODUCTION (Main section headings – Bold, Uppercase, Arial, font size 14)

1.1 ####### (Subsection headings – Capitalise each word, Bold, Arial font, size 12)
1.1.1 ###### (As for subsection headings)

Text – Arial, font size 12
Heading for Tables and Figures shall be in Arial font, size 12
Table number and descriptive title must be above the Table and Figure number and descriptive title must be immediately below the Figure. Both the Tables and Figures should be centred on the page. Text should not follow around the Tables. Both must be referenced in the order they appear in the text. Figure should be spelled out in full – “Figure #.#”.
References: shall be in the Harvard referencing system as shown at https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/referencing/icite/docu ments/public/Harvard-Quick-Guide-2018-v-2.pdf All references shall be in Arial, font size 12.