Civil Engineering Educations: 2016

Thursday, April 21, 2016

What is Civil Engineering?

Civil Engineering is a branch of engineering that encompasses the conception, design, construction, and management of residential and commercial buildings and structures, water supply facilities, and transportation systems for goods and people, as well as control of the environment for the maintenance and improvement of the quality of life. Civil engineering includes planning and design professionals in both the public and private sectors, contractors, builders, educators, and researchers.

The civil engineer holds the safety, health, and welfare of the public paramount. Civil engineering projects and systems should conform to governmental regulations and statutes; should be built economically to function properly with a minimum of maintenance and repair while withstanding anticipated usage and weather; and should conserve energy and allow hazard-free construction while providing healthful, safe, and environmentally sound utilization by society.

Hydropower does not discharge pollutants into the environment; however, it is not free from adverse environmental effects. Considerable efforts have been made to reduce environmental problems associated with hydropower operations.

Efforts to ensure the safety of dams and the use of newly available computer technologies to optimize operations have provided additional opportunities to improve the environment. Yet, many unanswered questions remain about how best to maintain the economic viability of hydropower in the face of increased demands to protect fish and other environmental resources.

Construction cost constitutes only a fraction, though a substantial fraction, of the total project cost. However, it is the part of the cost under the control of the construction project manager. The required levels of accuracy of construction cost estimates vary at different stages of project development, ranging from ball park figures in the early stage to fairly reliable figures for budget control prior to construction. Since design decisions made at the beginning stage of a project life cycle are more tentative than those made at a later stage, the cost estimates made at the earlier stage are expected to be less accurate. Generally, the accuracy of a cost estimate will reflect the information available at the time of estimation.

Cost Control in Construction Projects

During the execution of a project, procedures for project control and record keeping become indispensable tools to managers and other participants in the construction process. These tools serve the dual purpose of recording the financial transactions that occur as well as giving managers an indication of the progress and problems associated with a project. The problems of project control are aptly summed up in an old definition of a project as “any collection of vaguely related activities that are ninety percent complete, over budget and late.” The task of project control systems is to give a fair indication of the existence and the extent of such problems.

A Closer Look at Pile Foundations

Pile foundation is necessary when there isn’t sufficient soil bearing capacity for the structure to be able to withstand. It is caused by the condition of the soil or operational conditions, conditions at the site, load types on the foundations or order of the bottom layers.

There are many different factors that can prevent a surface foundation being selected as a well-suited foundation, such as intensity of loads and nature of the soil. We use piles for building in water such as dams and bridges or where soil has low bearing capacity.

There are two components that make up a pile foundation: a group of piles or single pile and the pile cap. The load from structures are transferred by piles to the soil that has hard bearing capacity, rocks or hard strata. They are slender and long, with a length that may exceed 15m.

Construction Insurance

Construction insurance is an important policy to have if you own, run or manage a construction site.

Construction insurance provides safeguards for you as an employer against your construction workers being injured on site. Construction insurance does not exempt you from maintain a safe workplace. Usually, construction insurance policies only pay out if a strict set of health and safety guidelines are followed.

Construction insurance also covers materials and machinery on the construction site in the event of an accident, fire or theft. Due to the high cost of building materials in the current economic climate, the theft of building materials is getting more commonplace and gives a good reason why you should opt for construction insurance. Many insurance companies will offer advice and insurance policies for these eventualities, not to mention it being reassuring for the client, even if they’re just wanting the spare time to deal with home loans rather than worry about the safety of the men and women involved in the construction of their home.

Lots of business contacts are vital in any industry. Building a team around a network of experts is the best way to move forward. Nowhere is this more true than in the world of construction. Civil engineering projects revolve around a team of contractors, suppliers and vendors. So many aspects of a project are outsourced and, as a project manager, you’re in charge of it all.

Every civil engineering project is a puzzle. Each part represents a different team on the job. The plumbers are one piece, the architects are another and the bricklayers another. They all come together on one large project. Another piece of the puzzle is your suppliers. Every project manager needs an expert network of suppliers to call upon. The best project managers have great relationships with their suppliers. If you don’t here’s why that relationship is essential.

