Skip to main content
Unit of study_

CIVL1022: Geological Hazards

2024 unit information

This unit of study introduces the issues related to risk of ground instability, which concern all civil engineering projects. Students will learn how to identify, evaluate and mitigate hazards including landslides, sinkholes and earthquakes. They will develop the ability of assessing the impact of these hazards on the natural and built environment. They will acquire analytical skills to quantify ground (in)stability and foresee natural and entropic causes of ground failure. They will learn how to design engineering solutions to mitigate these risks.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Civil Engineering

Code CIVL1022
Academic unit Civil Engineering
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
? 
None
Corequisites:
? 
None
Prohibitions:
? 
GEOL1501 or CIVL9022
Assumed knowledge:
? 
None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Understand of the concepts and language of geology and risk management
  • LO2. Identify and name common types of geological hazards
  • LO3. Identify and name common types of soils and rocks
  • LO4. Understand the relationship between the built environment and its geological substrate and the possible impacts of natural earth hazards on engineered structures
  • LO5. Understand the relationship between microstructure and mechanical behaviour of geomaterials
  • LO6. Calculate underground stresses
  • LO7. Calculate shear strength and shear failure of geological substrates
  • LO8. Calculate factor of safety and use this concept to quantify slope instability risk.
  • LO9. Design engineering techniques to improve geological substrate stability.
  • LO10. Demonstrate enhanced skills in written, oral, and interpersonal communication

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2024
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
There are no availabilities for previous years.

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.