CIVIL ENGINEERING

The term civil engineering 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 cole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses ("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 cole Polytechnique was founded in Paris in 1794, and the
Bauakademie was started in Berlin in 1799, but no such schools existed in
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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 performe 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. (see also Index: engineering geology)
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. Kar
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
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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. Theconsulting
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,
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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
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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. (see also Index: energy)
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. (see also
Index: urban planning)
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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. (J.G.W./Ed.)