CIVL 1100

Discovering Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
(土木及環境工程學系)
HKUST

5. Civil Engineering and Society

J S Kuang, PhD CEng FICE FIStructE FHKIE

1
Professor of Civil Engineering2

5.1.1 Challenges in real-life

5. Civil Engineering and
Society

Introduction
5.1

Civil Engineering: Importance and

Challenges
5.2 How to develop a new
city from an empty
site ?
Major Sub-disciplines
5.3

3 4
 Challenges in real-life (cont’d) 5.1.2 Role of engineers

• An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering,

How to develop a new concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics
vaccine from a sample and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical and practical
of virus? problems.

Engineers

5 6

5.1.3 Types of engineering

• Engineering can broadly be classified in accordance to the

nature of problems that encountered:

Agricultural Civil Industrial Civil Engineering:

Engineering Engineering Engineering
Importance and Challenges
5.2
Engineering

Architectural Chemical Manufacturing

Engineering Engineering Engineering

Biomedical Computer Mechanical

Engineering Engineering Engineering

Ceramic Electrical Nuclear

Engineering Engineering Engineering

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 5.2.1 What is civil engineering ? 5.2.1 What is civil engineering ?

• Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the

planning, design, construction and maintenance of the physical and
naturally built environment, including infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams,
canals, etc.) and buildings.

• At the same time, civil engineering also needs to reduce or mitigate the
impacts of the proposed projects to the public and environmental health.

• Civil engineering is the oldest engineering discipline after military

engineering and takes place on all levels: in the public sector from
municipal through to national governments, andin the private sector from
individual homeowners through to international companies

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5.2.2 Civil engineering: importance Civil engineering: importance (cont’d)

• Many of the important things in our lives that we take for granted are the
Pipelines
products of civil engineering.
Water and sewage
treatment systems
Power plants Dams

Transportation
systems
Reservoirs

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 Civil engineering: importance (cont’d) Civil engineering: importance (cont’d)

• All of previous examples are the fundamental components forming a city.

• All civil engineering works can improve the working efficiency,

productivity and living environment of our society.
Buildings and
bridges
興土木 利民生 齊拓展 創明天
We Bring The Best Engineering To Life

卓越工程 建設香港
We Engineer Hong Kong’s Development

13 14

5.2.3 Civil engineering: challenges Civil engineering – challenges (cont’d)

• Civil engineers must have clear understanding on the theoretical • Civil engineers also need to concern with the non-technical issues
backgrounds and technical issues of the corresponding sub-disciplines. when projects commence.
– Theoretical aspects: – budget available for the project
• structural analysis – social, economic and political issues
• mechanics of materials – workmanship standard
• soil mechanics
– impacts to surrounding
• fluid mechanics
• environmental engineering – construction management
• transportation engineering – life cycle performance
• etc. – maintenance
– etc.
– Technical aspects:
• codes of practices
• design manuals and handbooks
• etc.

16
 South China Morning Post (16th July 2011)

Civil engineering: challenges (cont’d)

• Good construction management, quality control and workmanship • Good construction

Poor quality management, quantity control and workmanship
control / workmanship
are the essential factors that ensure the structures can work are the essential factors that ensure the structures can work
… bathroom drain sometimes stinks,
smoothly within their expected structural life. smoothly within their expected structural life .
the wooden floor cracks in the dry
winters and one window never fails
• Possible consequences of poor construction management include: to let in theconsequences
• Possible water on rainy daysof
... poor construction management include:

Poor quality control High maintenance Poor Daily

Structural failure
High Maintenance
and workmanship cost Performance Cost
… a nearly completed 13- storey
apartment building in a complex of
11 buildings known as Lotus
Structural failure Loss of lives Riverside, inStructural
Shanghai, Failure
toppled over Loss of Life
largely intact, killing one worker …

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South China Morning Post (16th July 2011)

Civil Engineering: Challenges (cont’d) Civil engineering: challenges (cont’d)

