The History of civil engineering (Chapter # 05)

 

 Coastal Engineering

Coastal engineering is concerned with managing coastal areas. In some jurisdictions, the term sea defense and coastal protection mean defense against flooding and erosion, respectively. The term coastal defense is the more traditional term, but coastal management has become more popular as the field has expanded to techniques that allow erosion to claim land.

Construction Engineering

Construction engineering involves planning and execution, transportation of materials, site developmental, structural and geotechnical engineering. As construction firms tend to have higher business risk than other types of civil engineering firms do, construction engineers often engage in more business-like transactions, for example, drafting and reviewing contracts, evaluating logistical operations, and monitoring prices of supplies.

Earthquake Engineering

Earthquake engineering involves designing structure to withstand hazardous earthquake exposures, Earthquake engineering is a sub-discipline of structural engineering. The main objectives of earthquake engineering are to understand interaction of structures on the shaky ground; foresee the consequences of possible earthquakes; and design, construct and maintain structures to perform at earthquake in compliance with building codes.

Environmental Engineering

Environmental Engineering is the contemporary term for sanitary engineering, though sanitary engineering traditionally had not included much of the hazardous waste management and environmental remediation work covered by environmental engineering. Public health engineering and environmental health engineering are other terms being used. Environmental engineering deals with treatment of chemical, biological, or thermal wastes, purification of water and air, and remediation of contaminated sites after waste disposal or accidental contamination. Among the topics covered by environmental engineering are pollutant transport, water purification, waste water treatment, air pollution, solid waste treatment, recycling, and hazardous waste management. Environmental engineers administer pollution reduction, green engineering, and industrial ecology. Environmental engineers also compile information on environmental consequences of proposed actions. 

THE HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING (Chapter # 04)

 

Practicing Engineers

In most countries, a bachelor's degree in engineering represents the first step towards professional certificate, and a professional body certifies the degree program. After completing a certified the degree program, the engineer must satisfy a range of requirements including work experience and exam requirements before being certified. Once certified, the engineer is designated as a professional engineer (In the United States, Canada and South Africa), a chartered engineer (in most commonwealth countries), a chartered professional engineer (in Australia and New Zealand), or a European engineer (in most countries of the European Union). There are international agreements between relevant professional bodies to allow engineers to practice across national borders.

The benefits of certification vary depending upon location. For example, in the United States and Canada, "only a licensed professional engineer may prepare, sign and seal, and submit engineering plans and drawings to public authority for approval, or seal engineering work for public and private clients. This requirement is enforced under provincial law such as the Engineers Act in Quebec. No such legislation has been enacted in other countries including the United Kingdom. In Australia, state licensing of engineers is limited to the state of Queensland. Almost all certifying bodies maintain a code of ethics which all members must abide by.

Engineer must obey contract law in their contractual relationships with other parties, in cases where an engineer's work fails, they may be subject to the law of tort of negligence, and in extreme cases, criminal chargers. An engineer's work must also comply with numerous other rules and regulations such as building codes and environmental law.

Sub-disciplines

There are a number of sub-disciplines within the broad field of civil engineering. General civil engineers work closely with surveyors and specialized civil engineers to design grading, drainage, pavement, water supply, sewer service, dams, electric and communications supply. General civil engineering is also referred to as site engineering, a branch of civil engineering that primarily focuses on converting a tract of land from one usage to another. Site engineers spend time visiting project sites, meeting with stakeholders, and preparing construction plans. Civil engineers apply the principles of geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, environmental engineering, transportation engineering and construction engineering to residential, commercial, and industrial and public works projects of all sizes and levels of construction.