PENG9610 Evidence-based engineering Course description

Internal and external examiners. Oral exams will have two examiners.

Master's degree in engineering science or related fields.

Master's degree in structural engineering, building technology or similar field.

Through focused seminars, in cooperation with the master's degree in structural engineering and building technology at OsloMet, a wide range of typical complex engineering issues related to analysis and design of buildings and structures are presented. Furthermore, the students are expected to present their research ideas and the results of the project at a seminar.

As example, the course can include the following specific topics:

• Design and durability of concrete, timber and steel structures.
• Rehabilitation of buildings and structures.
• Degradation of building materials. Compatibility of new materials in historic structures.
• Heat, Air and Moisture (HAM) transport through building envelopes.
• Building Physics and Climate Adaptation.
• Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for simulating the interaction between exterior climatic conditions, e.g. wind, and buildings/structures.
• Bioclimatic architecture, Passive building design and Building Energy Simulation (BES)
• Innovative building materials and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

The topics covered in this course aims at giving the students the necessary skills to be evidence-based and includes lectures on:

• The basics of evidence-based engineering
• Empirical methods and their use in engineering disciplines
• How to critically evaluate and give rational argumentations
• How to collect, evaluate and use practice-based experience
• How to collect, evaluate and use research-based evidence
• How to conduct empirical studies
• How to aggregate evidence
• How to design good judgment and decision-making processes

To illustrate the topics and exemplify the use of evidence-based decision processes, selected engineering topics, such as software development methods, cost estimation, project management and workplace organization, will be used as cases. The course contains mandatory deliveries, exercises and student presentations.

The course will consist of lectures. In conjunction with the lectures, students will complete exercises related to the lecture topic. A compulsory assignment will be given to the students, to be presented to the other students on the course.

Practical training

The students will be exposed to practical exercises in evidence-based engineering. These exercises will be tailored to the topics that have been discussed and lectured on.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

Prior to examination it is required that a compulsory assignment be completed, presented to the other students, and approved.

The exam itself is a report written on a self-selected estimation topic. The structure and content of the report should follow evidence-based principles and require searching for, evaluating and summarising practice and research-based evidence.

The exam can be appealed.

All aids are permitted.

Pass or fail.

Two examiners. External examiner is used periodically.