Mandate of Civil Engineers

Civil engineers deal with analysis, design, construction, maintenance and de-commissioning of the following civil facilities

· Buildings: They provide safe shelter to people starting from low-cost housing to luxury apartments.

· Roads: They provide smooth transportation of goods and people by constructing village roads, state highways, national highways,express highways, along with necessary bridges, fly-over, subways,etc

· Irrigation structures: They provide controlled water supply for agriculture through construction of dams, canals, reservoirs along with flow control provisions like weirs, barrages, sluice gates, etc

· Water supply: They provide potable water for domestic uses like drinking, bathing, washing, etc by constructing water storage structures (reservoirs, overhead tanks, etc), and water supply systems (pipe network, plumbing, etc)

· Sewage disposal: They provide healthy disposal and treatment of used water by constructing sewage drains, sewage treatment plants, septic tanks, etc

· Industrial structures: Huge power plants (thermal power plants, hydroelectric plants, nuclear power plants, etc), factories and manufacturing industries require special structures to house the equipments for proper functionsing.

· Other means of transport: in addition to road transport, civil engineers provide railway tracks for goods, passenger and high-speed railway traffic. They construct harbours, inland water ways and airports.

· Bridges: Gaps in smooth transportation are caused by obstructions like rivers, other road/ railway crossings and valleys. These gaps are bridged by constructing various kinds of bridges (cable-stayed bridges, cable suspension bridges, arch bridges, truss bridges, cantilever bridges, prestressed concrete bridges, etc) for roads, railway lines and for passing water canals

· Tunnels: Passage through mountains is made shorter and faster by constructing tunnels through hills.

Civil Engineering specializations

In order to provide industry-standard services in the wide variety of civil engineering domains, specializations are required for focussed training and excellence of quality. Accordingly, the following broad specializations are identified

· Surveying:

o Definition: It is the science and art of determining the relative postions of points on the earth’s surface by measuring distances, direction and vertical heights directly or indirectly.

o Application: Surveying helps in preparing maps and plans, which help in project implementation. For example, when setting out the alignments for roads, railway lines, canals, etc, when deciding the location of a dam or airport or harbour, marking the locations of various rooms of a house, etc surveying is done.

o Quantity surveying: Surveying also involves estimating the cost of the facility being constructed before starting.

o Modern surveying: In modern days, a lot of surveying happens by remote sensing of data by satellites, drones, etc

· Geotechnical Engineering:

o Role: Any civil engineering structure will ultimately rest on the ground which is either soil or rock. The safe transfer of various forces from the civil engineering structure to the ground is ensured by geotechnical engineers.

o Application: Knowledge of Geotechnical engineering is required for foundation design, earthen dams, embankments, roads and railway tracks, retaining walls,etc

o Method: They assess the engineering properties of soils to ensure safe and serviceable performance of the structure under both short and long term loads.

o Prior Knowledge: The knowledge of geology is very much important for Geotechnical engineers

· Structural Engineering:

o Def: Structure is any element that resists loads by deformation

o Examples: There are many structures like buildings, bridges, dams, fly-overs, water tanks, etc

o Each structure can have many components like slabs, beams, columns, foundations, etc

o Objectives: The components, their connections, the overall structures are to be designed in such a way that they remain safe and can be used for the desired purpose for which they are meant.

o Prior Knowledge: The knowledge of mechanical properties of materials, loading, methods of analysis and design regulations is required to be a structural engineer.

· Transportation Engineering

o Applications: It includes the facilities for various means of transportation, like roads, railway lines, airports, harbours, inland waterway, etc

o Roads and railway tracks: The roads & railway tracks should be of sufficient strength to bear the loads of heavy vehicles, proper alignment to ensure safe visibility, proper elevation to ensure safety at all speeds, proper drainage and many other requirements for safe operation of vehicular traffic.

o Airports: Airports require strong runways that work in all environmental conditions, taxiways, terminal buildings, control towers, etc

o Ports and Harbours: These facilities are needed to dock ships of various sizes so that they can be loaded/ unloaded with cargo, and also for their regular maintenance and repair works.

· Irrigation and Water reources engineering

o Definition: Irrigation is the process of supplying water by artificial means to agricultural fields for raising crops. Where rainfall or ground water is insufficient, water flowing in a river can be stored by constructing dams, and diverting the water into the canals and conveyed to agricultural fields

o Mandate: In addition to, the dams and canals, structures which measure & control the flow, likes weirs, barrages, etc and bridges for canals (aqueducts), are designed by water resource engineers. Facilities required for power generation through hydro-electric projects are also part of water reource engineers

· Water supply and wastewater engineering (Environmental Engineering) :

o Importance: people in cities, towns and villages need potable water for various domenstic purposes. Many industries like textile industry, leather industry, etc need reliable supply of water. The water available may not be fit for direct consumption. In such cases, water should be treated (purified) and supplied to public

o Role:

§ Water sources are to be identified and developed.

§ For water purification, sedimentation tanks, filters beds, etc should be designed and maintained. Suitable pipelines are to be designed to supply water to individual consumer

§ The waste water (Used water) is to be collected and disposed off safely without causing damage to sustainability of ecology.

o Environmental engineering also involves assessment of impacts caused by human activities on environment and ecology, assessment of pollution levels, disposal of solid waste, e-waste, industrial wastes, etc

· Building materials and construction Technology

o Importance: A wide range of materials and equipments are used in building construction. It becomes important for any construction engineer to be well versed with their properties and their application in varying circumstances. In addition, the efficient use of man-power and other resources at the construction site is of utmost importance for economical and safe implementation of any construction project.

o Role: Planning & managing the sequence of activities along with the required resources, so that the project is completed efficiently and economically within the given timelines.

Materials of construction