FIELD ENGINEERING AND BODY RULER FOR CIVIL ENGINEERS

Colonel. P Nallathambi. ME(Structural Engg), MBA, FIE, FIV,M/S Sakthi Consultancy Pvt Ltd, Chennai
600044. Mobile: 094440 20706, Mail ID: nalla.sakthi@gmail.com , www.sakthiconsultancy.com

Introduction

Text books cover the syllabus and prepare the students for the examination. Learning
many practical applications while working on ground is called “Field Engineering”. It is mainly
mental appreciation of engineering aspects. It can not be taught in the class room and can be
learnt only by practice. Here, Engineering knowledge is applied in the field for simplifying the
tasks. Few tasks are discussed as case studies for creating interest in this subject.

Lifting and handling of materials. Many times heavy materials are required to be lifted
to certain height or pulled (hauling) to a certain distance. Though, nowadays machineries are
available for lifting and handling, derricks and pulley are used at sites where machines cannot
reach. Derricks are prepared by tying three or four wooden poles/steel pipes at one end and
these legs are spread out and anchored firmly on the ground. A pulley is fixed at the rope
junction. The rope is attached to the weight and taken through block and tackle for lifting. This
is called field machine. Different pulley have different power gain, hence select the device and
pulley according to the weights needed to be lifted with less power.

Power required to be applied for lifting the weight P in Kgs, P= W(1+f*n)/G, Where, W-
Weight to be lifted in Kgs, f- coefficient of friction of sleeve (0.1), n- No of sleeves in tackle, G-
No of gain. Eg, power required to 2000kgs using 2/3 tackle = 2000*(1+0.1*6)/5= 640 Kgs.
Power can be reduced with more no of sleeves in tackle.

Estimation of load carrying capacity of the different type of ropes. Coir rope,
Manila rope, Nylon rope, Steel wire rope (SWR) etc are used for lifting or handling the weight.
The capacity of each rope is estimated using the formula for its appropriate use.
(a) Capacity New Coir rope = 2 * C2 in Kgs
(b) Capacity New Manila rope = 16 * C2 in Kgs
(c) Capacity New Nylon rope = 32 * C2 in Kgs
(d) Capacity New SWR rope = 96 * C2 in Kgs,
Where C- circumference (π *dia) of the rope in cm.

Coir Manila Nylon SWR

eg, 3cm diameter manila rope can hold, 16* (π *3) = 1419, say 1400kgs of weight.
2

Measuring of water current of a river. Many times, the speed of water flowing in a
river during monsoon needs to be known for performing activities in the river. There is a
saying, “Alam therithu kalai vidu” (know the depth before putting your leg), otherwise, it
will lead to trouble. One may not carry any current measuring instrument always, but a simple
procedure can be followed to measure the current.

50 m
0 sec X sec

Mark 50m straight line on the bank of the river. Throw a floating material (Thermo coal,
dry flower, dry leaf, etc...) away from the river bank towards center of the river. Measure the
time taken from one end to other end (i.e. time taken to cover some distance) say x sec (eg. 25
sec). Knot is the unit for measurement of the speed equal to one nautical mile (1.852 km) per
hour, ie 1 knot =0.5m/sec. The current of river water = 50/x=50/25=5m/s = 2/0.5=4 knots. Any
task can be undertaken when the current in less than 1.5 to 2.0 knots. If the river current is
more than two, one should not enter in to the river without safety equipment.

Measurement of Gap. It is not possible to take the rope across the gap and measure
the width when water is flowing with full speed or the depth of the gap is too deep. To measure
the gap, construct a triangle with a base line on the home bank. Divide the baseline in to four
equal parts. Select an object on the far bank. Project the line from far bank object to a point on
the perpendicular distance of base line. Using triangle theory as shown below, gap can be
calculated.

Measurement of level between two points. Prepare three equal level flat T type
wooden strips (Boning rod). Fix two rods at 1.5m distance on the ground in a level. Place the
third rod where level to be taken and measure the vertical distance above or below the level
line by adjusting the rod. Level difference is measured from the rod position.
 BONING ROD

Holding of rope by an achorage. A picket is hammered in the soil as an anchorage.

Then a cow rope is tied to withstand its pull. Similarly, single or combination of wooden poles
(1:1, 2:1, 3:2:1) are used as an anchorage to resist up to 2000Kgs of pull. Y shape steel plate
held by steel pins (crowbar) are also used as an anchorage up to 6000kgs. Each wooden
picket can hold 350kgs and each steel pin can hold 1000 kgs of pull. Apart from these, bulk
hold fast is used upto 10,000 kgs and wire mesh anchorgae is used up to 21,000kgs of pull.

Steel Pin (Crowbar)

Measurement of distance, height and time. In many occasions distance, height or

angle is to be measured quickly even though it may not be the exact value. When you need an
approximate idea of distance, handy – dandy “rule” is always with you. Your body and its
various parts such as hand, forearm, nose to finger fit, foot and legs are used for measuring
the distance between two points.

