Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering

by Revelle, Charles S.; Whitlatch, Earl; Wright, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9780130478221
• ISBN10: 0130478229
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780131386785
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-08-15
• Publisher: Pearson
• More Book Details

Summary

Civil and Environmental Systems Engineering is designed for a junior- or senior-year course on systems analysis and economics as applied to civil engineering. This civil system/engineering economics course has evolved over roughly the last 30 years and draws on the fields of operations research and economics to create skills in problem solving. Because of the presence of several more advanced sections and sections focusing on applications in the book, it may also he useful as a text for first-year graduate courses that introduce students to civil systems. The second edition improves on an already classic book in its field by introducing new material and reorganizing portions of the previous edition. The new material is designed to enhance the student's learning experience by introducing modeling ideas and concepts at the outset, prior to teaching the mathematical process of model building. Network flow problems are given special treatment by highlighting their study separately from the general integer programming models that are considered. As well, the range of examples offered for the student's consideration is expanded not only as a motivational tool, but to illustrate the breadth of applications possible. A number of new end-of-chapter questions have been added to enhance the already well-received engineering economics chapters. REORGANIZED CHAPTERS bull; bull;Chapter 1: bull; bull;Now combines the historical development of systems analysis and the steps a model builder follows in structuring an optimization model. bull;Includes verbal descriptions of settings where models can be employed. The student is challenged to identify, in the context of these settings, not only constraints and appropriate decision variables, but also the needed parameters and problem objectives. bull;Chapter 2: Now consists of the general form of the linear programming problem and nine examples or stylized problems that are described in detail, as well as solved, to help introduce the student to the concept of optimization modeling. bull;Chapter 6; All the major network flows concepts have been drawn together into one chapter. bull;Chapter 7: The topics of integer programming, branch and bound, and the applications of integer programming are now contained in their chapter.

Author Biography

The team of authors, ReVelle, Whitlatch, and Wright, is well credentialed to provide a text that delivers both solid technical content and quality communication. ReVelle, a professor at Johns Hopkins for more than 30 years, studied with one of the originators of systems analysis in water management and teaches a course in civil systems regularly. ReVelle is also the author, with his wife Penelope, of The Environment, a basic college text that has appeared in three editions, and more recently of The Global Environment. Whitlatch, a professor in civil engineering at Ohio State, has been teaching a popular and well-received civil systems course for over 25 years. Wright, the Dean of Engineering at University of California, Merced, and the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Infrastructure Systems, has been teaching courses on civil systems and engineering economics for more than 20 years. The authors have collaborated on research for three decades. All three authors have distinguished records of research and application. They enjoyed writing the text together and will be interested in your comments.

Table of Contents

Explaining Systems Analysis

Models in Civil and Environmental Engineering

A Graphical Solution Procedure and Further Examples

The Simplex Algorithm for Solving Linear Programs

Linear Programs with Multiple Objectives

Linear Programming Models of Network Flow

Integer Programming and Its Applications

Scheduling Models: Critical Path Method

Decision Theory

Lessons in Context: Simulation and the Statistics of Prediction

Lessons in Context: A Multigoal Water Resources Problem Utilizing Multiple Techniques

Lessons in Context: Transportation Systems

Dynamic Programming and Nonlinear Programming

Engineering Economics I: Interest and Equivalence

Engineering Economics II: Choice Between Alternatives

Engineering Economics III: Depreciation, Taxes, Inflation, and Personal Financial Planning

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

ABOUT THE TEXTThis text is designed for a junior or senior year course on systems analysis, or systems analysis and economics, as applied to civil engineering. This civil system/engineering economics course has evolved over roughly the last 30 years and draws on the fields of operations research and economics to create skills in problem solving. Because of the presence in the book of several more advanced sections and sections focusing on applications, the book may also find use as a text for first-year graduate courses that introduce students to civil systems.As the field of operations research evolved from its origins during World War II, one area in particular grew in popularity. That area, known as mathematical programming, found wide application not only as a means to optimize the design of chemical and mechanical systems in industry but also as a means to find promising alternatives in civil and environmental engineering decision problems. Most popular among the computer-based optimization techniques has been and continues to be the method known as linear programming, a procedure that operates on one or more objectives subject to economic, resource, or logic constraints.Mathematical programming and linear programming, in particular, have found wide application in civil engineering problem solving. These techniques have been used in structural design, in highway alignment, in intersection light timing, in subway and rail route design, in traffic prediction, in terminal location, in the routing of collection vehicles, in the routing of hazardous wastes, in equipment selection, in landfill location, in the siting of transfer stations, in crew scheduling and allocation, in waste treatment plant design and location, in waste load allocations on a river, in the design of hydrologic models, in the selection of projects to bid on, in the design of water distribution systems and sewer systems, in cost sharing, in reservoir design and operation, in fire station siting, in ambulance deployment, and in many other civil and environmental engineering areas. The power of these tools to develop efficient alternatives is enormous. So many applications have been created that a number of journals have been established principally emphasizing civil systems optimization problems; these includeWater Resources Planning and Management, Transportation Science, Civil Engineering Systems, Water Resources Research,andThe Journal of Infrastructure Systems,among others.Our treatment of linear programming and other forms of optimization is pragmatic. We prove no theorems but do, however, provide a description of how and why linear programming works. If we did not, we would be handing the student a "black box" and telling the student to "believe." Instead of theory, we offer application in large quantities to motivate the student to learn the methodologies. We first offer problems that are not terribly difficult to formulate, and then problems that demand greater skill to put in solvable forms. Our thrust is to build up skills in an orderly fashion as there are greater and lesser challenges in formulation and greater and lesser challenges in solution method. Later chapters are, of course, the most demanding. These later chapters are a unique feature of this text. Titled "Lessons in Context" followed by the name of an application field, these chapters offer new techniques within the framework of a problem setting, a problem setting that demands the new methodologies that are then introduced. Our experience suggests that the "need" for the methodologies helps to motivate students to learn them.A second focus of this book, in addition to linear programming and associated tools of optimization, is the closely allied field of engineering economics. At first glance, our treatment of engineering economics would appear to be guided by the need to cover all topics necessary to prepare undergraduate engineers