Master of Science (Civil Engineering)

The Master of Science (Civil Engineering) program is designed for professionals who are working in the civil engineering
and built environment. Students will acquire advanced and in-depth knowledge to enable an intellectual broadening
across the disciplines of civil engineering, keep abreast of innovations and emerging technologies in the civil engineering
sector, and integrate knowledge and skills for Industry 4.0 transformation of the built environment.

The program accepts both full-time and part-time students to provide flexibility for students in the choice of modules to suit
their ability, interests, and career advancement.

A Capstone Project is offered in some specializations to provide students with the opportunity to apply what they have learned in a large-
scale themed project. Please click on a specialization tab for more information.

 Capstone Project for Structural & Geotechnical Engineering Specializations

 Capstone Project for Transport and Urban Mobility Specialization
 Capstone Project for Infrastructure Digitalization & Management Specialization
A student may choose to graduate with any one of various specializations. Please click the specialization link for specific requirements.

M.Sc. (Civil Engineering) with Specialization in Geotechnical Engineering

There has been a consistently strong demand in Singapore and the region for engineers with advanced knowledge and
skills in geotechnical disciplines. The demand for geotechnical professionals is expected to be sustained in the
foreseeable future driven by the need for continuous development and upgrade of major infrastructure besides the combat
against impacts of climate change. With the increased project complexity and awareness of sustainable development,
geotechnical engineering plays an even more crucial role in delivering project goals and achieving sustainability.
The Master of Science program in Civil Engineering with a specialization in Geotechnical Engineering offers fresh civil
engineering graduates and practicing engineers the opportunity to enhance and upgrade their knowledge in key
geotechnical disciplines.  The state-of-the-art geotechnical engineering topics covered in the well-designed courses will
provide students with combined analytical abilities and practical skillsets imperative to tackle a wide spectrum of
geotechnical problems from site investigations, ground improvements, foundation designs, tunnelling and deep
excavations.

Candidates who wish to obtain the MSc (CE) with specialization in Geotechnical Engineering must pass 20 Units of the
following distinct courses, each with a grade point of at least 2.0 (Grade C).  The remaining 20 Units to satisfy the degree
requirements may be selected from Level 5000 and 6000 courses offered by the Department of Civil & Environmental
Engineering, which also include the courses listed below.

Courses
Courses for Geotechnical Engineering Specialization

See timetable for schedule of courses. Timetable is updated prior to start of each semester.

Course Code &

Units Brief Description
Title

This is an advanced course on analysis and design of tunnels in soils. The

topics covered include bored tunneling methods, stability of underground
CE5104QA openings, ground movement prediction due to tunnels, effects of ground
movements on buildings and structures, instrumentation and monitoring, and
2
stresses on lining. The creation of underground structures to form subways,
Tunneling in Soils underpasses, metro stations and other uses is an increasing requirement in
major urban areas worldwide. Participants are taught the various methods of
construction for creating underground space.

CE5104QB 2 This is an advanced course on analysis and design of tunnels in rocks. The
 topics covered include tunneling methods in rocks, construction of caverns,
New Austrian Tunneling Method and stability of underground openings in
rocks. The creation of underground structures to form subways, underpasses,
metro stations and other uses in greater depths would likely encounter
excavation in rocks.
Tunneling in Rocks
Participants are taught the various methods of construction for creating
underground space.

This is a course on the principle of ground improvement techniques for soft

soils, as well as its design, construction and monitoring. Topics covered
include general ground improvement principles and design considerations,
techniques of improving granular soils, techniques of improving cohesive
soils. Field operation requirement and construction field controls, monitoring,
CE5106QA and performance evaluation, specification and acceptance criteria. Case studies
on various techniques will be presented and discussed.
Ground 2
Improvement – This course will focus on hydraulic method for soft clay (PVD with
Hydraulic, Vibratory preloading, PVD with vacuum etc), Vibratory method for Sandy soils, and
& Chemical cement treatment method (Grouting and Deep cement mixing etc).

Participants are taught the basic principles of various ground improvement

techniques, and how to select the most appropriate ground improvement
techniques to be used in specific circumstances.

