50 Engineering terms

1. Civil engineering works: works comprising of a structure other than a building and its
associated site works such as dam, bridge, roads etc. or an operation such as dredging,
dewatering, soil stabilization.
2. Beam: A structural member that supports a load
3. Compression: is the pressing force that happens in a beam
4. Compaction: the removal of air requiring mechanical energy with little or no reduction in
water.
5. Consolidation: is the squeezing out of water under the action of a conscious static load
6. Blinding: a layer of concrete covering the ground so that steel reinforcement can be laid
without becoming contaminated.
7. Braced frame: a structural system designed to resist wind and earthquake forces. They are
designed to work in tension and compression.
8. Aggregates: a mixture of sand and stones and major concrete components.
9. Column: is a structural element that transmits through compression.
10. Contractor: a company licensed to perform certain types of construction activities.
11. Excavation: is the exposure, recording and processing of archaeological remains.
12. Foundation: the supporting portion of s structure below the first floor construction.
13. Honey combs: the appearance concrete makes when rocks in the concrete are visible and
where there are void areas in the foundation wall.
14. Additive: chemicals added to cement based products (concrete, mortar, render, screed…)
to impact various desirable properties such as to increase or reduce curing time, increase
strength, enhance workability etc.
15. Bleeding water: the water that rises to the surface of the recently placed concrete.
16. Cure: the hardening of concrete and other cement products. Curing requires a certain range
of temperature and sufficient internal water to combine with the cement.
17. Erection: is the process of assembling fabricated components on site with careful planning
can be completed relatively quickly.
18. Estimating: the process of calculation the costs of a project.
19. Design load: the design load is a maximum amount of something a system is designed to
handle or the maximum amount of something that the system can produce.
20. Elevation: a geometrical drawing of a facade of a building.
21. Envelope: a graphical plot indicating the maximum magnitude of an internal force effect
such as flexural stress, shear stress, axial stress, torsional stress… due to load combinations.
22. Cantilever: a projecting horizontal beam fixed at one end only.
23. Cast iron: an alloy of iron containing so much carbon that it is brittle and so cannot be
wrought but must be shaped by casting.
24. Centroid: the center of mass of an object of uniform density.
25. Cistern: an artificial reservoir for storing liquids.
26. Crank: a hand tool consisting of rotating shaft with parallel handle.
27. Load: weight to be borne or conveyed.
28. Lubricator: a sustainable capable of reducing friction by making surfaces smooth or
slippery.
29. Reinforced concrete: concrete with metal and/or mesh added to provide extra support
against stress.
30. Rigid: incapable of or resistant to bending.
31. Strain: deformation of a body under the action of applied forces.
32. Stress: force that produces strain on a physical body.
33. Shear block: plywood that is nailed to short wall studs to prevent the wall from sliding or
collapsing.
34. Scaffold: a framework for temporary access to building works.
35. Raft foundation: is a thick concrete slab reinforced with steel which covers the entire
contact area of the structure like a thick floor.