CME 306 - Engineering Materials for Sustainable Construction
3 Credits (2 Lecture Hours, 2 Lab Hours)
Lecture – Meets in 319 Marshall Hall, Monday, Wednesday 10:35-11:30 and 184 Baker
Lab on Mondays 1:50 – 4:50
Instructor – Paul Crovella
219 Baker Laboratory
Phone X-6839 (470-6839)
E-mail plcrovella@esf.edu
Webpage – www.esf.edu/scme/crovella/default.htm
Office hours – M,W, 11:30-12:30, Tu, Th 9:30 – 10:30, F, 10:3011:30
Text – Building Construction: Principles, Materials, and Systems by Mehta,
Scarborough, and Armpriest. 2nd ed.
Skyscraper by Karl Sabbagh
Other Required Supplies – Each student will need to wear the provided safety glasses
during lab. Additional personal protective equipment will be provided for field trips.
Description - This course will introduce the principal structural materials used for
building construction and their engineering properties and environmental impacts. The
production and performance of these materials will be explored through class discussion
and laboratory experiments. The application of each of the materials during sustainable
construction processes will be emphasized.
Student Outcomes:
1. Be able to describe the engineering properties of materials that are commonly
specified during building construction, and explain the impact of changes in those
properties on the building performance.
2. Be able to describe the environmental properties of materials that are commonly
specified during building construction.
3. Be able to write a clear technical report to describe a laboratory study of a particular
material property.
4. Be able to properly specify the engineering properties of a material for the individual
construction application chosen.
Relation to Learning Objectives: This course directly supports the following
departmental learning objectives:
6. apply the proper use of construction materials in construction projects with
consideration of sustainable construction; specify and procure materials that have
the least adverse impact on the environment within project constraints and the
construction contract; implement practices that can serve to better our environment
such as best and most efficient use and reuse of materials, and development and use
of alternative energy sources;
This course also meets the ACCE learning objectives in the area of
Construction Science – Construction Methods and Materials
Attendance - Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes and laboratories. If
special circumstances such as illness, travel difficulties, family emergencies or active
participation in college-sponsored events make absence unavoidable you must see me to
make up the work. For these cases, no student will be allowed to complete graded work
after that work has been returned to others in the class. Any student with more than 3
unexcused absences will be subject to automatic failure of the course.
In the case of absence due to religious observance, students will be provided an
opportunity to make up any examination, study, or work requirements that may be missed
provided you notify me by e-mail before the end of the second week of classes.
Further information about the SU policy that this is based on can be found at
http://supolicies.syr.edu/emp_ben/religious_observance.htm
While in class, please keep cell phones turned off, this includes during tests (no cell phone
calculators).
To maintain the proper classroom environment, computers may not be used during
lecture without permission of the instructor. When in use, it should be strictly for classrelated activity.
Academic Accommodations - Students wishing to utilize academic accommodations
due to a diagnosed disability of any kind must present an Academic Accommodations
Authorization Letter generated by Syracuse University’s Office of Disability Services. If
you currently have an Authorization Letter, please present this to me as soon as possible
so that I may assist with the establishment of your accommodations. Students who do not
have a current Academic Accommodations Authorization Letter from Syracuse
University’s Office of Disability Services cannot receive accommodations. If you do not
currently have an Authorization Letter and feel you are eligible for accommodations,
please contact Heather Rice in the Office of Counseling and Disabilities Services, 110
Bray Hall, (315) 470-6660 or counseling@esf.edu as soon as possible.
Academic Honesty – Honesty and integrity are major elements in professional behavior
and are expected of each student. Any assignment (including those in electronic media)
submitted by a student must be of the student's original authorship. Representation of
another's work as the student’s own shall constitute plagiarism. Cheating, in any form, is
an unacceptable behavior within all college courses, and the college policy on academic
integrity (as outlined in the handbook “Academic Integrity ESF” at
http://www.esf.edu/students/handbook/ ) will be strictly adhered to.
Grading – The course grading will be a combination of grades earned on homework,
quizzes, tests, group project work, class presentation, and the final exam.
