Encyclopedia
In modern usage,
civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the
planning,
construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they are related to
earth,
water, or
civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals with
power plants,
bridges,
roads,
railways, structures,
water supply,
irrigation,
environment,
sewer,
flood control and
traffic. In essence, civil engineering may be regarded as the profession that makes the world a more agreeable place in which to live.
Engineering has developed from observations of the ways natural and constructed systems react and from the development of empirical equations that provide bases for design. Civil engineering is the broadest of the engineering fields, partly because it is the oldest of all engineering fields. In fact, engineering was once divided into only two fields - military and civil. Civil engineering is still an umbrella term, comprised of many related specialities.
History
Civil engineering was defined to distinguish it from
military engineering. Within the
US, government funding and organization is still part of the
United States Army as the
Corps of Engineers.
Sub-disciplines of civil engineering
General engineering
General civil engineering is concerned with the overall interface of fixed projects with the greater world. General civil engineers work closely with surveyors and specialized civil engineers to fit and serve fixed projects within their given site, community and terrain by designing grading, drainage , paving, water supply, sewer service, electric and communications supply and land divisions. General engineers spend much of their time visiting project sites, developing community/neighborhood consensus, and preparing construction plans.
General civil engineers can also be referred to as
municipal engineers, though this term is usually reserved for engineers employed by a municipality.
Structural engineering
Main article: Structural engineeringIn the field of civil engineering, structural engineering is concerned with structural design and structural analysis of structural components of buildings and
nonbuilding structures. This involves calculating the stresses and forces that affect or arise within a structure. Major design concerns are building structures resistant to wind and seismic forces and
seismically retrofitting existing structures.
Fire protection engineering
Main article: Fire protection engineeringFire protection engineering, also called 'fire safety engineering' is the practice of application of science and engineering principles and experience to protect people and their environments from the destructive effects of fire. The underlying branches of science are fire science, fire dynamics and chemistry. Fire protection engineers, often civil engineers by training, typically design safeguards that aid in fighting fires, such as alarm, sprinkler, and smoke control systems. They are also involved at the design stage where structural design work is being done, and they provide expert advice on materials choices and in the protection of structural members. They are also employed as fire investigators, including such very large-scale cases as the analysis of mechanism the collapse of the World Trade Centre.
NASA uses fire protection engineers on its space program to ensure safety.
Geotechnical engineering
Main article: Geotechnical engineeringThe main subject of the field of geotechnical engineering is concerned with foundations, soil properties, soil mechanics, compression and swelling of soils, seepage, slopes, embankments,
retaining walls, ground and rock anchors, use of synthetic tensile materials in soil structures, soil-structure interaction, and soil dynamics.
Transportation engineering
Main article: Transport engineeringTransportation engineering is concerned with moving people and goods efficiently, safely, and in a manner conducive to a vibrant community. This involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining transportation infrastructure which includes streets,
highways,
rail systems,
airports,
ports, and
mass transit. It includes areas such as transportation design, transportation planning, traffic engineering, urban engineering, queueing theory, pavement engineering, Intelligent Transportation System , and infrastructure management.
Environmental engineering
Main article: Environmental engineeringEnvironmental engineering deals with the treatment of chemical, biological, and/or thermal waste, the purification of water and air, and the remediation of contaminated sites, due to prior waste disposal or accidental contamination. Among the topics covered by environmental engineering are pollutant transport, water purification,
sewage treatment, and hazardous was
te management. Environmental engineers can be involved with pollution reduction, green engineering, and industrial ecology. Environmental engineering also deals with the gathering of information on the environmental consequences of proposed actions and the assessment of effects of proposed actions for the purpose of assisting society and policy makers in the decision making process.
Environmental engineering is the contemporary term for sanitary engineering. Some other terms in use are public health engineering and environmental health engineering.
Hydraulic engineering
Main article: Hydraulic engineeringHydraulic engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water. This area of civil engineering is intimately related to the design of
pipelines, water distribution systems, drainage facilities , and
canals. Hydraulic engineers design these facilities using the concepts of fluid pressure,
fluid statics, fluid dynamics, and
hydraulics, among others.
