Deep Underground Engineering and Resources. 3 credits, 3 contact hours

Catalog description

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor for approved undergraduate or graduate course in soil mechanics or geology or construction engineering within the last seven years or equivalent. This course will provide students with fundamental and applied engineering knowledge critical for identifying, designing, managing, and harnessing various materials from deep underground using geotechnical principles so as to provide society with valuable resources and promote sustainability. This course will also explore the governing mechanisms controlling the excavation of underground geomaterials (rock and soil) to create optimum space for extraction or storage of economically valuable and sustainable materials/resources at varying deep underground conditions. This course covers essential geo-engineering and geotechnical concepts and topics related to advancing underground geo-infrastructure, such as underground drilling; borehole/wellbore mechanics; vertical and directional drilling; wellbore cementing; foundations of solar and wind energy systems; underground carbon transport and sequestration; underground nuclear waste disposal; geothermal energy pile; and risk assessment of underground engineering. Case study applications are included to show students how to apply the learned techniques in various underground engineering practices.