Engineering in the Environment

Catalog description

Humans modify and control our environment, but are also subject to the whims of geologic forces. Earthquakes, landslides, floods and dust storms are natural hazards that, while unpredictable, may be understood from basic mechanical principles; and this understanding may be used to better prepare and adapt to a changing world. Human-induced climate change is triggering not only warming, but also "global weirding" as the climate system becomes increasingly unstable and unpredictable. This course will lead with applications related to the environment and climate change, and use simple scaling and dimensional analysis to develop physical intuition. Students will be introduced to topics such as mechanics (e.g., failure) and flow of soil and rock, river erosion, and transport and dispersion of contaminants in water and air, as well as basic phenomena of weather and climate. I will present an integrated approach to understanding these problems by applying elementary concepts of thermo-fluids and mechanics. Gravity currents make up the vast proportion of environmental flows; I will emphasize common principles, such as buoyancy and mixing. The primary objective for this course is that students discover how to apply basic engineering insight to non-engineered (i.e., natural), unconstrained systems. A secondary objective is to entice mechanical engineers to become interested in the environment.