CE5106QB 2 This is an advanced course on ground improvement techniques for difficult

ground as well as its design, construction and monitoring. Topics covered
Ground include the special requirement for advanced ground improvement techniques,
Improvement – difficult ground (peaty soil, mixed soils in tunnelling, cavity etc), principles
Dynamic, and design considerations for various advanced ground improvement
techniques (dynamic method, dynamic method combine with PVD,
 geosynthetics, soil nailing etc), field controls and monitoring, field evaluation
– specification, performance evaluation and acceptance criteria, and case
study.
Geosynthetic &
Inclusions Participants are taught the basic principles of various advanced ground
improvement techniques, and how to select as well as combine a few ground
improvement methods to be used in specific circumstances where soil are
difficult or/and the project requirements are very stringent.

This is an advanced course in deep foundation engineering. Topics covered

include site investigation for deep foundation, general bearing capacity
theorem, overview of pile installation methods, axial pile capacity and
CE5107QA deflection, pile load transfer mechanism, and laterally loaded piles as well as
group pile issues.
2
Pile Foundation
Design Participants will learn how to deal with design and construction issues
pertaining to deep foundations under more general and realistic practical
situations. Specific learning objectives include performing design calculations
for piles and pile groups.

CE5107QB This is an advanced module in deep foundation engineering. Topics covered

include piles subject to ground movement, piles in difficult ground, special
pile foundation, pile driving analysis and dynamic testing, and static pile load
Advanced Topics in 2
tests. Participants will learn how to deal with design and construction issues
Pile Foundation pertaining to deep foundations under more general and realistic practical
Design situations.

CE5108QA 2 Together with CE5108QB Deep Excavations Design Using Eurocode 7, this is
an advanced course in earth-retaining structures and deep excavations. Topics
Key Principles and include earth pressure theories, rigid retaining structures, flexible retaining
Concepts of Earth structures, cellular cofferdams, retaining walls for deep excavations, support
 systems for deep excavations, and field monitoring. Participants are taught to
deal with design and construction issues pertaining to a spectrum of earth-
retaining systems from low rigid retaining walls to flexible support systems for
deep excavations. They will also learn to apply the methods of limit state, such
as BS8002 and Eurocode7, to the design of rigid and flexible retaining walls.
Applications of commercial geotechnical FEM softwares are taught to aid in
Retention Systems design of deep excavations to limit ground deformations and satisfy SLS
requirements.

At the end of the course, participants are taught the application of advanced
earth pressure theories, selection of appropriate retaining structures, and
verification of capacity and movement requirements, using limit equilibrium
and FEM analysis tools.

This course builds upon the knowledge and skills acquired in CE5108QA
Lateral Earth Pressures and Retaining Wall Design Design via Eurocode 7, to
cover the topic of deep excavations related to deep shafts and multi-strut
supported walls.
CE5108QB
Participants are taught to deal with design and construction issues pertaining to
Deep Excavations 2 deep excavations, such as drained and undrained conditions, as well as field
Analysis and monitoring practices.
Modelling
Applications of commercial geotechnical FEM software are taught to aid in
design and analysis of deep excavations to limit ground deformations and
satisfy both serviceability requirements as well as Eurocode 7 ultimate limit
states.

CE5101 4 This is an advanced course in flow through a two-phase medium. The topics
that are covered include steady state seepage and basic transient seepage, basic
contaminant transport processes, measurement of hydraulic transport
 parameters, and its applications to dewatering of excavations and seepage
through embankments as to their influence on slope stability. Consolidation
theory from 1-D to 3-D consolidation analysis, and methods of accelerating
consolidation, with application to computing settlements of foundations.
Seepage and Students are taught Darcy’s Law, continuity equation, coupling between
Consolidation of effective stress and pore pressure, and the solution methods inclusive of FEM
Soils modelling.

The goals of the course are analysis of seepage problems, analysis of

consolidation problems, design methods to accelerate consolidation to solve
stability and settlements problems in geotechnical engineering.

Students will learn the various methods of excavation construction and apply
the fundamental knowledge of structural mechanics to design a wide range of
earth retaining walls and their support systems. The key focus is to develop the
capability to design various types of retaining walls, ground anchorage, walers,
struts, kingposts, bracing and connection details. It will also cover the design
CE5112 of working platforms which are often required in deep excavations, as well as
methods of jointing and splicing to allow incorporation of instrumentation.
4 The course will cover both steel and reinforced concrete retaining walls, such
Excavation Support
System as sheetpile, soldier piles, timber lagging, contiguous bored piles, diaphragm
walls and etc.

The course enables students to acquire further knowledge on soil-structure

interaction and gain practical skills through the lectures, case studies and
design projects.