Human Body Ruler Used for Measurement

Any one can measure length, angle, weight, time, etc. with human body by calibrating it.
Throughout the history, people have been using themselves to measure length. Like many
real- life math problems don't require exact solutions or precise calculations, an approximate
idea of length can be measured by a handy- dandy "ruler" always nearby. ie human body.
Yes, human body and its various parts can serve as a quick length, angle and time estimator.
These are easy ways to measure almost anything , without needing a ruler and, by using the
parts of human body. Just by looking at the things that are used most frequently, one should
have feel of the item and approximate measure to judge whether it is too large or too small and
avoid problem subsequently.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) writes of Roman architect-engineer Vitruvius Pollio (1st

century B.C.): "... Vitruvius declares that nature has thus arranged the measurements of a
man: four fingers make one palm. and four palms make one foot; six palms make one cubit;
four cubits make once a man's height; four cubits make a pace, and twenty-four palms make a
man's height..." . The cubit is an ancient unit based on the forearm length from the middle
finger tip to the elbow bottom.
 A first step is to choose the body measures, and measure the choices. Many of the
body distances can be used as measures, but one does not need all of them. The important
thing is consistency, using them the same way each time. These estimates are just an
indication. A more accurate way of using human body parts to estimate length is by knowing
the measurements: the width of the palm, the length of the foot, and so on. The idea is to see
how big various things are (fingers, different parts of fingers, combinations of fingers, fist, and
perhaps some things you generally have with you, like keys). Then you can find some specific
part of human body (like the middle of thumb nail, or the end of one of the fingers), which is
just under 2 degrees. This can be the angle measurer. For instance, one can use the
outermost joint of his pointer finger. Not the thumb, which is slightly too big. There are lots of
ways to set up for calibration. The easiest is to just put things against a rule that has already
been calibrated. For human body ruler, one can use an "ordinary ruler". Averaging can be
done to reduce error. For instance, instead of measuring 3 palms and then dividing by 3, just
measuring a single palm.

Measurement of horizontal distance. Calibrate your fingers, top 1/3 of forefinger length, full
forefinger length, hand span length, cubit, foot and one pace distance for measuring the horizontal
distance.

Measurement of vertical distance. Divide the height of the object in to number of

segments, ie each segment can be one to five meter height depending on the overall height of
the object and then measure the vertical distance. Otherwise, use angular measurement to
judge the height of the object.

Measurement of horizontal angle. Horizontal angel can be measured using palm and
finger. Measure of 1o,2o,3o,5o,7o,10o,15o and 25o are shown below.

Measurement of vertical angle. It is simple concept. As the hand length is fixed from
the eye. Close on eye and use the finger or palm height, calibrate the vertical angle with known
horizontal distance. With this vertical angle can be measured.
 Measuring of time. Time can be measured in seconds by counting their normal
conversational rate but interspersing a long word between numbers, such as “Mississippi one,
Mississippi two, Mississippi three … etc. or by saying one elephant, two elephant … ets or by
saying 1001, 1002 … 1099. However, one has to tune themselves for counting in a
comfortable speed by calibrating before by tuning with clock.

Measuring of weight. Calibrate the hand full of water weight and use it as the base for
measuring other weights. Take the shirt hanger and tie plastic cup with threads at both end of
the hanger. Pour handful of calibrated (recorded weight) water on one side , place the material
to be weighed on other side and balance it. The material weight it the known weight of water.

Measuring Angle and Distance with the Thumb. By holding out the thumb to
measure angles, one can tell the distance to things (people, cars, buildings, planes, clouds,
etc). Estimating distance by using only your finger is based on this known fact about human
anatomy: Your arm is about ten times longer than the distance between your eyes. The
distance between your eyes is about 2” apart and the distance from your eye to your extended
finger is about 20” apart. How can this be useful for estimating distance?

To calculate the distance:

1. Hold your right arm out directly in front of you, elbow straight, thumb upright.
2. Align your thumb with one eye closed so that it covers (or aligns) the distant object.
Point marked X in the drawing.
3. Do not move your head, arm or thumb, but switch eyes, so that your open eye is now
closed and the other eye is open. Observe closely where the object now appears with the
other open eye. Your thumb should appear to have moved to some other point: no longer in
front of the object. This new point is marked as Y in the drawing.
4. Estimate this displacement X-Y, by equating it to the estimated size of something you
are familiar with (height of tree, building width, length of a car, power line poles, distance
between nearby objects). In this case, the distant of shed is estimated to be 30m wide. It
appears that 5 shed widths could fit this displacement, or 150m. Now multiply that figure by 10
(the ratio of the length of your arm to the distance between your eyes), and you get the
distance between you and the thicket of blueberry bushes — 300 m away.
5. Another example, hold the arm, look at the thumb, and see a distant car half as high.
Cars are about 5 feet (1.5 meters) high. So the thumb appears 10 feet (3 meters) wide. And
since the thumb is x30 times as far as it seems tall... then the car is something like 300 feet (90
meters) away!

Knuckle

6. Hold the arm straight out in front of the body. Make a fist. Point it at a window. The
window will appear a couple of fists high. The further away the window, the fewer the fists.
Windows in nearby buildings won't even be a fist tall, they will perhaps be a couple of thumb-
widths high. or less. Stick the thumb out sideways. Point the arm at a nearby building. Count
how many thumbs high its windows are. Ok, but to tell how far away it is? One needs to know
two things: very roughly how big windows are (say something like 5 feet),and that the thumb
covers things 30 times bigger. So, a 5 foot window, which seems 2 thumbs high, makes the
thumb look 3 feet wide (5 feet / 2 thumbs), and thus something like 90 feet (3 x 30) away.

Conclusion

Field engineering and human body rulers are not new ideas. Our ancestors have
practiced and succeeded in measuring the distances, angles and heights. One will realize its
importance when a person is in a remote place where nothing is available to support you.
Mobile does not work due to bad signal, difficult to carry a Kg of load to a mountainous, high
altitude and snow covered region or desert with shifting sand dune etc. It is good to equip with
some special power within yourself. I have written this article to share my personal experience
during my service in difficult areas while serving in Corps of Engineers, Indian army and got
impressed with the way my commander measured the distance and angles in the mountainous
region. Only few examples have been sighted here to generate the idea. But one can think
differently and create many methods of his own to adopt the Field Engineering and Body ruler.

References:
The Science of Measurement : A Historical Survey by Herbert Arthur Klein. 1988