Project Management Career

Project management is an art entailing planning, organizing, and administering set goals. It requires the orchestration of the various aspects of deadline-based discrete projects.

The Profession

A profession in project management requires working with a team of people; therefore, a successful project manager needs to understand the importance of teamwork, and how to achieve more together. Usually, a project is temporary in nature and requires a one-time effort, in order to create a distinct product or service. This demands various technical skills that can be handled efficiently by a project manager.

If you are interested in applying for construction management jobs, there are many different online degrees that can help you achieve your goals and fast track your career. The best part is that you can earn these degrees from the comfort of your own home and create a schedule that works for you and your current work and time commitments.The best candidates for most construction management jobs have experience on the job and also some sort of formal construction project management training. To do this most effectively, one way that is recommended is to earn an online construction management degree or an online construction engineering degree, in addition to gaining hands-on experience through an apprenticeship or on-site training.

Vetting the Bids You Need to Start Work on Your House

The process of remodeling your house can actually be quite lengthy. You may need to start weeks or months in advance to get everything lined up and ready to go. The first part of the process involves deciding what work you want done on your house. The next part of the remodeling process centers on hiring the right crew to carry out the projects you have decided will make your house look and feel more comfortable. When you lack the time and the inclination to call each contractor in the local area, you can instead get details here and start vetting bids by using the online resources available to you today.

Introduction to Construction Engineering Jobs

Construction engineering jobs is a professional discipline that deals with the designing, planning, construction, and management of infrastructures such as highways, bridges, airports, railroads, buildings, dams, and utilities. These Engineers are unique such that they are a cross between civil engineers and construction managers. Construction engineers learn the designing aspect much like civil engineers and construction site management functions much like construction managers.

Before making a mix design for shotcrete or sprayed concrete, it is needed to get sufficient information from the clients. Adequate support information will be resulted in technically and economically effect for the work. A proper mix design assure a successful trial and thus, successful application on site.

Hereafter is a list of 9 questions to the ask the clients prior to making a shocrete mix design:

1. The location of shotcrete to be applied? Slope stabilization, overhead and wall in tunnel
2. Wet or Dry process will be applied? Normally, dry process for slope stabilization, wet process for tunnel lining.

Useful Tips on Detecting And Repairing Common Leaks At Home

The home is full of the potential for leaks – this is especially true for older homes where pipes are worn and aged. These tips will help you detect the leaks in question and also deal with them.

Leaking Faucets

In most cases, leaking faucets are due to a worn out rubber washer. A sink’s rubber washer is often situated underneath the handle. Given the right tools, these can be replaced with relative ease. However, you must shut off the water under the sink or in some cases, the main shut off valve. Of course, you should remove the handle as well. Take note that faucet handles are different from shutoff valves. Once you find the particular problem using water leak detection equipment you can visit your local hardware store or home centre to get tips on how to repair your faucet leaks.

Leaking Toilets

You may not realize it, but toilet leaks can waste several hundred gallons of water each year. Even a minor leak can cause huge volumes of wasted water. Not to mention, it also wastes your money. Thankfully, most toilet leaks can be repaired in an easy and inexpensive manner.

The Concrete Flooring Characteristics That Are Most Positive

Durable:

When it comes to being resilient and tough, concrete can withstand a great deal of pressure from stacked crates, forklifts, trucks, cars, and other heavy equipment. Warehouses and garages use this material in commercial areas because they can stand up to hard working conditions.

This material quality means that it is hard to damage.

The surface won’t get scratched by pet claws, furniture legs, or high heels. In addition, if you drop something, there are no worries that you will damage the floor. In general, if you would actually want to damage the surface of the concrete floor, you would have to work very hard at it.

Maintenance Is Easy:

Only a minor amount of maintenance is required in order to keep the concrete floor looking tip-top. In order to maintain surface layer of protection, it should be sealed or waxed a few times a year, depending upon how much traffic it get on a regular basis. Periodically, the floor can be mopped clean with a neutral cleaning agent. In particular, for stains that are stubborn, a blue utility pad works well.

