CIVIL ENGINEERING

SCIENCE
Civil engineering, the profession of designing and executing structural works that serve the
general public. The term was first used in the 18th century to distinguish the newly
recognized profession from military engineering, until then preeminent. From earliest
times, however, engineers have engaged in peaceful activities, and many of the civil
engineering works of ancient and medieval times—such as the Roman public baths,
roads, bridges, and aqueducts; the Flemish canals; the Dutch sea defenses; the French
Gothic cathedrals; and many other monuments—reveal a history of inventive genius and
persistent experimentation.

History
The beginnings of civil engineering as a separate discipline may be seen in the foundation
in France in 1716 of the Bridge and Highway Corps, out of which in 1747 grew the École
Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (“National School of Bridges and Highways”). Its
teachers wrote books that became standard works on the mechanics of materials,
machines, and hydraulics, and leading British engineers learned French to read them. As
design and calculation replaced rule of thumb and empirical formulas, and as expert
knowledge was codified and formulated, the nonmilitary engineer moved to the front of the
stage. Talented, if often self-taught, craftsmen, stonemasons, millwrights, toolmakers, and
instrument makers became civil engineers. In Britain, James Brindley began as a
millwright and became the foremost canal builder of the century; John Rennie was a
millwright’s apprentice who eventually built the new London Bridge; Thomas Telford, a
stonemason, became Britain’s leading road builder.

John Smeaton, the first man to call himself a civil engineer, began as an instrument maker.
His design of Eddystone Lighthouse (1756–59), with its interlocking masonry, was based
on a craftsman’s experience. Smeaton’s work was backed by thorough research, and his
services were much in demand. In 1771 he founded the Society of Civil Engineers (now
known as the Smeatonian Society). Its object was to bring together experienced
engineers, entrepreneurs, and lawyers to promote the building of large public works, such
as canals (and later railways), and to secure the parliamentary powers necessary to
execute their schemes. Their meetings were held during parliamentary sessions; the
society follows this custom to this day.

The École Polytechnique was founded in Paris in 1794, and the Bauakademie was started
in Berlin in 1799, but no such schools existed in Great Britain for another two decades. It
was this lack of opportunity for scientific study and for the exchange of experiences that
led a group of young men in 1818 to found the Institution of Civil Engineers. The founders
were keen to learn from one another and from their elders, and in 1820 they invited
Thomas Telford, by then the dean of British civil engineers, to be their first president.
There were similar developments elsewhere. By the mid-19th century there were civil
engineering societies in many European countries and the United States, and the following
century produced similar institutions in almost every country in the world.

Formal education in engineering science became widely available as other countries

followed the lead of France and Germany. In Great Britain the universities, traditionally
seats of classical learning, were reluctant to embrace the new disciplines. University
College, London, founded in 1826, provided a broad range of academic studies and
offered a course in mechanical philosophy. King’s College, London, first taught civil
engineering in 1838, and in 1840 Queen Victoria founded the first chair of civil engineering
and mechanics at the University of Glasgow, Scot. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
founded in 1824, offered the first courses in civil engineering in the United States. The
number of universities throughout the world with engineering faculties, including civil
engineering, increased rapidly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Civil engineering today
is taught in universities on every continent.

Civil Engineering Functions

The functions of the civil engineer can be divided into three categories: those performed
before construction (feasibility studies, site investigations, and design), those performed
during construction (dealing with clients, consulting engineers, and contractors), and those
performed after construction (maintenance and research).

Feasibility studies
No major project today is started without an extensive study of the objective and without
preliminary studies of possible plans leading to a recommended scheme, perhaps with
alternatives. Feasibility studies may cover alternative methods—e.g., bridge versus tunnel,
in the case of a water crossing—or, once the method is decided, the choice of route. Both
economic and engineering problems must be considered.

Site investigations
A preliminary site investigation is part of the feasibility study, but once a plan has been
adopted a more extensive investigation is usually imperative. Money spent in a rigorous
study of ground and substructure may save large sums later in remedial works or in
changes made necessary in constructional methods.

Since the load-bearing qualities and stability of the ground are such important factors in
any large-scale construction, it is surprising that a serious study of soil mechanics did not
develop until the mid-1930s. Karl von Terzaghi, the chief founder of the science, gives the
date of its birth as 1936, when the First International Conference on Soil Mechanics and
Foundation Engineering was held at Harvard University and an international society was
formed. Today there are specialist societies and journals in many countries, and most
universities that have a civil engineering faculty have courses in soil mechanics.

Design
The design of engineering works may require the application of design theory from many
fields—e.g., hydraulics, thermodynamics, or nuclear physics. Research in structural
analysis and the technology of materials has opened the way for more rational designs,
new design concepts, and greater economy of materials. The theory of structures and the
study of materials have advanced together as more and more refined stress analysis of
structures and systematic testing has been done. Modern designers not only have
advanced theories and readily available design data, but structural designs can now be
rigorously analyzed by computers.

Construction
The promotion of civil engineering works may be initiated by a private client, but most work
is undertaken for large corporations, government authorities, and public boards and
authorities. Many of these have their own engineering staffs, but for large specialized
projects it is usual to employ consulting engineers.

The consulting engineer may be required first to undertake feasibility studies, then to
recommend a scheme and quote an approximate cost. The engineer is responsible for the
design of the works, supplying specifications, drawings, and legal documents in sufficient
detail to seek competitive tender prices. The engineer must compare quotations and
recommend acceptance of one of them. Although he is not a party to the contract, the
engineer’s duties are defined in it; the staff must supervise the construction and the
engineer must certify completion of the work. Actions must be consistent with duty to the
client; the professional organizations exercise disciplinary control over professional
conduct. The consulting engineer’s senior representative on the site is the resident
engineer.