• Good construction management, quantity control and workmanship

Poor performance • Civil engineers need to design structures with complex shapes,
are the essential factors that ensure the structures can work
… bathroom drain sometimes stinks,
smoothly within their expected structural life .
the wooden floor cracks in the dry
winters and one window never fails
to let in theconsequences
• Possible water on rainy daysof
... poor construction management include:

Poor Daily
Structural failure
High Maintenance Hong Kong Convention and
Burj al Arab
Performance Cost Exhibition Centre
… a nearly completed 13- storey CCTV
apartment building in a complex of
11 buildings known as Lotus
Riverside, inStructural
Shanghai, Failure
toppled over Loss of Life Burj
largely intact, killing one worker …The engineers were Khalifa
convicted
Beijing National
19 20
Eiffel Tower Water Cube Stadium
 Civil engineering: challenges (cont’d) Civil engineering: challenges (cont’d)

• to design long-span structures, and • to design underground structures as well.

Akashi Kaikyo Sutong

Lyon – Turin
Bridge Bridge
Railway Project

Tsing Ma Sonecutters
Bridge Bridge
53.1 km

Access of
21 the tunnel 22

Civil engineering: challenges (cont’d)

• In the future, the design of buildings may become …

Civil Engineering Sub-disciplines

5.3

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 Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

5.3.1 Sub-disciplines of civil engineering 5.3.2 Structural engineering (結構工程)

• Civil engineering includes seven major sub-disciplines: • Structural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the planning,
analysis and design of structures that are able to resist various types of
loading as well as natural disasters.
Structural – e.g. buildings, bridges, dams, tunnels, water towers, power plants, storage
facilities, unusual structures, etc.
Geotechnical Hydraulics
• Structure engineers must ensure that their designs satisfy
the design criteria, including
Civil
Engineering
Transportation Environmental
Safety Serviceability

structures must not deformation must not

collapse without disrupt the use of
Construction Materials warning structures

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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Structural engineering (cont’d) Structural engineering (cont’d)

• Structures can be designed and constructed using different construction

materials, depending on the cost, project nature and materials available.

Steel / concrete
Structures
– e.g. concrete, steel, wood, brick, stone, new synthetic materials, etc.
Reinforced Concrete
Structures

Timber structures
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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Structural engineering (cont’d) 5.3.3 Geotechnical engineering (岩土工程)

• Structural engineers must design and construct the
structures based on the codes of practice (design codes,
設計規範).
• Different countries have their own standards for
designing structures.
• Geotechnical engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the
behaviour of soil, rock and underground water.
• Geotechnical engineering usually deals with the design and construction
of foundations and earthworks.
– e.g. shallow and deep foundations, tunnels, embankments, levees, etc.

Shallow
foundations
Hong Kong Code

Eurocode Pile
American code Australian Standard foundations
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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Geotechnical engineering (cont’d) Geotechnical engineering (cont’d)

• Geotechnical engineering also needs to assess the risk from natural

Tunnels Embankments hazards at a construction site or environment.
– e.g. landslides, soil liquefaction, rockfalls, sinkholes, debris flows, etc.

• Soil improvement or retaining structures will be adopted if the

corresponding zone has potential risk to the society.

Landside

Retaining walls

Liquefaction Installing wick drains

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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

5.3.4 Hydraulic engineering (水利工程) Hydraulic engineering (cont’d)

• Hydraulic engineering is an area of

civil engineering concerned with the
flow and conveyance of fluids, Dams
Levees
principally water and sewage.

• This area of civil engineering is

usually related to the design and
construction of hydraulic structures. Canals
– e.g. dams, channels, canals, levees,
etc.

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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Hydraulic engineering (cont’d) 5.3.5 Environmental engineering (環境工程)

• Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering

• Hydraulic engineering also involves the planning, development and principles to improve the natural environment and to minimise the
management of water resources and discharge systems. impacts on the environment.
– e.g. water distribution networks, water collection networks, sewage collection
networks, storm water management, etc.

