SURIGAO EDUCATION CENTER

Km. 2, National Highway, Surigao City

Civil Engineering Orientation

Engr. Carmel S. Burlat, MSCE

Faculty, CEA
 After completing this course,
the student must be able to:

1. Understand the history of Civil Engineering and the profession

2. Familiarize with the practices of Civil Engineers in relation to their
interaction with society
3. Know the trend of Civil Engineering development
4. Understand the relationship of Civil Engineering to Environmental
Science
 Outline of the Course:
1. History of Civil Engineering
2. Civil Engineering and Society and Other Professions
3. Current Fields/Careers of Civil Engineering
a) Structural Engineering
b) Construction Engineering and Management
c) Geotechnical Engineering
d) Water Resources Engineering
e) Transportation Engineering
f) Environment and Energy
4. Civil Engineering, Sustainability and the Future
5. Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
What is Engineering?
 The word engineer originates from the
Latin term ingenerare, meaning to
invent, to create or to regulate
 It is the professional art of applying
scientific principles to every day things
to help make life easier.
What is Engineering?
Engineers use their knowledge of
math and natural sciences to create,
using the materials
and forces of nature,
solutions to problems
that affect mankind
 Engineer vs. Scientist
 • Deviations between engineers and scientists
arise through the differences in the ways both
apply their educations in mathematical and
natural sciences to their work
 What is a Civil Engineer?
 One who improves the quality of life
through the production of infrastructure
 Buildings, bridges and other structures –
Highways
 Dams and levees
 Water treatment plants, waste disposal
 This infrastructure must be safe,
functional, elegant and economically
sound
 Why We Need Civil Engineers
 • Make sure our human habitat is livable
 • Make sure we use resources wisely –
Sustainable development
 • Help maintain our competitiveness in the
global economy – Increase productivity
 Specialization in Civil
Engineering
 Construction and Management
Engineering
 Structural Engineering
 Geotechnical Engineering
 Transportation Engineering
 Environmental and Energy Engineering
 Water Resources Engineering
 SURIGAO EDUCATION CENTER
Km. 2, National Highway, Surigao City

History of Engineering
What problems did the
first “engineers” solve?
 Safety
 Fortifications
 Walls
 Water
 Wells
 Canals
 Food
 Canals
 Irrigation
Earliest Engineers?

