Virtual Numerical Testing Enhances Civil Engineering Practical Training and Attainment

A newly evaluated pedagogical framework combining computer-supported numerical simulation experiments with outcome-based education principles has improved learning initiative and practical performance in higher education underground engineering instruction. Researchers developing the curriculum model demonstrated that embedding virtual rock mechanics testing directly into classroom lectures allowed civil engineering students to surpass theoretical barriers and meet demanding competency standards. Published in Frontiers in Earth Science, the methods study reveals that restructuring an Underground Building Structures course around realistic computer simulations enabled the overall curriculum-objective-attainment value to exceed the target threshold of 0.65. By replacing conventional passive demonstrations with active numerical testing sessions, the instructional strategy successfully bridged the historical divide between textbook mechanics and practical geotechnical engineering design.

Underground Building Structures serves as a mandatory, core subject for civil engineering undergraduates and postgraduates who intend to specialize in underground engineering disciplines. The curriculum encompasses an extensive body of technical knowledge, requiring mastery over fundamental mechanics, geotechnical engineering principles, and rock mass mechanics. Traditionally, instruction in this discipline has depended heavily on standard textbook lectures, a structure that often compelled students to absorb abstract formulas and structural theories without sufficient opportunities for hands-on operational practice. Concepts such as rock envelope stresses, common underground structural configurations, structural elastic resistance calculation theories, and load distributions present substantial cognitive challenges. Consequently, instructors recognized that merely grasping static definitions from books failed to equip students with the practical calculation and design capabilities demanded by modern infrastructure engineering projects.

Physical laboratory experimentation in underground structural engineering has historically faced persistent logistical bottlenecks that restrict student access. Authentic experimental investigations of underground structures typically depend on large-scale mechanical testing machinery and specialized rock apparatus. Because such industrial-grade facilities are limited in quantity and prohibitively expensive to operate, laboratory sessions have traditionally been restricted to instructor-led demonstrations where students merely observe rather than operate equipment. Permitting individual students to conduct extensive physical rock destruction trials would incur excessive operational costs, absorb impractical amounts of class time, and introduce tangible safety hazards, such as flying mineral debris during high-load compression failures. Furthermore, physical testing alone struggles to capture post-peak stress-strain dynamics and microscopic crack evolution within specimens, creating significant gaps in students’ intuitive understanding of rock failure mechanisms.

To overcome these physical limitations, the instructional team formulated a modernized curriculum model anchored in outcome-based education, known widely as OBE. Introduced conceptually by William Spady in the late twentieth century, outcome-based education shifts educational priorities away from mechanical content memorization and rigid, single-answer problem solving toward verifiable student competencies. Under this paradigm, curriculum designers emphasize higher-order capabilities, including creative engineering problem solving, independent synthesis of empirical information, and structured project planning. In response to national teaching standards mandating that practical teaching credits constitute at least 20 percent of engineering degree curricula, the researchers restructured the underground building course to integrate continuous digital numerical testing directly into the weekly lecture rhythm, ensuring that computational design exercises advanced in lockstep with theoretical lecture milestones.

The central technical mechanism of this educational reform relies on the integration of Rock Failure Process Analysis software, an engineering simulation environment tailored to discontinuous geomaterials. Unlike traditional continuum finite element software platforms that assume material uniformity, this simulation tool explicitly accounts for the inherent discontinuity, heterogeneity, inelasticity, and anisotropy characteristic of actual rock masses. Crucially, the platform allows undergraduate learners without prior expertise in complex finite element coding to conduct numerical tests through an intuitive operational interface, behaving as if they were operating a physical testing press. Students can design diverse experimental scenarios, simulate uniaxial rock compression, observe crack propagation paths, and analyze post-peak load-bearing capacity. This capability directly challenges the common student misconception that geological materials lose all structural utility immediately upon reaching peak strength, demonstrating how damaged rock in mining pillars and tunnels continues to support substantial loads.

