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Civil Engineering in GeneralMuch of the information on this page was obtained from Microsoft Encarta 96 and edited to suit my purposes. I would recommend this CD-ROM to anyone who requires information on numerous topics. You can check out Encarta online here: Encarta Online. Some of the information not shown here goes into a surprising amount of detail. Engineering is a term applied to the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences, gained by study, experience, and practice, is applied to the efficient use of the materials and forces of nature. The term engineer properly denotes a person who has received professional training in pure and applied science, but is often loosely used to describe the operator of an engine, as in the terms locomotive engineer, marine engineer, or stationary engineer. In modern terminology these latter occupations are known as crafts or trades. Between the professional engineer and the craftsperson or tradesperson, however, are those individuals known as technicians or technologists, who apply scientific and engineering skills to technical problems; typical of these are engineering aides, technicians, inspectors, draftsmen, and the like. Before the middle of the 18th century, large-scale construction work was usually placed in the hands of military engineers. Military engineering involved such work as the preparation of topographical maps, the location, design, and construction of roads and bridges; and the building of forts and docks. In the 18th century, however, the term civil engineering came into use to describe engineering work that was performed by civilians for nonmilitary purposes. Civil engineering is perhaps the broadest of the engineering fields, for it deals with the creation, improvement, and protection of the communal environment, providing facilities for living, industry and transportation, including large buildings, roads, bridges, canals, railroad lines, airports, water-supply systems, dams, irrigation, harbors, docks, aqueducts, tunnels, and other engineered constructions. The civil engineer must have a thorough knowledge of all types of surveying, of the properties and mechanics of construction materials, the mechanics of structures and soils, and of hydraulics and fluid mechanics. Among the important subdivisions of the field are construction engineering, irrigation engineering, transportation engineering, soils and foundation engineering, geodetic engineering, hydraulic engineering, and coastal and ocean engineering. Most people have some idea of what Civil Engineering involves. Civil Engineers design and construct roads, bridges, buildings, dams etc. In reality they do far more than this. Civil Engineering impacts on all our daily activities. We take for granted that we can turn on a tap and have clean drinking water or that we have a transportation system that is adequate and efficient. These construction and supply activities are achieved through Civil Engineering design. There are many other less obvious but very important activities performed by Civil Engineers. Civilization continues to place demands on our limited environmental resources. Civil Engineers are leading the way in forming a detailed understanding of environmental issues and how the impact of human endeavours on the environment can be reduced. In almost every activity undertaken by Civil Engineers they interact with the environment. This role as an environmental scientist will continue to increase, offering an exciting future and an important place for Civil Engineers as we move into the 21st Century. One major difference between Civil Engineering and other professions is that Civil Engineering is very diverse. Civil Engineers become involved in a wide range of activities. Some examples are given below:
Factor of Safety, in engineering, the ratio of the calculated strength of a member or piece of material to the predicted structural demand that will be made upon it when the member is part of the structure. For example, if a structural member is six times as strong as is necessary to withstand the greatest computed stress that the member will incur as part of the structure, the factor of safety is 6. Factors of safety of 1.5 to 8 are common in civil engineering; however, where reduction in weight is of great importance, factors as low as 1 may be used in experimental designs, with additional strength added where tests show the necessity for it. In computing the factor, engineers make allowance for defects and variations in materials, repeated reversals of and abnormal increases in stress, and differences in opinion in the evaluation of the strength of materials. Modern Engineering TrendsScientific methods of engineering are applied in several fields not connected directly to manufacture and construction. Modern engineering is characterized by the broad application of what is known as systems engineering principles. The systems approach is a methodology of decision-making in design, operation, or construction that adopts (1) the formal process included in what is known as the scientific method; (2) an interdisciplinary, or team, approach, using specialists from not only the various engineering disciplines, but from legal, social, aesthetic, and behavioral fields as well; (3) a formal sequence of procedure employing the principles of operations research. In effect, therefore, transportation engineering in its broadest sense includes not only design of the transportation system and building of its lines and rolling stock, but also determination of the traffic requirements of the route followed. It is also concerned with setting up efficient and safe schedules, and the interaction of the system with the community and the environment. Engineers in industry work not only with machines but also with people, to determine, for example, how machines can be operated most efficiently by the workers. A small change in the location of the controls of a machine or of its position with relation to