Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of human
existence. The earliest practice of civil engineering may have commenced
between 4000 and 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization,
and Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) when humans started to abandon
a nomadic existence, creating a need for the construction of shelter. During
this time, transportation became increasingly important leading to the
development of the wheel and sailing.
WHAT IS AN ENGINEER?
•Engineers are problem solvers!
• “Engineering is concerned with the implementation of a solution to a
practical problem. A scientist may ask “why?” and proceed to research the
answer to the question. By contrast, engineers want to know how to solve a
problem and how to implement that solution.
•In other words, scientists investigate phenomena, whereas engineers create
solutions to problems or improve upon existing solutions.
• A scientist builds in order to learn. An engineer learns in order to build
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with
the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built
environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams,
airports, sewage systems, pipelines, structural components of buildings, and
railways.
Civil engineering is the application of physical and scientific principles for
solving the problems of society, and its history is intricately linked to
advances in the understanding of physics and mathematics throughout
history.
It is considered the second-oldest engineering discipline after military
engineering
The term was first used in the 18th century to distinguish the newly
recognized profession from military engineering.
Some important ancient structures:
pyramids in Egypt (c. 2700–2500 BC)
Qanat water management system
Parthenon by Iktinos
Eddystone Lighthouse In 1771
John Smeaton father of civil engineering
École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, also known as Ponts (National
School of Bridges and Roads) was established in France in 1747, the first
institution for the teaching of civil engineering
Sub-disciplines:
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A. Coastal engineering
Coastal engineering and Coastal management
Coastal engineering is concerned with managing coastal areas. In some
jurisdictions, the terms sea defense and coastal protection mean defense
against flooding and erosion, respectively. Coastal defense is the more
traditional term, but coastal management has become popular as well.
Construction engineering
Construction engineering involves planning and execution, transportation of
materials, site development based on hydraulic, environmental, structural
and geotechnical engineering.
B. Earthquake engineering
Earthquake engineering involves designing structures 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.
C. 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.
D. Forensic engineering
Forensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products, structures or
components that fail or do not operate or function as intended, causing
personal injury or damage to property. The consequences of failure are dealt
with by the law of product liability. The field also deals with retracing
processes and procedures leading to accidents in operation of vehicles or
machinery Generally the purpose of a Forensic engineering investigation is to
locate cause or causes of failure with a view to improve performance or life
of a component, or to assist a court in determining the facts of an accident. It
can also involve investigation of intellectual property claims,
especially patents.
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E. Geotechnical engineering
Geotechnical engineering studies rock and soil supporting civil engineering
systems. Knowledge from the field of soil science, materials
science, mechanics, and hydraulics is applied to safely and economically
design foundations, retaining walls, and other structures. Environmental
efforts to protect groundwater and safely maintain landfills have spawned a
new area of research called geo-environmental engineering.
Identification of soil properties presents challenges to geotechnical engineers
F. Materials science and engineering
Materials science is closely related to civil engineering. It studies
fundamental characteristics of materials, and deals with ceramics such as
concrete and mix asphalt concrete, strong metals such as aluminum and
steel, and thermosetting polymers including polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)
and carbon fibers.
Materials engineering involves protection and prevention (paints and
finishes). Alloying combines two types of metals to produce another metal
with desired properties. It incorporates elements of applied
physics and chemistry. With recent media attention
on nanoscience and nanotechnology, materials engineering has been at the
forefront of academic research. It is also an important part of forensic
engineering and failure analysis.
G. Structural engineering
Structural engineering is concerned with the structural design and structural
analysis of buildings, bridges, towers, flyovers (overpasses), tunnels, off
shore structures like oil and gas fields in the sea, aerostructure and other
structures. This involves identifying the loads which act upon a structure and
the forces and stresses which arise within that structure due to those loads,
and then designing the structure to successfully support and resist those
loads. The loads can be self weight of the structures, other dead load, live
loads, moving (wheel) load, wind load, earthquake load, load from
temperature change etc. The structural engineer must design structures to
be safe for their users and to successfully fulfill the function they are
designed for (to be serviceable). Due to the nature of some loading
conditions, sub-disciplines within structural engineering have emerged,
including wind engineering and earthquake engineering.
Design considerations will include strength, stiffness, and stability of the
structure when subjected to loads which may be static, such as furniture or
self-weight, or dynamic, such as wind, seismic, crowd or vehicle loads, or
transitory, such as temporary construction loads or impact. Other
considerations include cost, constructability, safety, aesthetics
and sustainability.
H. Surveying
Surveying is the process by which a surveyor measures certain dimensions
that occur on or near the surface of the Earth. Surveying equipment such as
levels and theodolites are used for accurate measurement of angular
deviation, horizontal, vertical and slope distances. With computerization,
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electronic distance measurement (EDM), total stations, GPS surveying and
laser scanning have to a large extent supplanted traditional instruments.
Data collected by survey measurement is converted into a graphical
representation of the Earth's surface in the form of a map.
1.Land surveying
The services of a licensed land surveyor are generally required for boundary
surveys (to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal description)
and subdivision plans (a plot or map based on a survey of a parcel of land,
with boundary lines drawn inside the larger parcel to indicate the creation of
new boundary lines and roads), both of which are generally referred to
as Cadastral surveying.
2. Construction surveying
Construction surveying is generally performed by specialized technicians.
Unlike land surveyors, the resulting plan does not have legal status.
Construction surveyors perform the following tasks:
Surveying existing conditions of the future work site, including
topography, existing buildings and infrastructure, and underground
infrastructure when possible;
"lay-out" or "setting-out": placing reference points and markers that
will guide the construction of new structures such as roads or
buildings;
Verifying the location of structures during construction;
As-Built surveying: a survey conducted at the end of the construction
project to verify that the work authorized was completed to the
specifications set on plans.