The curriculum reform systematically incorporated psychological memory retention models to optimize how students consolidate complex mechanical concepts over time. Drawing upon the classic Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, the instructional team instituted a phased, multi-node review schedule to counteract natural human memory decay. Following initial lecture explanations of rock mass pressure calculations and tunnel lining mechanics, subsequent class meetings immediately introduced short review assessments delivered via classroom queries or targeted problem sets. Exactly one week later, students conducted computer simulation exercises modeling relevant numerical cases. Two weeks after that milestone, students tackled comprehensive design tasks that applied the reinforced concepts. This structured temporal reinforcement ensured that critical formulas, structural lining equations, and computational operational steps were permanently internalized before significant cognitive decay could take place.

The pedagogical structure was further aligned with the learning retention hierarchy outlined in educational learning pyramid models, which track increasing retention across distinct instructional activities. The instructional designers noted that while passive lecture listening typically yields modest retention rates, engaging students in demonstration yields roughly 30 percent retention, collaborative discussion elevates retention to approximately 50 percent, and hands-on practice pushes retention to approximately 75 percent. To leverage these higher-yield tiers, the course introduced an end-to-end engineering chamber excavation case study that spanned the entire instructional term. Students advanced from observing initial lecture demonstrations of cavity stress redistribution to directly calibrating model boundaries, altering in situ stress levels across 10, 50, 100, and 150 megapascals, examining circular hole boundary effects across varied model dimensions, and defending their numerical findings during collaborative peer evaluation sessions.

Implementation of the reformed curriculum was organized through an operational matrix termed three platforms, five education types, and three reports. The infrastructural framework combined online learning modules, conventional offline classroom interaction, and a dedicated numerical simulation testing platform equipped with specialized teaching cases and an instructional user manual. The developmental scope addressed basic knowledge mastery, practical engineering application, innovation consciousness, mental resilience, and technical communication. Student performance was continuously tracked using an assessment model that weighted pre-course preparatory study at 20 percent, post-course group assignments at 30 percent, and the comprehensive final written examination at 50 percent. This diverse reporting structure replaced simple rote homework with collaborative group analyses of real-world civil engineering cases, requiring students to reconcile theoretical mechanics with computational outputs.

Quantitative validation of the curriculum reform was established through formal achievement of curriculum objectives evaluations, which calculated whether students attained predetermined competence benchmarks. The assessment analyzed two primary course objectives across five distinct evaluation mechanisms: walk-in tests, after-class assignments, classroom performance, thematic studies, and the comprehensive final examination. Attendance metrics were intentionally excluded from the mathematical attainment calculation because proposed attendance weighting was set to zero and individual deductions were negligible across the class average. The formal evaluation established an expected attainment value of 0.65 for both course objective one and course objective two, as well as an identical expected benchmark of 0.65 for overall course performance. Following empirical evaluation of class scoring data, the measured attainment values for both individual objectives and the overall course consistently exceeded the 0.65 threshold, verifying the attainment criteria were met.

Qualitative and observational metrics gathered across institutional evaluations corroborated the success of the computer-supported instructional reform. Over the course of two academic semesters, student evaluations reached an average rating of 90.85, while peer teacher assessments scored the course at 92.75, placing the course within the top five percent of the academic college comprising forty-five students. Furthermore, the instructional team attained the highest performance grade of A for five consecutive years, and the course framework secured provincial and university-level teaching reform grants alongside curriculum awards. The authors emphasized that providing students with access to genuine research-grade numerical software stimulated long-term academic interest, observing that several participating master’s students successfully utilized the computational simulation platform to publish scholarly papers and gain admission into doctoral engineering programs.

Subject of Research: Computer-supported practical curriculum reform in underground building structures engineering education

Article Title: Teaching model of practical courses in higher education based on computer-supported learning —taking underground building structures” as an example

Article References: Chunyan, B., Bin, G., Rui, H., & Yang, S. (2026). Teaching model of practical courses in higher education based on computer-supported learning —taking underground building structures” as an example. Frontiers in Earth Science, 14, 2026165. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2026.2026165

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/feart.2026.2026165

Keywords: underground engineering, rock mechanics, numerical simulation, RFPA software, outcome-based education, civil engineering education, virtual simulation, curriculum reform, engineering pedagogy, Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, learning pyramid, finite element method, geotechnical engineering, structural design, higher education teaching, active learning, course objective attainment