Chapter 1 : Introduction to Civil Engineering
Topics covered in this snack-sized chapter:
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.
Civil Engineering has been an Aspect of life since the beginnings of human existence.
Civil engineering is the oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it was defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering.
In the beginning, Civil Engineering included all engineers that did not practice military engineering; said to have begun in 18th century France.
It is traditionally broken in to several sub-topics including:
- Transportation Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Water Resource Engineering
Structure Engineering is the most major field in Civil Engineering.
In this field engineers design structures, analyze their stability using software’s or manual calculations.
It includes the study of dynamics of a structure, its load capacity, design and economy.
Structural Engineering design utilizes a number of simple structural elements to build up structural systems that can be very complex.
Structural engineers are responsible for making creative and efficient use of funds, structural elements and materials to achieve these goals.
Transportation Engineering is the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide for the safe, rapid, comfortable, convenient, economical, and environmentally compatible movement of people and goods (transport).
It includes design of the transportation system and building of its lines and rolling stock.
It involves determination of the traffic requirements of the route and setting up efficient and safe schedules.
The importance of transportation engineering within the civil engineering profession can be judged by the number of divisions in ASCE (American
Society of Civil Engineers) that are directly related to transportation.
There are six such divisions (Aerospace; Air Transportation; Highway; Pipeline; Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean; and Urban Transportation) representing one-third of the total 18 technical divisions within the ASCE (1987).
This branch of civil engineering concerns with the environmental problems and solutions to them.
It involves waste water management, air pollution control, recycling, waste disposal, radiation protection, industrial hygiene, environmental sustainability, and public health issues as well as knowledge of environmental engineering law.
Geotechnical Engineering is the branch of civil engineering
concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials.
- Used by military, mining, petroleum etc.
Geotechnical engineering uses principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics to investigate subsurface conditions and materials.
Surveying is the art and science of accurately determining the position of points, distances and angles between them.
It is also known as Hydraulic Engineering.
It is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage.
It is related to the design of bridges, dams, canals and channels.
Irrigation engineering deals with the analysis and design of irrigation systems which includes dams, barrage, canals, drains and other supporting systems.
Irrigation can be termed as the artificial process of applying water to soil to help in growing agricultural crops or maintaining the landscapes when there is shortage of natural water by rain.
To understand civil engineering it is important to understand some basic terms:
- Modern Building Materials