A phenomenon of recent years has been the turnkey or package contract, in which the
contractor undertakes to finance, design, specify, construct, and commission a project in
its entirety. In this case, the consulting engineer is engaged by the contractor rather than
by the client.

The contractor is usually an incorporated company, which secures the contract on the
basis of the consulting engineer’s specification and general drawings. The consulting
engineer must agree to any variations introduced and must approve the detailed drawings.
Maintenance
The contractor maintains the works to the satisfaction of the consulting engineer.
Responsibility for maintenance extends to ancillary and temporary works where these form
part of the overall construction. After construction a period of maintenance is undertaken
by the contractor, and the payment of the final installment of the contract price is held back
until released by the consulting engineer. Central and local government engineering and
public works departments are concerned primarily with maintenance, for which they
employ direct labour.

Research
Research in the civil engineering field is undertaken by government agencies, industrial
foundations, the universities, and other institutions. Most countries have government-
controlled agencies, such as the United States Bureau of Standards and the National
Physical Laboratory of Great Britain, involved in a broad spectrum of research, and
establishments in building research, roads and highways, hydraulic research, water
pollution, and other areas. Many are government-aided but depend partly on income from
research work promoted by industry.

Branches Of Civil Engineering

In 1828 Thomas Tredgold of England wrote:

The most important object of Civil Engineering is to improve the means of production and
of traffic in states, both for external and internal trade. It is applied in the construction and
management of roads, bridges, railroads, aqueducts, canals, river navigation, docks and
storehouses, for the convenience of internal intercourse and exchange; and in the
construction of ports, harbours, moles, breakwaters and lighthouses; and in the navigation
by artificial power for the purposes of commerce.

It is applied to the protection of property where natural powers are the sources of injury, as
by embankments for the defence of tracts of country from the encroachments of the sea,
or the overflowing of rivers; it also directs the means of applying streams and rivers to use,
either as powers to work machines, or as supplies for the use of cities and towns, or for
irrigation; as well as the means of removing noxious accumulations, as by the drainage of
towns and districts to . . . secure the public health.

A modern description would include the production and distribution of energy, the
development of aircraft and airports, the construction of chemical process plants and
nuclear power stations, and water desalination. These aspects of civil engineering may be
considered under the following headings: construction, transportation, maritime and
hydraulic engineering, power, and public health.
Construction
Almost all civil engineering contracts include some element of construction work. The
development of steel and concrete as building materials had the effect of placing design
more in the hands of the civil engineer than the architect. The engineer’s analysis of a
building problem, based on function and economics, determines the building’s structural
design.

Transportation
Roman roads and bridges were products of military engineering, but the pavements of
McAdam and the bridges of Perronet were the work of the civil engineer. So were the
canals of the 18th century and the railways of the 19th, which, by providing bulk transport
with speed and economy, lent a powerful impetus to the Industrial Revolution. The civil
engineer today is concerned with an even larger transportation field—e.g., traffic studies,
design of systems for road, rail, and air, and construction including pavements,
embankments, bridges, and tunnels.

Maritime and hydraulic engineering

Harbour construction and shipbuilding are ancient arts. For many developing countries
today the establishment of a large, efficient harbour is an early imperative, to serve as the
inlet for industrial plant and needed raw materials and the outlet for finished goods. In
developed countries the expansion of world trade, the use of larger ships, and the increase
in total tonnage call for more rapid and efficient handling. Deeper berths and alongside-
handling equipment (for example, for ore) and navigation improvements are the
responsibility of the civil engineer.

The development of water supplies was a feature of the earliest civilizations, and the
demand for water continues to rise today. In developed countries the demand is for
industrial and domestic consumption, but in many parts of the world—e.g., the Indus
basin—vast schemes are under construction, mainly for irrigation to help satisfy the food
demand, and are often combined with hydroelectric power generation to promote industrial
development.

Dams today are among the largest construction works, and design development is
promoted by bodies like the International Commission on Large Dams. The design of large
impounding dams in places with population centres close by requires the utmost in safety
engineering, with emphasis on soil mechanics and stress analysis. Most governments
exercise statutory control of engineers qualified to design and inspect dams.
Power
Civil engineers have always played an important part in mining for coal and metals; the
driving of tunnels is a task common to many branches of civil engineering. In the 20th
century the design and construction of power stations has advanced with the rapid rise in
demand for electric power, and nuclear power stations have added a whole new field of
design and construction, involving prestressed concrete pressure vessels for the reactor.

The exploitation of oil fields and the discoveries of natural gas in significant quantities have
initiated a radical change in gas production. Shipment in liquid form from the Sahara and
piping from the bed of the North Sea have been among the novel developments.

Public health
Drainage and liquid-waste disposal are closely associated with antipollution measures and
the re-use of water. The urban development of parts of water catchment areas can alter
the nature of runoff, and the training and regulation of rivers produce changes in the
pattern of events, resulting in floods and the need for flood prevention and control.

Modern civilization has created problems of solid-waste disposal, from the manufacture of
durable goods, such as automobiles and refrigerators, produced in large numbers with a
limited life, to the small package, previously disposable, now often indestructible. The civil
engineer plays an important role in the preservation of the environment, principally through
design of works to enhance rather than to damage or pollute.