Water resources engineering
Water resources engineering is concerned with the collection and management of water . As a discipline it therefore combines
hydrology, environmental science,
meteorology,
geology, conservation, and resource management. This area of civil engineering relates to the prediction and management of both the quality and the quantity of water in both underground and above ground resources. Water resource engineers analyze and model very small to very large areas of the earth to predict the amount and content of water as it flows into, through, or out of a facility. Although the actual design of the facility may be left to other engineers.
Construction engineering
Main article: Construction engineeringConstruction engineering involves planning and execution of the designs from transportation, site development, hydraulic, environmental, structural and geotechnical engineers. As construction firms tend to have higher business risk than other types of civil engineering firms, many construction engineers tend to take on a role that is more business-like in nature: drafting and reviewing contracts, evaluating
logistical operations, and closely-monitoring prices of necessary supplies.
Materials science
Main article: Materials scienceCivil engineering also includes elements of
materials science. Engineering materials with broad application in civil engineering include concrete, aluminum, and steel.
Surveying
Main article: SurveyingElements of a building or structure must be correctly sized and positioned in relation to each other and to site boundaries and adjacent structures. Civil engineers are trained in the methods of surveying and may seek Professional Land Surveyor status.
Careers
In the United States, there is no one typical career path for Civil Engineers. Most engineering graduates start with jobs of low responsibility, and as they prove their competence, are given more and more responsible tasks, but within each subfield of civil engineering, and even within different segments of the market within each branch, the details of a career path can vary. In some fields and in some firms, entry-level engineers are put to work primarily monitoring construction in the field, serving as the "eyes and ears" of more senior design engineers; while in other areas, entry-level engineers end up performing the more routine tasks of analysis or design. More senior engineers can move into doing more complex analysis or design work, or management of more complex design projects, or management of other engineers, or into specialized consulting, including forensic engineering.
Salaries for Civil Engineers in the United States have typically been lower than those for other fields of engineering, but entry-level salaries are higher than those in most non-engineering fields outside
IT.
A popular misconception is that civil engineering is far from the exciting frontiers in
mathematics and computer science. In reality, much of what is now computer science was driven by civil engineering, where structural and network analysis problems required parallel computations and development of advanced algorithms.
Education and Licensure
Prior to becoming a practicing engineer, civil engineers generally complete tertiary educational requirements, followed by several years of practical experience. Each country, state, or province individually regulates civil engineering practice:
In the U.S., one must become a licensed Professional Engineer to do any civil engineering work affecting the public or to legally represent oneself as a civil engineer. Licensure requirements vary slightly by state, but in all cases entail passing two licensure exams, the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and the Principles and Practice exam , and completing a state-mandated number of years of work under the supervision of a licensed Professional Engineer. In addition, an educational requirement must often be met. All states accept a four year Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering, from an -accredited program, for their educational requirement. The acceptability of degrees in other fields varies by state; some states allow a person to substitute additional years of supervised work experience for the degree requirement. Although the American Society of Civil Engineers encourages states to raise the educational requirement to a graduate degree, advanced degrees are currently optional for civil engineers in the United States. Graduate study may lead either to a Master of Engineering, which is a Professional Master's degree, or to a Master of Science degree followed by a PhD in civil engineering or a sub-discipline.
Texas A&M University in College Station,
Texas, has the largest civil engineering department in the U.S. with 1,081 undergraduate students enrolled in that major alone. This does not include the 125 Texas A&M undergraduates majoring in ocean engineering, which overlaps heavily with civil engineering.
In the
United Kingdom current graduates require a MSc, MEng or BEng in order to become chartered through the
Institution of Civil Engineers. The Institution also allows entrants with substantial experience to apply without this level of formal academic achievement. In practice, most civil engineers in the United Kingdom work without chartered status. Unlike in many other European countries, the term 'Engineer' is not legally protected within the United Kingdom.
In
Australia and
New Zealand, requirements are typically a four year Bachelor of Engineering degree which includes 12 weeks of work experience.
International engineering agreements are designed to allow engineers to practice across international borders. In general, these agreements require both educational competencies and professional experiential competencies.
See also
