Civil Engineering

In modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the plannning, 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 roads, structures, water supply, sewer, flood control and traffic. In essence, civil engineering is a profession which makes the world a more habitable place 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. In fact, engineering was once divided into only two fields--military and civil. Civil engineering is still an umbrella field comprised of many related specialties.

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 (flood control), paving, water supply, sewer service, electric and communications supply and land (real property) divisions. General engineers spend much of their time visiting project sites, developing community/neighborhood consensus, and preparing construction plans.

Structural engineering is concerned with the design of bridges, buildings, offshore oil platforms, dams etc. Structural design and structural analysis are components of structural engineering and a key component in the structural design process. This involves computing the stresses and forces at work within a structure. There are some structural engineers who work in non-typical areas, such as designing aircraft, spacecraft and even biomedical devices. Major design concerns are building seismic resistant structures and seismically retrofitting existing structures.

Geotechnical engineering. The main subject of the studies also known as soil mechanics is concerned with soil properties, mechanics of soil particles, compression and swelling of soils, seepage, slopes, retaining walls, foundations, footings, ground and rock anchors, use of synthetic tensile materials in soil structures, soil-structure interaction and soil dynamics. Geotechnical engineering covers this field of studies for application in engineering. The importance of geotechnical engineering can hardly be overstated: buildings must be supported by reliable foundations. Dam design and construction reducing flooding of lower drainage areas is an important subject of geotechnical engineering.

Transportation engineering. Transportation engineering is primarily concerned with motorized road transportation, especially in North America. This includes areas such as queuering theory and traffic flow planning, roadway geometric design and driver behavior patterns. Simulation of traffic operation is performed through use of trip generation, traffic assignment algorithms which can be highly complex computational problems. Other specialized areas of transportation engineering deal with the designs of non-road transportation facilities, such as rail systems, airports, and ports.

Environmental engineering. Wastewater treatment is a critical activity in environmental engineering, a sub-discipline of civil engineering. Environmental 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 water purification, sewage treatment, and hazardous waste management.

Environmental engineering is related to the fields of hydrology, geohydrology and meteorology insofar as knowledge of water and groundwater flows is required to understand pollutant transport. Environmental engineers are also involved in 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 is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water. This area of engineering is intimately related to the design of pipelines, water distribution systems, drainage facilities (including bridges, dams, channels, culverts, levees, and storm sewers), canals, and to environmental engineering. Hydraulic engineers design these facilities using the concepts of fluid pressure, fluid statics, fluid dynamics, and hydraulics, among others.

Construction engineering. Construction engineering involves planning and execution of the designs from transportation, site development, hydraulic, environmental, structural and geotechnical engineers. Urban Engineering. Urban engineering is a subset of the general practice of urban planning. It is limited to civil engineering in an urban setting and does not include designing buildings or their functions.