ECI 153: Deterministic Optimization and Design

Fall 2017

Course Objectives & Overview
Prerequisites
147 Olson Hall M,W 2:10-4:00 PM
Instructor
Acknowledgments
Policies

Course Syllabus
Course Notes
Resources
Computing
Thoughts on Optimization

Discussion Group

Course Objectives & Overview

This course introduces students to the "science of design" (Simon 1969), also known as the "theory of problem solving" (Liebman 1989). Upon completion, students should be able to:

Describe a civil/environmental engineering design problem in terms of decisions, objectives, and constraints.
Simplify the problem, if necessary, and formulate the decisions, objectives, and constraints in mathematical terms.
Select an appropriate mathematical programming tool to solve the problem (most likely using a computer).
Understand the solution procedure.
Interpret the solution and perform sensitivity analysis.
Explain the solution, solution sensitivity, and limitations of the approach to someone unfamiliar with math programming.

Students will become familiar with optimization techniques such as:

Linear programming
Dynamic programming
Non-linear programming
Integer programming
Genetic algorithms

Applications occur in a broad range of civil/environmental engineering disciplines, including:

Water resources planning
Water/wastewater treatment design
Solid/hazardous waste management
Transportation planning
Structural design
Geotechnical design
Construction management

Another objective of the course is to help students become comfortable with the use of computers. Computer-based design projects will require the use of spreadsheets and math programming software. Students will also be required to use a programming language (of their choice--FORTRAN, C, Java, PASCAL, Visual Basic, VBA, etc.) for one or more of the assignments. We will provide some VBA tutorials (the macro language for Excel).

The course meets twice a week. Each week, the meeting time will include lectures, active learning sessions, and Q&A sessions related to the homework assignments. Additional homework Q&A sessions may be scheduled as deemed necessary.

Prerequisites

Mathematics 21C (Calculus III)
Mathematics 22A (Linear Algebra)
Engineering 6 (Applications of Computers) or the equivalent
Applied Science Engineering 115 (Intro. to Numerical Methods) recommended
Students should be prepared to use computers to solve problems

Instructors

Jay R. Lund

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California, Davis

Office Hours: M,W 4:00-5:00 PM, also by appointment and usually when I'm in.
Location: Usually Director's office in Center for Watershed Sciences
also sometimes 3109 Ghausi Hall
Electronic mail: jrlund@ucdavis.edu

Acknowledgements

Most of this course content was developed at the University of California, Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering by Jay R. Lund (1988-present), Ken Kirby (1996), Orit Kalman (1998), David Watkins (1999), and Andy Draper (2001). David Watkins founded the course's web pages and Jay Lund has since deranged them.

Civil & Environmental Engineering Home UC-Davis Home

Send mail to jrlund@ucdavis.edu with questions or comments about this web site.