CE5113QA 2 This course teaches the essential concepts and methodology for the planning,
design and implementation of geotechnical ground investigation for
Geotechnical Site infrastructure, underground construction, and built environment construction.
Investigation
 The course will be broadly divided into two parts. The first part covers various
aspects of site investigation such as the planning, design, density of bore holes,
sampling technology and sampling disturbance. The second part covers
various aspects of in-situ and laboratory testing of soils and rocks. The course
will cover ground investigation concepts and practices according to new
Eurocode EC7.

This course enables participants to acquire the knowledge and practical skills
through the lectures, case studies and projects.

This course teaches the essential concepts and methodology for the planning,
design and implementation of geophysical methods for geotechnical site
investigation, and ground instrumentation and monitoring programmes.

CE5113QB The course will be broadly divided into two parts. The first part covers the
planning and practices of various type of geophysical methods used in
geotechnical site investigation. Basic type of geophysical methods: seismic,
Geophysical 2 resistivity and ground radar and others will be covered. The second part covers
Methods & various aspects of ground instrumentation and sensors for the measurement
Geotechnical and monitoring of ground movement, drawdown, excess pore pressures, strut
Monitoring forces, wall deflection and settlement. Concept and practices of the
observational methods in geotechnical works will be covered.

This course enables participants to acquire the knowledge and practical skills
through the lectures, case studies and projects.

CE5881 4 The main objective of this course is to introduce fundamental principles of soil
dynamics and applications to construction vibrations. Construction activities
Topics in inevitably introduce vibrations in the ambient environment and the sub-surface
Geotechnical geological formations. These are usually experienced as noise and vibrations,
and may also take the form of stress waves in soils and rocks which could
 damage foundation structures.

Engineering: Soil Case studies will used to illustrate construction vibrations issues and
Dynamics applicable mitigation techniques. Students will also be required to undertake
and complete a Group Project. Students are free to discuss and agree with the
Lecturers on their choice of topic.

This is an advanced graduate-level course aimed at research and geotechnical-

specialist coursework students. Its aim is to introduce students to the
constitutive behaviour of soils and some basic constitutive models for soil
behaviour.
CE6101
Students will learn about the generalized Hooke’s Law for elasticity,
4 description of stress changes using stress path parameters, mathematical
Geotechnical
description of elastic-perfectly plastic materials, with emphasis on the Mohr-
Constitutive
Coulomb model and strain hardening plasticity with emphasis on the original
Modelling
and modified Cam Clay models. Students will learn about the basic
characteristics of each type of models and how they can select and use
appropriate constitutive models available in numerical softwares. More
capable research students will be able to use this course as a stepping stone
towards enabling them to develop their own soil-specific constitutive models.

CE6102 4 This is an advanced graduate-level course aimed at research and geotechnical-

specialist coursework students. Its aim is to introduce students to advanced
Geotechnical geotechnical analysis, which is now an essential and important phase of deep
Analysis excavation and tunnel design.  Students will learn about advanced concepts of
finite difference and finite element analysis which are needed for the solution
of geotechnical problems.

The course will cover finite difference concept and formulation, non-linear
analysis techniques, elasto-plastic formulation with a tangent stiffness
 approach, solution techniques, large strain analysis, seepage analysis, flow-
deformation coupled analysis, solution accuracy and reliability. In combination
with CE4257 and CE6101, this course forms a complete numerical package
targeted towards geotechnical specialists who need to conduct numerical
analysis as part of their design work.

CE5002B 4 This course allows students of M.Sc. (Civil Engineering) to apply the
knowledge that they have gained from the courses offered under the
Capstone Project for Specialization in Geotechnical Engineering. Students will have the opportunity
Geotechnical to work on a multi-disciplinary Capstone Project that aims to combat climate
Engineering change in Singapore.  They will be required to work as a group, complete on a
number of tasks, and design a solution based on their specialization. The group
will be supported by a supervisor, with input from an industry partner.
A Project Course
The Capstone Project is divided into 4 sub-tasks:

Task 1: Data Collection and Design Basis

Task 2: Preliminary Analysis

Task 3: Detailed Analysis

Task 4: Parametric Analysis

Capstone Project for Academic Year 2022/2023 cohort

Students taking Structural & Geotechnical engineering specialization courses

will work in groups to design a PPVC point block building with 3 story
underground basement (via top-down construction method) using steel,
concrete and steel-concrete composite structural systems for a typical plot in
the East Coast Extension.