other machines or equipment, or a change in the muscular movements of the operator, often results in greatly increased production. This type of engineering work is called time-study engineering. A related field of engineering, human-factors engineering, also known as ergonomics, received wide attention in the late 1970s and the '80s when the safety of nuclear reactors was questioned following serious accidents that were caused by operator errors, design failures, and malfunctioning equipment. Human-factors engineering seeks to establish criteria for the efficient, human-centered design of, among other things, the large, complicated control panels that monitor and govern nuclear reactor operations. Among various recent trends in the engineering profession, licensing and computerization are the most widespread. Today, many engineers, like doctors and lawyers, are licensed by the province. Approvals by professionally licensed engineers are required for construction of public and commercial structures, especially installations where public and worker safety is a consideration. The trend in modern engineering offices is overwhelmingly toward computerization. Computers are increasingly used for solving complex problems as well as for handling, storing, and generating the enormous volume of data modern engineers must work with. A Few Notable EngineersSmeaton, John (1724-92), English civil engineer, born in Austhorpe. He constructed (1756-59) the third successive lighthouse at Eddystone Rocks in the English Channel, notable for its use of concrete and of interlocking stonework. He also designed engineering instruments, conducted research on waterwheels, helped to improve the Newcomen steam engine, and worked on the Forth and Clyde Canal (1792) and other major public projects. Jenney, William Le Baron (1832-1907), American architect and engineer, whose innovative construction methods earned him the title father of the skyscraper. After completing his architectural and engineering education in Paris, Jenney returned to the U.S. and served as an engineer in the Union army during the American Civil War. After the war Jenney settled in Chicago, where he opened his own architectural office. In later years many members of the Chicago school served their architectural apprenticeships on his staff, including Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. Jenney's great contribution to architecture was his pioneering use of metal-frame construction for large buildings, first used in his Home Insurance Company Building (1885, demolished 1931) in Chicago. Cast-iron columns, encased in masonry, were used to support the steel beams bearing floor weights. The outside walls, freed from their load-bearing function, were filled with windows. Jenny's revolutionary method of building, termed curtain-wall construction, remains basic for the design of tall buildings, now known as skyscrapers. Goethals, George Washington (1858-1928), American army officer and engineer, born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the College of the City of New York and the United States Military Academy. Upon graduating from the academy in 1880 he was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers in the U.S. Army. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Goethals chief engineer of the Panama Canal, with full responsibility for constructing the canal and administering the Canal Zone. His capable handling of personnel problems, in addition to his engineering skill, contributed greatly to the success of the project, which was completed in 1914, three years ahead of schedule. Goethals was governor of the Canal Zone from 1914 to 1916 and was promoted to the rank of major general in 1915. He served during World War I as quartermaster general and director of purchase, storage, and traffic for the army. After the war he retired from active duty to become a civil engineering consultant in New York City. The Goethals Bridge between Staten Island, New York, and Elizabeth, New Jersey, is named after him. Army Corps of Engineers, principal engineering component of the United States Army, dating from June 16, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized a chief engineer and two assistants for the army. They prepared the fortifications for the Battle of Bunker Hill. The engineers were permanently organized into a corps in 1802. Originally, the duties of the Corps of Engineers were strictly military: combat engineering, coastal fortification, topographical surveying, and mapmaking. The scarcity of trained civil engineers led Congress to pass the General Survey Act in 1824, to allow army engineers to undertake nonmilitary duties, such as canal, road, and railroad surveys; lighthouse construction; and river and harbor improvement. The corps also planned and built important public buildings in Washington, D.C., among them the Capitol of the United States, Lincoln Memorial, Library of Congress, and Washington Monument. For the construction of the Panama Canal, the chief engineer and many aides were selected from the Corps of Engineers. During World War II the corps built the Alaska Highway and was involved in the construction of the nuclear production plants used in the Manhattan Project leading to the first atomic bomb. The present work of the corps is divided between military and civil projects. The program currently includes construction for the army and air force and environmental restoration of areas contaminated by toxic wastes. The civil program centers on development of water resources, including navigation improvement, hydroelectric power, flood control, recreation, and conservation of fish and wildlife. The corps also provides emergency assistance in the wake of disasters such as floods. Its traditional combat engineering functions, such as clearance of minefields, construction of field fortifications, and erection of bridges in theaters of operations, are carried out by engineers assigned to varius U.S. Army combat units.
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