What does a Construction Manager do

Construction managers do a lot in thinking and planning, making every project component organized. By outlining a project schedule, efficiency of time is regulated, making every event of delays, changes and disputes nil. Because construction managers do study existing situation, optimum use of worker skills are achieved, affecting a construction quality.

Definitions

2.1 Construction Management is the practice of managing construction in place of the owner while also serving as the construction consultant to its design and other aspects within the project. Typically an overseer, construction managers direct, coordinate and brainstorm a wide variety of the construction projects, even the selection and hiring of contractors and finances. Although there are construction managers that do not directly control the actual structure construction, some others do extensive construction management that oversees the entire project.

As you can imagine, the addition of a green roof to an otherwise unused area on a building, is beneficial for the surrounding environment. Initial loss of “green” space and its inherent natural processes like photosynthesis are restored; now just a few stories higher. But green roofs also have other benefits that you might not be aware of.

Storm-Water Retention

During heavy rainfalls, runoff from surfaces such as pavements and rooftops can cause serious problems such as sewer over?ow and water pollution. Green roofs slow down the water ?ow by retaining up to 75% of the rainwater, thus alleviating the pressure on storm-water infrastructures.

Thanks to new advancements, modular buildings are no longer only used for temporary purposes. Today, many people use modular buildings for housing in urban environments and remote locations. Some businesses also store their retail items in modular buildings. Besides these benefits, there are many other reasons why a modular building is worth considering.

From fresh running water to bridges, from pavements to the Olympic stadium — everything around us has in some way been influenced by civil engineering.

Employment in this field can really give you the opportunities to achieve what you want in life, offering both fantastic benefits and progression. If you’re interested in maths and physics, then the employment future of your dreams may just lie in civil engineering jobs, and construction estimators.

Learning the ropes

It is important to consider which pathway you take on your dream to becoming an engineer. You should plan for this from as early as your GCSEs and A Levels – where you should look to focus on mathematics and physics. There are other options, including becoming a civil engineering technician through a college BTEC course or apprenticeship. This will ultimately put you on the right path to becoming an officially accredited civil engineer.

In general, most civil engineers are required to have obtained a degree in civil engineering; the course usually takes between three and five years to complete. Among other disciplines, you’ll study design, mathematics, physics, project management as well as your desired top- up modules.

Types of Corrosion Protection for Structural Steel

Steel is one of the strongest of construction materials and is able to withstand many extreme environmental conditions. However, this depends on an efficient and effective protection against corrosion.

Rust

Iron is the principal component of all steel grades. Without adequate corrosion protection, it will react on exposure to oxygen in the atmosphere, creating pockets of iron oxides. This process begins as small localized dots of oxidation but may quickly spread to consume the entire piece of steel. Rust can produce six times the volume of iron oxide compared with the original volume of steel material.

The Working Relationship Between A Civil Engineer And An Electrician

It’s hard to imagine not having electricity when almost all of our daily activities depend on it. From the moment you wake up, check your phone for emails and messages, get to the office and sit in front of your computer, to turning on the air conditioner when you go back to sleep. All these things are run by electricity.

What an Electrician Does

To over-simplify it in a bit, the electrician lays down the wires that will carry electricity into homes and commercial buildings. They also maintain the electrical systems, making sure that panel boards are not overloaded and that all the pieces maintain their structural integrity.

Barrette pile is a type of drilled and cast-in-place pile, the distinctive characters of which are the shape and way of drilling. Grab-bucket or Hydrofraise type drilling tools are used for barrette pile construction. The size of these tools determines that of the piles.

The simplest piles are made with one stroke of a standard size grab-bucket (or hydrofraise cutting drums). The sizes are :

width : 0.52, 0.62, 0.82, 1.02, 1.22, 1.52 m
length : 1.80, 2.20, 2.70, 3.0 m

Starting from these dimensions, bigger or more rigid piles can be formed : bars, crosses, H shaped piles, T shaped piles…

Good quality concrete starts with the quality of materials, cost effective designs is actually a by-product of selecting the best quality material and good construction practices. Following are 10 Things to remember during Concrete Mix Design and Concrete Trials.

