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Introduction to Stream Rehabilitation Engineering

Students need to download required files from the university portal

GOAL: Most human settlements are close to rivers, which makes flood control an important issue. However, the traditional ways of cementing river channels destroy natural habitats and are not aesthetically pleasing. Stream rehabilitation is a new field that achieves the purposes of flood prevention, landscaping, recreation, and ecological conservation by using natural materials and following the natural hydrological trends of rivers. In this course, you will learn the following: 1) Required knowledge in hydrology and fluvial geomorphology related to river rehabilitation, 2) Popular engineering techniques in stream rehabilitation, and 3) Hands-on experience in creating a stream rehabilitation design.

COURSE LEVEL AND REQUIREMENTS: This is a junior-level course. There is no hard prerequisite, but familiarity with hydrology is a plus. Students should be able to access the university portal (iSchool). All grades and announcements will be available there. Students are responsibility for keeping up to date with all announcements.

EVALUATION: 5% Submission of project summaries by the end of the sixth week. 5% Random quizzes 15% Field trip worksheets 10% First oral presentation (5% contents, 2% data collection efforts, 3% presentation skills) 20% Final oral presentation (7% contents, 7% application of class materials, 6% presentation skills) 10% Final written report (6% contents, 4% conforming to journal formats) 25% Section exams 10% Attendance Field trips: There are three field trips to see actual rehabilitation sites near Taipei. However, all field trips are self-guided due to logistic issues. The field instructions and worksheets are available on iSchool. All worksheets are due on the last day of the university final exam week. Project: Depending on the class size, projects can be based on individuals or groups. Students are free with the site selection. The goal is to create a rehabilitation design. Because the projects are open-ended, there will be a midterm presentation to check the progress and share ideas for all projects. Peer-grading on oral presentations will only be utilized in the final presentation. The written report should utilize formal journal formats. You need to declare the journal format that you are mimicking. There is no limit on the number of words or pages, but you are responsible for delivering everything clearly with sufficient details. The deadline for written reports is 11:59 PM on the last day of the university final exam week.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE: Week 1: Ice breaker, explanation of the syllabus Weeks 2-3: History and conventional methods of flood control Week 4: Basic requirements of stream rehabilitation, how to utilize rainfall data in design Week 5: Stream flow measurement and baseflow calculation Week 6: Ecological baseflow Week 7: Rainfall-runoff relationship Week 8: Frequency analysis of flow rate Week 9: Sediment transport Week 10: Midterm presentations Week 11: Relationship between the stream power and floodplain types, the relationship between channel characteristics and flow rates Week 12: Design considerations, common engineering techniques in stream rehabilitation Week 13: Common engineering techniques in stream rehabilitation Week 14: Design matrices Week 15: Case studies Week 16: Final presentations

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