Building Engineering

• BCEE 231Structured Programming and Applications for Building and Civil Engineers3 credits

  Elements of procedural programming: variables, primitive data types, scope, operators and expressions, control structures, functions, derived data types and basic data structures. Program structure and development: specifications, analysis of requirements, flow charting, incremental development, testing, validation and program documenting. Application of procedural programming, graphics and numerical tool box to mathematics and building, civil and environmental engineering.

• BLDG 212Building Engineering Drawing and Introduction to Design3 credits

  Fundamentals of technical drawing, dimensioning practices, orthographic projections, auxiliary and sectional views of buildings. Theory and applications of descriptive geometry in building design. Computer‑aided building drawing. Building sub‑systems and related graphics standards; architectural and building engineering drawing at preliminary and final stages. Introduction to the design of light‑frame buildings. Project: representation of a building and its sub‑systems. Introduction to conceptual design.

• ENCS 282Technical Writing and Communication3 credits

  Technical writing form and style. Technical and scientific papers, abstracts, reports. Library research and referencing methods for engineers and computer scientists. Technical communication using information technology: document processing software, computer‑assisted presentation, analysis and design of web presentation, choice and use of appropriate tools. Students will prepare an individual major report and make an oral presentation

• ENGR 213Applied Ordinary Differential Equations3 credits

  This course introduces Engineering students to the theory and application of ordinary differential equations. Definition and terminology, initial‑value problems, separable differential equations, linear equations, exact equations, solutions by substitution, linear models, orthogonal trajectories, complex numbers, form of complex numbers: powers and roots, theory: linear equations, homogeneous linear equations with constant coefficients, undetermined coefficients, variation of parameters, Cauchy‑Euler equation, reduction of order, linear models: initial value, review of power series, power series solutions, theory, homogeneous linear systems, solution by diagonalization, non‑homogeneous linear systems. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors.

• ENGR 242Statics3 credits

  Resultant of force systems; equilibrium of particles and rigid bodies; distributed forces; statically determinate systems; trusses; friction; moments of inertia; virtual work. Shear and bending moment diagrams.

• ENGR 201Professional Practice and Responsibility1.5 credits

  Health and safety issues for engineering projects: Quebec and Canadian legislation; safe work practices; general laboratory safety common to all engineering disciplines, and specific laboratory safety pertaining to particular engineering disciplines. Review of the legal framework in Quebec, particularly the Professional Code and the Engineers Act, as well as professional ethics.

• ENGR 233Applied Advanced Calculus3 credits

  This course introduces Engineering students to the theory and application of advanced calculus. Functions of several variables, partial derivatives, total and exact differentials, approximations with differentials. Tangent plane and normal line to a surface, directional derivatives, gradient. Double and triple integrals. Polar, cylindrical, and spherical coordinates. Change of variables in double and triple integrals. Vector differential calculus; divergence, curl, curvature, line integrals, Green’s theorem, surface integrals, divergence theorem, applications of divergence theorem, Stokes’ theorem.

• ENGR 243Dynamics3 credits

  Kinematics of a particle and rigid body; forces and accelerations; work and energy; impulse and momentum; dynamics of a system of particles and rigid bodies, introduction to vibrations.

• ENGR 244Mechanics of Materials3.75 credits

  This course covers the following topics: mechanical behaviour of materials; stress; strain; review of shear and bending moment diagrams; analysis and design of structural and machine elements subjected to axial, torsional, and flexural loadings; combined stresses and stress transformation; deflections; introduction to elastic stability and buckling behaviour.

• ENGR 251Thermodynamics I3 credits

  Basic principles of thermodynamics and their application to various systems composed of pure substances and their homogeneous non‑reactive mixtures. Simple power production and utilization cycles.

The native September-entry plan explicitly places Surveying in the first-year Summer term.

• BCEE 371Surveying3 credits

  This course covers the following topics: elementary operations employed in engineering surveying; use, care, and adjustment of instruments; linear and angular measurements; traversing; earthwork calculations; theory of errors; horizontal and vertical curves and curve layout; slope stakes and grades, application of surveying methods to city, topographic surveying, and introduction to advanced surveying techniques; use of digital computers in surveying calculations.

• BCEE 342Structural Analysis I3 credits

  Analysis of statically determinate structures: deflections, strain energy concepts, virtual work principles. Mueller Breslau principle, influence lines. Approximate methods for statically indeterminate structures. Collapse load analysis. Cables and Arches. Computer applications.