The final grade will be based on these percentages
Homework
20%
Quizzes
30%
Semester Projects
15%
Lab Reports
10%
Class Participation
10%
Final Exam
15%
Homework - All written work must be word-processed and spell checked. Any
calculations may be hand-written neatly with the answer labeled with units and boxed.
Any homework not turned in on-time needs to be discussed with me to determine if credit
will be given. No late homework will be accepted after the assignment has been graded
and returned to the rest of the class.
Course Outline:
Load Resistance – The Structural Properties of Materials
Week 1
Homework – Reading Chapter 4, Review Questions
Skyscraper – Chapter 3
Thermal, Air leakage, Water Vapor control, Fire-related, and Acoustic properties of
materials
Week 2 Homework – Reading Chapter 5-8 Homework Review Questions Chap 5 - 1,4,5,9,10
Chap 6 Review Questions 1-4, Chap 7 Review Questions 1-5
Skyscraper – Chapter 9
Life cycle Assessment, Embodied Energy, and Carbon impact of materials Reading
Chapter
10 Review Questions 3-5,7
Week 3
Skyscraper – Chapters 5,7
Steel Material and Structural Steel Construction
Week 4
Chapter 18 – Review Questions 1-5, 10,11
Chapter 19 – Review Questions 2,3,4
Skyscraper – Chapter 13
Lime, Portland Cement, and Concrete
Week 5 Chapter 21 – Review Questions all
Skyscraper – Chapter 4
Concrete Construction (Formwork, Reinforcement, and Slab-on-Grade)
Week 6 Chapter 22 – Review Questions all
Skyscraper – Chapter 4
Concrete Construction (Site-Cast and Pre-cast Framing systems)
Week 7 Chapter 23 – Review Questions all
Skyscraper – Chapter 4
Week 8
Asphalt and recycled shingles
PART I SEMESTER PROJECT DUE – STEEL ESTIMATING
Masonry Materials (Mortar and Brick)
Week 9 Chapter 24 – Review Questions all
Skyscraper – Chapter 8
Masonry Materials (CMUs, Natural Stone, Glass Units)
Week Chapter 25 – Review Questions 1-6
10
Skyscraper – Chapter 11
Masonry and Concrete Bearing Wall Construction
Week Chapter 26 – all
Skyscraper – Chapter 12
11
PART II OF SEMESTER PROJECT DUE – CONCRETE ESTIMATING
Week
12
Rainwater Infiltration Control – Chapter 27– Review Questions all
Skyscraper – Chapter 15
Week
13
Exterior Wall Cladding – Chapters 28 and 29 – Review Questions Chapter 28
1,2,3,5 Chapter 29 1,2,6
Stucco, EIFS, alternative cladding materials
Roofing, Glass
Week
14
Reading – Chapter 33,34, 30,31 – If time available** - Chapter 30 Review
Questions 2,4,5c, 6,7,8 Chapter 31 1,2,3,4,6 Chapter 33 1,7,8,9,10 Chapter 34
1,3,4,5,6
Labs
Week Topic
1
Steel coupon test
2
Thermal
comparison, air
leakage
3
Steel fabrication
shop Reading steel
drawings - welding
4
Steel
5
Mix design, slump,
alternative
cementitious
materials
6
Cylinder testing –
7 days
7
Pervious concrete
(void ratio)
8
Cylinder testing –
28 days
9
Concrete
10
Wall mock-ups
11
Asphalt plant visit
12
Concrete batch
plant
13
CMU
14
Wall mock-ups
Location
Testing Lab Lab - IR camera – wall section,
micromanometer, STC classes
Date
1/14
1/28
Field Trip – JPW
2/4
Dineen Hall Tour
Lab
2/11
2/18
Testing Lab
2/25
Lab
3/4
Testing Lab
3/18
St. Joes, Upstate,or RC building
Gateway wall mock up
Barrett Paving Materials
Saunders Concrete
3/25
4/1
4/8
4/15
Barnes and Cone
Gateway wall mock up –
teardown
4/22
4/29