DA4075 - Geology and Soil Mechanics

Most of your learning on this degree apprenticeship module will be in your workplace. Your involvement in civil engineering tasks will enable you to put into context the theoretical material that you will study at University, thereby cementing your understanding. You will do this in conjunction with your workplace mentor/Supervising Civil Engineer, appropriate members of your team, and with the assistance of your University workplace coach.

The module will include a range of learning materials and opportunities, such as online presentations, notes, seminar/tutorial questions, video links and digital reading materials. All these resources will be arranged in a convenient learning journey, giving you a clear expectation of the content to be studied and tasks you will complete on a weekly basis.

During your normal working day, your industrial mentor/Supervising Civil Engineer will support your learning through the allocation of appropriate work tasks relevant to the theoretical content of the module, allowing you to contextualise and cement your knowledge. The University will monitor this educational process.

University academic staff will support you in formally-scheduled teaching. This arrangement will give you ample opportunity to ask questions to clarify and deepen your understanding of the module content, as well as to seek specific help, for example, with your preparation for assessment. At other times, you will have access to University academic staff via telephone, email, and the University’s virtual learning environment (VLE). These media will allow you to access and make full use of the support and guidance available to you.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:

MLO1: Apply simple practical assessment of rock types and minerals, and discuss their characteristics and origins and site investigation considerations.

MLO2: Explain the scientific principles involved in predicting the response of soils and rocks to loading.

MLO3: Demonstrate the use of various standard tests to characterize a soil based grain size distribution, water content, void ratio, and various models to
describe soil strength and volume change under load.

MLO4: Analyse water flow through saturated soils around a geotechnical structure e.g. cofferdam/earth embankment.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

MLO5: Map and describe common geological structures
Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

Summative assessment will be by coursework. It will be worth 100% of the module marks and will cover all the module learning outcomes.

Formative assessment (sometimes from occasional homework tasks) will be by verbal or written (digital) support from University academic staff. In line with the workplace approach of a degree apprenticeship, you will be expected to take on-board verbal feedback from your workplace mentor/Supervising Civil Engineer, which is the case generally with employee performance.

Assessment feedback will be mapped between summative assessments from different modules, so that you receive clear guidance on improving work, based on performance in assessments in different modules. This will be made explicit to you via digital pro-forma as well as verbally.

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Almost every construction project interacts with the Earth – it has foundations, it involves excavations or embankments, the retaining of soil or rock behind a wall, tunnelling or other underground activities. It is therefore vital for civil engineers to have an understanding of the Earth’s materials, their properties and behaviour. This module provides an introduction to the key disciplines of engineering geology and geotechnics, helping you to understand the considerations necessary for the safe and sustainable design of geotechnical engineering structures and their implementation on construction sites. It will engage you with a range of core skills through online materials and applied seminars where you will gain first-hand experience of identifying, characterising mapping for engineering applications.