3300 b.c. - Egyptians develop

dikes and canals.
Archeological records show the
builders used primitive surveying
instruments to lay out the canals.
Next, the King’s Monuments!
 2700 b.c. - Imhotep
builds first pyramid at
Sakkara
 2500 b.c. - Great
Pyramids built at Giza
 Depends heavily on
labor - time is not a
concern
The People’s Comfort
 2000 b.c. - Sumerian builders develop
canals, temples, city walls
 1800 b.c. - Hammarubi develops first
building code in Babylonia
 700 b.c. - Assyrians develop the first public
water supply - 30 miles of canals to feed
Ninevah. (First use of concrete!)
 200 b.c. - Water supply to Pergamum
includes an elevated reservoir, line pressure
over 300 psi.
Trade!
 450 b.c. - Greek
architectons build
harbor at Samos
 200 b.c. - 3300 foot
long tunnel through
solid limestone at
Samos
 Ship building, light
houses, etc.
Conquest!
 312 b.c. - Romans build
Appian Way
 214 b.c. Chinese build 1700
mile long wall
 Conquest of other lands
leads to sharing of
knowledge
 Moors in Spain
 Roman influence throughout
the west
Roman Creations
 312 b.c. - Appian Way, Aqua Appius
 17 b.c. - Aggripa builds Pantheon
 98 a.d. - Alcantra bridge in Spain
 175 feet high, 600 feet long
 dry masonry construction
 122 a.d. - Hadrian’s Wall
 Roman cities were planned, developed
to fit the surrounding environment
Other Cultures
 Mayan: 12,000 B.C. to 1600 AD
 Teotihuacan in central Mexico had a
population of 200,000 in 350 AD.
 Calendars, roads, temples, chariots
 Chinese: 21,000 B.C. to present
 Shang Dynasty: 1700 BC – writing
 Han Dynasty: 200 BC – universities
 Silk, paper, gunpowder, printing
Western Development
 500 - 1300 a.d. - Middle Ages
 Little development
 Castles, windmills, ship building
 Cathedrals
 1100 - 1200 a.d. - Term engineer arises
 Based on “in generare” - to create
 Often built “engines of war”
Western Development
 1300 - 1750 a.d. - Great scientific advances
 Previous - trial & error
 Sometimes ran afoul of the church
 1747 - French build first Engineering school
 1771 - the term “Civil Engineering” is used
 1780 - James Watt builds practical steam
engine - Mechanical Engineering
Western Development
 1800 (?) - Eli Whitney introduces mass
production in factories - beginnings of
Industrial Engineering
 1844 - Samuel Morse invents the
telegraph - Electrical Engineering
 1885 - Karl Benz begins production of
gasoline driven automobiles.
The Pace Increases
 1903 - Wright Brother fly at Kitty Hawk
 1917 - Commercial air-mail service
 1930 – 43 Airlines in the US
 1957 – Sputnik
 1961 – Manned space flight
 1969 – Moon landing!
Why Study History?
 Keeps our perspective on
the “impossible”.
 Avoid repeating mistakes.
 Shows us the importance of
“mundane” developments.
 Helps us see how historical
cultural differences may
impact modern solutions.
“Its all been done”
In the late 1800’s, the head of the U.S. Patent
Office appealed to Congress to close his
office, saying “Everything that can ever be
invented, has been.”
Lesson from the Past
 Ankor Wat built by
Suryavarman II
(1113-c. 1150)
 Most visible remnant
of a highly productive
society
 May have been wiped
out buy Malaria
Who stopped “the Plague”
City life in England in 1842
 Shift from agricultural to industrial production
 Overcrowding rampant
 Child laborers
 Average age of death
 Gentry - 43
 Tradesman - 30
 Laborers 22
 For every death by old age or violence,
8 died from disease
Sanitary Conditions
 People living in basements, streets.
 Water from public wells
or pumped from river
to shared standpipes.
 Sewage, trash thrown
into gutters.
 In London the Thames
began to stink.
A New Plague Arrives
 Cholera arrives from India.
 In Paris, 7000 die in 18 days.
 Britain's industrialized
cities lose 22,000.
 Doctors disagree on treatment.
 Under medical care,
25%-59% of patients died.
The Plague Ends
 Insurance Actuaries determine that
the closer you live to the Thames,
the higher your risk of dying.
 Laws forbid pumping
drinking water
from the Thames.
 New sewers.
 The plague ends!
Specialization in Civil
Engineering
Construction and Management Engineering
Structural Engineering
Geotechnical Engineering
Transportation Engineering
Environmental and Energy Engineering
Water Resources Engineering
Structural Engineering
 Design of new structures
 Upgrading existing structures
 Intelligent use of new technologies and
materials to control structural behavior
 Structures include buildings, bridges,
offshore platforms, transmission towers,
and other specialized facilities
Structural Engineering
Construction Engineering
 Concepts and designs become reality
 Management skills
 project cost estimating and scheduling
 financial planning, labor coordination
and supervision
 Geotechnical Engineering
 Geotechnical Engineering is concerned with
 engineering behavior of earth materials
 • Geotechnical engineers:
 Investigate existing subsurface conditions (tunnels
excavations, pipelines)
 Determine physical and chemical properties relevant to
project considered
 Assess risks posed by site conditions
 Design earthworks and structural foundations
 Monitor earthwork and foundation construction
 Transportation Engineering
 Planning, Design, Operation and Maintenance of
safe and efficient transportation systems
 Incorporating new technologies to improve system
performance
 Intelligent Transportation Systems
 Environmental Engineering
 Protect & improve environmental quality
 natural systems
 engineered systems
 Protect human health & well-being
 provide safe drinking water
 waste water treatment systems
 hazardous waste site clean-ups
 Water Resources Engineering
 Physical control of water
 public water supply
 flood control
 irrigation, navigation etc.
 Computer modeling of water flow
 Performance requirements for lock and dam
structures