Computer‐Aided Laboratory Teaching in Geotechnics

Civil engineering undergraduate courses in the U.K. require an essential element of laboratory testing to teach skills and techniques and to relate theories and principles to engineering practice. The ability of a tutor to effectively teach students in laboratory classes can be hampered by large student numbers and overstretched resources. A computer simulation to augment a laboratory test may improve the quality of the learning experience. The system described here models the geotechnical-laboratory shear-box test. The computerised test simulation guides the student user through the test with explanations, questions, and answers. The simulation is animated to perform on screen in a way that represents the actual test. The system runs on an Apple Macintosh computer using HyperCard, with a pictorial interface, and taking advantage of the Hypertext features of the application. The HyperCard stack also acts as a knowledge-based expert system to derive the shear strength parameters of the soil from a description of its physical properties.