1. ACI and other standards only serves as a guide, initial designs must be confirmed by laboratory trial and plant trial, adjustments on the design shall be done during trial mixes. Initial design “on paper” is never the final design.

1. Foundation

Foundation is required to support the bridge towers, portal frames or piers. Usual foundation methods such as H-pile, pipe-pile, borepile or precast concrete pile can be used for such purpose.

2. Bridge Tower

This is the vertical supporting structure only for cable suspension or cable-stayed bridges. The tower is usually construction in high-strength concrete using in-situ method. Mechanical climb form is most efficient for casting the bridge tower. In some cases, the tower can be constructed in a structural frame type.

Komatsu equipment for construction company

If you’re looking for a business idea that has the potential to yield significant earnings, then you might like to consider the construction industry. There are thousands of companies existing within this marketplace, and most of them do very well. It all comes down to having the right approach and ensuring your work is acceptable. Any complaints or major issues during the early stages of your firm could result in you gaining a poor reputation. You need to excel at everything you do in order to win the largest contracts, and so it’s important that you set the bar high. With the guide below, you should understand a little more about the best way to get started.

1. Most recent project delivery

Reputation is so last season. Last month is a better indicator of what a contractor will do next month.

2. Future capacity

A contractor is unlikely to give work to a competitor by turning it down. Smaller projects commonly suffer from the higher profile projects stealing resources. Ask about their work pipeline.

The planning and construction of a building should be aimed at fulfilling the following 12 requirements:

1. Strength and Stability

Building should be capable of transferring the expected loads in its life period safely to the ground. Design of various structural components like slabs, beams, walls, columns and footing should ensure safety. None of the structural components should buckle, overturn and collapse.

Drilling equipments are widely used in the engineering field. They provide a lot of service to the engineers. This type of machine, whether big or small, is very essential in the engineering process. Without the presence of these equipments, you can foresee that a simple construction or digging project may take years in the making. To help you understand the benefits of drilling equipments in engineering, here are five ways of their exemplary use.

Drilling

Obviously, these machines drill for engineers. They cut a solid surface and make a hole into it. Most engineers needs to drill for many reasons, it can be creating a foundation of a building, or creating a well to extract natural chemicals, they are very much needed. For whatever purpose drilling serves the engineering process, it t is very safe to say that today holing the ground is a very vital part of any construction or mining process.

Introduction of Cold Weather Concreting

Concrete placed during cold weather will develop sufficient strength and durability to satisfy intended service requirements only if it is properly produced, placed and protected.

ACI 306 “Cold Weather Concreting” defines cold weather concreting as a period when for more than three consecutive days, the following conditions exist:

•The average daily air temperature is less than 5°C (40°F) and,
•The air temperature is not greater than 10°C (50°F) for more than one-half of any 24 hour period.

Even though not defined as cold weather, protection during Spring and Fall is required during the first 24 hours to avoid freezing.

Leadership

Challenges others to develop as leaders while serving as a role model and mentor.
Manages the development of team by ensuring, when possible, that project tasks are in line with each Innovator’s career interests.
Inspires coworkers to attain goals and pursue excellence.
Identifies opportunities for improvement and makes constructive suggestions for change .
Manages the process of innovative change effectively.
Remains on the forefront of emerging industry practices.

A Guide to the Best Handling and Treatment of Steel Beams

Steel beams are structural supports; they are made from steel to maximise strength, which is absolutely essential when it comes to building work. These beams are critically important in ensuring the structural integrity and safety of a building, especially if it is large.

Steel beams are produced to a variety of standard shapes and sizes depending on the role they need to fulfil. They can also be created on a bespoke basis if a job is particularly unusual. If you’re not quite sure about what to do when it comes to the handling and treatment of steel beams then look no further, this article provides a basic guide to everything you need to know.

A steel beam