The inevitable deterioration of physical systems critical to the welfare of society over time, due to thermal, chemical, and mechanical effects.
Published in Chapter:
The Interdisciplinary, Project-Based Infrastructure Degradation Curriculum at Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Aaron Sakulich (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA), Tahar El-Korchi (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA), and Richard D. Sisson Jr. (Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA)
Copyright: © 2015
|Pages: 15
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8183-5.ch004
Abstract
In 2014, a new graduate-level course on infrastructure degradation was offered jointly by the departments of Mechanical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), USA. Over the course of the fourteen-week graduate term, seven professors from both departments offered lectures on their particular area of expertise. Together with conventional homework assignments, the course incorporated a multidisciplinary project aspect where students were divided into teams and assigned an infrastructure system. The students prepared detailed presentations on a specific aspect of the degradation methods affecting their infrastructure system. These presentations culminated in the first ever WPI Degradation Symposium, in which each student team presented a poster based on their research. This chapter outlined the motivation behind, experience with, and lessons learned from this course, which may serve as a model in corrosion education as such issues become more important with the continuing decay of the worldwide built environment.