• BLDG 341Building Engineering Systems3 credits

  Introduction to systematic solution of building engineering problems. Techniques treated include linear programming, network analysis, nonlinear programming. Introduction to decision analysis and simulation. Application of optimization methods for solution of design problems in building science, building environment, building structures, and construction management, taking into account sustainability issues.

• ELEC 275Principles of Electrical Engineering3.5 credits

  Fundamentals of electric circuits: Kirchoff’s laws, voltage and current sources, Ohm’s law, series and parallel circuits. Nodal and mesh analysis of DC circuits. Superposition theorem, Thevenin and Norton Equivalents. Use of operational amplifiers. Transient analysis of simple RC, RL and RLC circuits. Steady state analysis: Phasors and impedances, power and power factor. Single and three phase circuits. Magnetic circuits and transformers. Power generation and distribution.

• BCEE 277Introduction to AI in Natural and Built Environment2.5 credits

  This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its role in the built environment. It covers the opportunities and limitations of AI in design, construction, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life phases of buildings and infrastructure. The course emphasizes the critical role of data in enabling AI applications, introduces data management fundamentals, and explores key AI tools and techniques for data analysis. By the end of the course, students (i) have a broad understanding of AI, its applications, and its requirements in building, civil and environmental engineering; (ii) are able to understand a dataset, identify inconsistencies, handle missing data, and prepare it for training machine learning (ML) and other AI models; and (iii) are able to use effective visualization techniques to explore and present data insights. ​ ​ ​ ​

• ENGR 361Fluid Mechanics I3 credits

  The course covers basic concepts and principles of fluid mechanics. Classification of fluid flow. Hydrostatic forces on plane and curved surfaces, buoyancy and stability, fluids in rigid body motion. Mass, momentum, and energy conservation integral equations. Bernoulli equation. Basic concepts of pipe and duct flow. Introduction to Navier‑Stokes equations. Similarity and model studies. ​

• BCEE 344Structural Design of Steel and Wood Elements3 credits

  This course covers the following topics: basis for limit states design, code requirements, structural steel design: tension and compression members, beams and beam‑columns, connections, design of timber members.

• BLDG 365Building Science3.5 credits

  General introduction to the thermal environment and sustainable development issues. Topics include heat, temperature, one‑dimensional steady‑state processes. Convection: natural and forced. Radiation. Combined radiative and convective surface transfer. Psychrometrics. Thermal comfort. Air quality. Condensation: surface and interstitial. Introduction to compressible viscous flow, friction, and flow in pipes; boundary layer and wind effects.

• ENGR 301Engineering Management Principles and Economics3 credits

  Introduction to project delivery systems. Principles of project management; role and activity of a manager; enterprise organizational charts; cost estimating; planning and control. Company finances; interest and time value of money; discounted cash flow; evaluation of projects in private and public sectors; depreciation methods; business tax regulations; decision tree; sensitivity analysis.

• ENGR 391Numerical Methods in Engineering3 credits

  This course focuses on roots of algebraic and transcendental equations; function approximation; solution of simultaneous algebraic equations; interpolation; regression; introduction to machine learning; numerical differentiation; numerical integration; numerical solutions of ordinary differential equations and partial differential equations; reliability; conditioning; error analysis. Implementation using GNU Octave/MATLAB.

• ENGR 311Transform Calculus and Partial Differential Equations3 credits

  This course covers the following topics: the Laplace transforms and their application to the solution of ordinary differential equations; Fourier series; elements of partial differential equations; Fourier method of separation of variables for the solution of partial differential equations; the one-dimensional transient heat conduction parabolic equation; the one-dimensional wave hyperbolic equation; the two-dimensional Laplace elliptic equation.

• BCEE 345Structural Design of Reinforced Concrete Elements3 credits

  This course covers the behaviour of reinforced concrete elements in flexure, compression, shear and bond. Other topics covered in the course are limit states design of reinforced concrete beams, one‑way slabs, columns, and footings; serviceability limits states; introduction to prestressed concrete and masonry structures.

• BLDG 390Building Engineering Design Project3.5 credits

  The project of each team will encompass various stages of design of a medium‑size building. Students learn building engineering design process, methodology, identification of objectives, building codes, formulation of design problems, and estimation of loads on buildings. The design topics encompass the development and evaluation of sustainable building design alternatives; conceptual building design of spatial requirements, design of space layout; and building design accounting for the synthesis and design of structures, enclosure systems, and services (HVAC, lighting, electrical distribution) using computer‑aided design tools. Additionally, performance evaluation using modelling, sensitivity analysis and cost estimation is presented.

