TB2 - MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIALS SCIENCE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

For over ten years students have been choosing to prepare for careers in the construction industry, in specialised establishments, partners with the School. Questioned on what should be taught in Saint-Etienne as preparation, former graduates have often mentioned structure calculation, the basis of engineering works, and the knowledge of properties of materials which would be used for their mechanical resistance, corrosion resistance, thermal insulation capacities and sometimes their aesthetic aspects. 
  The present course responds to these requirements. It deals largely with concrete, a very particular composite, and more generally with hydraulic binders. It gives examples of the application of metals and polymers by combining their qualities with previously acquired notions, such as the solidity of chemical bonds. It uses practical examples of materials resistance taken from actual worksites. Finally it illustrates how thermal concepts can be applied to building insulation.

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science are complementary disciplines: each of the Toolbox units deals more specifically with one of the two subjects. The first is concerned with the certification of the capacity of buildings and structures to function correctly during their life cycle, which is hoped to be of some duration. It is therefore focused on load resistance and thermal effects. However, to respond to the variety of functions and to the particular constraints of a worksite, it calls on the wide choice of materials that are available for today’s engineer. The aim of the second unit is to provide the means for the understanding this prolific universe and to become familiar with some typical cases of their use. Certain activities could be classified under one heading or the other: for example the construction and flexion of reinforced concrete beams.

The “Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science for the Construction Industry” course forms part of an initiation programme which allows students wishing to work in this sector to follow civil engineering courses in other partner establishments of the School, either in France or abroad. The course develops notions acquired in the core curriculum courses, or in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science majors, with practical applications linked to building construction and engineering works. Given the variety of professions in the construction sector students can benefit from a number of courses offered in Saint-Etienne (“Urban and Industrial Environment” major, the interdisciplinary specialisation in “Intelligent Transportation and Mobility systems”, etc..). Two Toolbox courses stand out however as being particularly adapted: “The Finite Element Method” (to understand construction codes) and “Geology for Civil Engineering” for all aspects related to foundations.