Storm sewer systems Water distribution networks

EA

Air Water

Noise Waste
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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Environmental engineering (cont’d) Environmental engineering (cont’d)

• Air quality monitoring • Solid waste management

Air • Air pollution control Waste
• Methods of disposal (e.g. landfills and incineration)
• Ozone layer protection • Site investigation and remediation

Landfills
Air quality monitoring stations Incineration
in Hong Kong Air pollution monitoring
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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Environmental engineering (cont’d) Environmental engineering (cont’d)

• Water treatment • Noise monitoring

Water • Wastewater treatment Noise
• Noise mitigation measures
• Water quality monitoring
• Wastewater recycling
• Groundwater quality control

Traffic and Noise

construction barriers
noise
Wastewater management Sewage treatment Wastewater recycling

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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Environmental engineering (cont’d) 5.3.6 Transportation engineering (運輸工程)

• Transportation engineering is concerned with moving

• Environmental engineers use a systemic identification and evaluation
people and goods efficiently, safely, and in a
process to assess the potential impacts of a proposed project upon the
environmentally sustainable ways.
physical, chemical, biological, cultural, and socioeconomic components on
environmental conditions. • This involves planning, design, construction, operation
– in Hong Kong, since 1998 environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been and maintenance of the infrastructure associated with
regulated by the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance 1997. vehicles, driver/passengers and rights of way.
– e.g. facilities support air, highway, railroad, pipeline,
• Mitigation measures have to be developed to limit or prevent such water, etc.
impacts when impacts are expected.
• They design systems for controlling traffic to ensure effective and safe use
of the road systems and strive to reduce the impacts of roads and traffic on
the environment.

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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

Transportation engineering (cont’d) Transportation engineering (cont’d)

Highway systems Railway systems Bicycle paths Piers

Airports

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Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction

5.3.7 Materials engineering (材料工程) Materials engineering (cont’d)

• Materials engineering is primarily concerned with the development of

• The role of materials engineers spans almost
new or improved materials for constructing structures by changing the
all of engineering disciplines, because
material microscopic structures.
engineers have to use materials in their
designs.
Fly ash Engineered cement
Asphalt concrete composite
• A materials engineer's job is highly varied: pavement
– choosing suitable materials to re-surface a road
on one day
– designing a concrete mix for a large building
Damaged
– developing strengthening techniques for column
damaged structures / structural members
– etc.
Artificial stone

Polypropylene fiber Cellular

45 reinforced concrete concrete 46

Structural Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Materials Construction Structural Materials Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Construction

Materials engineering (cont’d) 5.3.8 Construction engineering (施工工程)

• Materials engineers are also involved in design of materials and methods

• Construction engineering involves planning and execution of the designs
to repair existing structures that may be damaged.
from the other fields of engineers, such as transportation, hydraulic,
environmental, structural and geotechnical.
Retrofitting using – civil engineering projects also requires knowledge of management principles
damper and business procedures, economics, and human behaviour, etc.

• Construction engineers have to plan, manage and

supervise construction jobs as well as bring a
consensus among other engineers and workers in
the field.
– they need to team up with engineers in the other
civil engineering specialisations.
– construction engineers need to have strong
Slab retrofitting using steel FRP retrofit system communication skill.
plate and carbon FRP
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Structural Materials Geotechnical Hydraulic Environmental Transportation Construction

Construction engineering (cont’d) 5.3.9 Prospects of civil engineering

• Construction engineers also involve in • Job opportunities for civil engineers in Hong Kong include:
– drafting and reviewing contracts,
– The government
– evaluating logistical operations,
– design of temporary structures, Building Department Housing Department
The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
– quality assurance and quality control,
– building and site layout surveys, Civil Engineering and Development Department Highways Department
The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
– on-site material testing,
Temporary structures
– concrete mix design, Drainage Services Department Transport Department
The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
– cost estimating, The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

– planning and scheduling,

Environmental Protection Department Planning Department
– safety engineering, The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

– materials procurement, and

Marine Department Water Supplies Department
– cost engineering and budgeting. The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

On-site material tests

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Prospects of civil engineering (cont’d) Prospects of civil engineering (cont’d)

– Engineering consulting firms – Contractors / Construction companies

China State Construction

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