• BLDG 476Thermal Analysis of Buildings3 credits

  Two‑ and three‑dimensional steady‑state and transient conductive heat transfer together with convection and radiation as applied to building materials and geometries. Heating and cooling load analysis, including building shapes, construction type, solar radiation, infiltration, occupancy effects, and daily load variations. Computer applications for thermal load analysis. Introduction to heat exchangers.

• BCEE 432Soil Mechanics3.5 credits

  This course covers the geological origin of soils, basic principles of physical geology with emphasis on topics related to soil mechanics; definition of the index properties and classification of soils and weight‑volume relationships; the characterization of soils structure and moisture‑density relationships; the definition of permeability, deformation, and strength of soils; the principle of total and effective stresses as related to soils; the characterization of steady stage seepage through isotropic soil media; the analysis of stress distribution due to external loads and evaluation of total settlements; brief outline of theory of consolidation; introduction to the fundamentals of stability of earth retaining walls, slopes, and footings.

• BLDG 371Building Service Systems3.5 credits

  Principles of building service systems, including electrical, gas, communications, service‑water supply and distribution; introduction to plans, codes, and standards for utility distribution systems.

• CIVI 321Engineering Materials3.75 credits

  Linear and nonlinear material behaviour, time‑dependent behaviour; structural and engineering properties of structural metals; behaviour of wood; production and properties of concrete; bituminous materials, ceramics, plastics; introduction to composite materials.

• ENGR 371Probability and Statistics in Engineering3 credits

  This course starts out with axioms of probability theory, events, conditional probability and Bayes theorem. Next, random variables are introduced. Here, mathematical expectation, discrete and continuous probability density functions are covered. In statistics sampling distributions, interval estimation and hypothesis testing are introduced. The course includes applications to engineering problems.

• BCEE 451Construction Engineering3 credits

  The nature of construction and the environment in which the industry works; organizational structures for project delivery; construction contracts and documents; introduction to construction processes: excavation and site works, foundation layout, concrete form design, concrete, steel, timber, and masonry construction; project planning, scheduling, and control; construction safety.

• BCEE 377Applied AI for the Built Environment2.5 credits

  This course builds upon the foundational knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to introduce students to machine learning (ML), deep learning, and generative AI in the context of building, civil, and environmental engineering. Students learn how ML models are trained and tested and explore applications such as computer vision, text mining, and natural language processing (NLP) in the context of the built environment. Additionally, the course introduces prompt engineering and design thinking as innovative approaches to AI-powered problem-solving in building and civil engineering. The course has a term project. ​ ​

One approved technical-elective slot is printed. BLDG 490 is a six-credit capstone extending across Fall and Winter; its credits are counted once.

• BLDG 463Building Envelope Design3 credits

  Technical influences in the design of building envelope, including the control of heat flow, air and moisture penetration, building movements, and deterioration are covered. Other topics covered by the course are the application of air/ vapour barrier and rain‑screen systems, performance assessment and building codes through case studies and design projects, sustainable design principles, design of walls, roofs, joints and assemblies. Students also learn cause of deterioration and preventive measures, on‑site investigation and relevant building codes and standards.

• BLDG 471HVAC System Design4 credits

  Principles of HVAC system design and analysis; sustainable design issues and impact on environment; component and system selection criteria including room air distribution, fans and air circulation, humidifying and dehumidifying processes, piping and ducting design. Air quality standards. Control systems and techniques; operational economics; computer applications.

• BLDG 490Capstone Building Engineering Design Project6 credits

  The project of each team encompasses the integrated design of at least three sub‑systems of a new or retro‑fitted building to achieve high performance and efficiency at reasonable cost; sustainable design and environmental impact issues are addressed in all projects. In the process, students learn, through case studies and literature survey, the information gathering and decision/design process, problem‑resolution as well as aspects related to management, teamwork and communication. Students registering for this course must contact the course coordinator for the detailed procedure.

BLDG 490 continues in Winter, with no second credit amount. The plan prints one three-credit General Education Elective and two approved technical-elective slots. Individual technical-slot credit weights are not assigned by this table.

• BLDG 482Impact of Technology on Society and Architecture3 credits