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CIVL2131 – Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers

Lecturer Dr David Callaghan
Course Link UQ Site
Faculty EAIT
Prerequisites None
Contact Hours 3 Lecture hours, 1 Tutorial hour, 1 Practical or Laboratory hour
Semester(s) Taught Semester 2
Course Units 2
Submit reviewView reviews (5)

Rating

Total average

54.1/100
Learning Materials ( 41.2 )
Learning Activities ( 46 )
Blackboard Management ( 66.4 )
Course Content ( 48.4 )
Course Structure ( 43.4 )
Contact Availability ( 57.2 )
Course Difficulty ( 79 )

Reviews (5)

Anonymous
   
CIVL2131 – Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers 77.0

Dr Tom Baldock has taken over the course as of semester 1 2022.

Pros: Tutorial questions are very well written, really help your conceptual understanding if you do them. Lots of worked examples in class. If you do all the tutorials and worked examples you shouldn't have problems in the final.

Cons: Lecture material can be a bit dry but if you make the effort to listen Dr Baldock drops a lot of hints and shortcuts on how to do exam problems.
Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2022

Your program/major

Civil Engineering

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Yes

Is the textbook necessary?

No but it helps

Positives No positive points
Negatives No negative points
Posted on December 2, 2022 10:28 am
Anonymous
   
CIVL2131 – Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers 51.7

I took this course in the second semester of my freshman year, and it was really hard to understand at the beginning. Unfortunately, it's even harder to understand.
I thought it was due to my early choice of course But I found my friends as confused as I was. The mid-term and the final will be a big part of the grade, and all the questions will be original from the book, which is very sad. My tutors are very good. Maybe it's because I'm not good. I can't do well in this course :)
Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2017

Your program/major

engneering

Is lecture attendance necessary?

yes

Is the textbook necessary?

yes!!!!!!!!

Positives
  • nice tutor
  • funny labs
Negatives
  • difficult exams
Posted on November 6, 2019 3:04 pm
Anonymous
   
CIVL2131 – Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers 47.6

I agree with most students that this is the hardest course for civil engineers. First of all, the maths and problem solving questions were extremely confusing and difficult. Not only this, the theory was also difficult and was heavily examined in the final exam. Lecture notes were not done very well. They were not detailed and there were not many explanations to the proofs. Hence, this is why you have to go to lectures and read the textbook to understand the proofs. Tutors were not helpful and as a consequence, the only choice to get help was from my classmates.

To do well in this course, i highly recommend you to do as many problems as possible. Practice is the key to finishing this course. Do as many questions from the textbook as I have found them very helpful to understand everything. The tutorials are very difficult but are still strongly recommended for exam study. Lecture notes have some past exams questions and all of the lab questions in the notes are very useful to answer the lab questions in the exam and during lab pracs. In summary, do as many problems and note that the textbook questions should be your first priority as Dave have always said that the exams questions come directly from the textbook.

Only a few exam questions stay the same every year and as a result, you will expect the unexpected.
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2015

Your program/major

Civil Engineering

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Yes

Is the textbook necessary?

Yes

Positives No positive points
Negatives
  • Very difficult course
  • Tutors are not very helpful
  • Tutorial solutions are not detailed enough
Posted on April 25, 2016 10:28 pm
Anonymous
   
CIVL2131 – Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers 30.0

This is probably one of the most difficult course you'll undertake in civil engineering. The textbook is an absolute must, as you'll need it for the final exam as well as understanding the concepts. The lecture notes, i found, were horribly done and did not assist me much. This made lecture attendance not really necessary, and i found that watching the lecture recording was a better approach.

For revision in the final, David would suggest studying the questions from the back of the textbook, however, the number of questions in the textbook makes it impractical, and so the best approach to revision I found was:
- Go through textbook example questions (They are explained in great detail, and helps a lot in understanding the tutorial questions)
-Do the tutorial questions
-Do past papers

*The past papers are vastly different to tutorial questions, but don't freak out, David is a very lenient marker and if you can do the tutorial questions, you should be fine.

David mentioned that this course has a 25% fail rate, so good luck.
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2015

Your program/major

Civil Engineering/Commerce

Is lecture attendance necessary?

attendance no, but at least watch recording

Is the textbook necessary?

Yes, you\'ll definitely need it

Positives
  • Orifice Plate
Negatives
  • Difficult course
  • David isn't very good at explaining things
  • Some tutors aren't helpful
Posted on December 11, 2015 3:22 pm
Anonymous
   
CIVL2131 – Fluid Mechanics for Civil & Environmental Engineers 64.2

Fluid mechanics is the first hydraulic engineering subject civil students take. The content is difficult and often hard to conceptualize on first instance but retrospectively interesting to some. Dave puts great emphasis on understanding and for some reason mathematics. Problems are often mathematically difficult with use of complex integration common. The course is commonly referred to as one of the most difficult core subjects.

The assessment is divided in to weekly tutorials, practical reports and a heavily weighted final exam. The weekly tutorials provide an indicator of the difficulty of the final exam and practical reports are also challenging although most marks are awarded for showing up and handing the report in. Previous exams help in preparation for the final although questions are typically not duplicated and understanding of the concepts is essential for a strong mark. The final exam is also open book and students can bring any materials. The sup exam is mostly the same exam with numbers changed.

The lectures slides are all typed out with examples also done in MS word leading to working steps skipped in order to save time typing. The lectures are used to explain the gaps in the notes however reading the (essential for passing) textbook first is advised.

Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2013

Your program/major

Civil Engineering

Positives
  • Somewhat interesting
  • Marks final leaniently
  • Happy to help during tutorials
Negatives
  • Difficult
  • Lecture notes aren't very clear
  • Heavily weighted exam
Posted on May 28, 2014 5:45 pm

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