Civil Engineering Information

Articles gives an overview of the licensing requirements for Structural Engineer’s (SE) in the United States.

Engineering professionals of all disciplines (electrical, civil, mechanical, structural, etc…) in the United States are charged with “protecting the safety, health and welfare of the general public.”

Because of this responsibility, all 50 states currently require a PE licensure to practice engineering within their geographic bounds. In the last decade, there has been a movement across the nation to better the life safety of our structures by requiring a separate licensure for structural engineers.

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General building design procedure:

Step 1: Plan the approximate layout of the building .
Step 2: Calculate dead and snow load.
Step 3: Design steelroof decks:
Step 4: Select owsj’s

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This question has been raised again and again whether girls should do civil engineering or not. I am still not able to understand why people think girls are not suitable for civil engineering. In fact, in my opinion girls can and should do civil engineering. Many people say Civil engineering is field engineering and girls would have difficult time in working with labor class and would face numerous other site problems. But why those people forget that civil engineering is not limited to only field engineering, in fact its one of the broadest field of engineering. Girls can opt for office jobs like analysis, designing, tendering, managing projects and many other office jobs.

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What is Ductal?
Few Years back in 2006; researchers at Iowa State University have developed a new type of concrete that is much stronger than conventional concrete. It can withstand pressures up to 595,000 pounds — more than the weight of seven semi trucks.

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It’s safe to say that without microbes, biotechnology would be an extremely limited science. Microbes are microscopic organisms such as fungi (which include yeasts), bacteria and viruses. They not only provide the foundation for much of the basic research involved in biotechnology, they help to create durable building materials and structures.

The early scientific study of microbes concentrated on their effects, such as causing disease. Eventually, scientists discovered microbes could be used for the study of processes which are common to all living organisms. An innovative alternative approach lies in the combined use of microorganisms, nutrients and biological processes naturally present in the subsurface soils to effectively improve their engineering properties. Considerable research on carbonate precipitation by bacteria has been performed using ureolytic bacteria. These bacteria are able to influence the precipitation of calcium carbonate by the production of an enzyme, urease (urea amidohydrolase, EC 3.5.1.5). Calcium carbonate precipitation occurs as a consequence of bacterial metabolic activity that raises the pH of the proximal environment.

Recently I discovered and improved few bacterial species which were able to precipitate calcite at higher rate and eventually this process lead to improved compressive strength, reduced permeability and low corrosion rate of reinforcement.
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A long time used material in concrete is for the first time fully replaced by a nano material.It is well known in physics and chemistry that a well designed and developed nano material produces better and cheaper cost results than traditional materials, thanks to the stabilization and reinforcement of matter properties at this level: a thousand fold smaller than the older level: “micro” (0.000001 mt).

Micro silica has been one of the world’s most widely used products for concrete for over eighty years. Its properties allowed high compressive strength concretes; water and chemical resistant concretes, and they have been part of many concrete buildings that we see nowadays. Its disadvantage, though, has been its relatively high cost and contamination, which affects the environment and the operators’ health. As micro silica, as a powder, is thousand fold thinner than cigarette smoke. Operators must take special precautions to avoid inhaling micro silica and not to acquire silicosis, an irreversible disease.

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Low Cost Housing is a new concept which deals with effective budgeting and following of techniques which help in reducing the cost construction through the use of locally available materials along with improved skills and technology without sacrificing the strength, performance and life of the structure.There is huge misconception that low cost housing is suitable for only sub standard works and they are constructed by utilizing cheap building materials of low quality.The fact is that Low cost housing is done by proper management of resources.Economy is also achieved by postponing finishing works or implementing them in phases.

Building Cost
The building construction cost can be divided into two parts namely:
Building material cost : 65 to 70 %
Labour cost : 65 to 70 %
Now in low cost housing, building material cost is less because we make use of the locally available materials and also the labour cost can be reduced by properly making the time schedule of our work. Cost of reduction is achieved by selection of more efficient material or by an improved design.

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By Kelly Baldwin

Published in Construction Canada, v. 98, no. 1, Jan./Feb., 1998, pp. 28-29

Abstract: Conductive concrete is a cement-based composite that contains electronically conductive components to attain stable and relatively high conductivity. Potential applications include electrical heating for de-icing of parking garages, sidewalks, driveways, highway bridges, and airport runways, as well as electrical grounding.

Résumé: Le béton conducteur est un composite à base de ciment contenant une certaine quantité d’éléments qui assurent une conductivité électrique stable et relativement élevée. Les applications possibles sont : le chauffage électrique pour dégivrer les garages de stationnement, les trottoirs, les voies d’accès, les ponts routiers et les pistes d’aéroport, et la mise à la terre électrique.
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