I. Transportation engineering
Transportation engineering is concerned with moving people and goods
efficiently, safely, and in a manner conducive to a vibrant community. This
involves specifying, designing, constructing, and maintaining transportation
infrastructure which includes streets, canals, highways, rail systems, airports,
ports, and mass transit. It includes areas such as transportation
design, transportation planning, traffic engineering, some aspects of urban
engineering, queueing theory, pavement engineering, Intelligent
Transportation System (ITS), and infrastructure management.
J. Water resources engineering
Water resources engineering is concerned with the collection and
management of water (as a natural resource). As a discipline it therefore
combines elements of hydrology, environmental
science, meteorology, conservation, and resource management. This area of
civil engineering relates to the prediction and management of both the
quality and the quantity of water in both underground (aquifers) and above
ground (lakes, rivers, and streams) resources. Water resource engineers
analyze and model very small to very large areas of the earth to predict the
amount and content of water as it flows into, though, or out of a facility.
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Hydraulic engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids,
principally water. This area of civil engineering is intimately related to the
design of pipelines, water supply network, drainage facilities (including
bridges, dams, channels, culverts, levees, storm sewers), and canals.
Hydraulic engineers design these facilities using the concepts of fluid
pressure, fluid statics, fluid dynamics, and hydraulics, among others.
Civil engineering systems
Civil engineering systems is a discipline that promotes the use of systems
thinking to manage complexity and change in civil engineering within its
wider public context. It posits that the proper development of civil
engineering infrastructure requires a holistic, coherent understanding of the
relationships between all of the important factors that contribute to
successful projects while at the same time emphasizing the importance of
attention to technical detail. Its purpose is to help integrate the entire civil
engineering project life cycle from conception, through planning, designing,
making, operating to decommissioning.
CIVIL ENGINEERING PROCESSES
1. Planning. The very first stage of the planning phase is a feasibility
study, which usually includes not only a financial study but also a
study of egal issues.
2. Design. At least two stages re involved in the design stage: Preliminary
design and final design.
•Preliminary design is to create an outline of the concept, scope,
structure, materials to be used, method of construction, and cost and
timeline estimate of the project
• Final design includes all detailed designs of every structure involved in
the project and every associated facility such as electric and mechanical
facilities.
3. Construction. The actual construction phase includes the physical
erection of all structures and in the meantime the observation of all
applicable safety and environment regulations during the construction
phase.
4.Maintenance. The owner of the project usually takes over all
responsibilities, but the contractor is usually bound by a warranty agreement
to matter that kind of civil engineering project is involved, all civil
engineering projects go through four main phases:
WHAT IS A PROFESSION?
1.Knowledge requires formal education, judgment and discretion that are not
routine and cannot be mechanized, continuing education required.
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2.Organization sets standards for admission to profession, enforces
standards of conduct, establishes codes of ethics.
3. Public good purpose of service and preservation of public welfare.
Civil Engineering in the Philippines
Civil engineering all started by the time when the Spaniards invade our
country. Philippines back then doesn’t have infrastructures and the
Spaniards were the ones who introduced and practice this field of work to
established infrastructures in the country. Civil engineering course first
offered by University of Sto.Tomas in the American Period. It was on
February 23, 1921 when the civil engineering was included in PRC board
exams and separated both civil engineering and architecture board exam
since the both professions were synonymous with each other back then.
Engr. Marcial Kasilag was the holder of first PRC licensed for Civil engineer.
The first organization of civil engineers formed by government sector was
The Philippine Society of Civil Engineers (PSCE) and it was led by Engr.
Kasilag. The next organization of Civil engineers in private – based sector
was The Philippines Association of Civil Engineers (PACE), led by Enrique
Sto.Tomas Cortes. During Martial Law, both of the organizations were
merged later on by the president of PACE since PSCE wasn’t that active thus
they renamed the merged organizations into “The Philippines Institute of
Civil Engineers (PICE).” Afterwards, improvements and betterment of country
in terms of infrastructures were all facilitated by civil engineers. Civil
engineers have extensive influence on the structural styles. The sub –
discipline of civil engineering which is structural engineering were the
engineers who makes sure of the structural styles of a certain
infrastructures. Structural engineers must have enough knowledge of the
combinations of Mathematics and Science as they make sure the stability of
the structure to be built and the forces exerted in the buildings. Without the
civil engineers influence on the structural styles of building infrastructures
the infrastructures to be built will not be stabilized therefore is not safe. Civil
engineers put into life their projects with proper tools and techniques. Tools
like calculators, measuring tapes, theodolite, grade rods, and the software
AutoCAD were all essential usage for engineers to do their job precisely.
Moreover, the techniques they learnt such as technical knowledge and the
construction methods of foundation and forming were also important to build
their projects firmly and safely. With civil engineers doing their duty to
beautify and established firm infrastructures, together collaborating with
architects, our country has produced notable civil engineering structures
from ancient and modern period that becomes the pride of many Filipinos.
Some of these notable infrastructures were the Intramuros and San Agustin
Church inside, Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, Main Building of University of
Sto.Tomas, Ayala Bridge, G.T. International Tower, and Philippine Arena.
The field of civil engineering is so broad and difficult and with that many
people were amazed by their job thus attracting many civil engineering
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aspirants to be one of those civil engineers who could manage
infrastructures. Contributions of civil engineers of our country by ensuring
our safety and improving our lives through establishing buildings, bridges,
and water systems, were really impressive.
