FIELDS OF
CIVIL ENGINEERING
STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING
Structural Engineering
Structural engineering is the technical specialty that
deals with the analysis and design of constructed
structures.
A structure is always subjected to the
many “loads” the environment forces upon it. These
loads include the omnipresent gravitational load of its
own weight (called the dead load), the weight of things
moving about in or upon the structure (the live load),
and event-driven loads originated from the occurrence
of earthquakes, strong wind, or heavy snow.
Structural design aims at providing a
structure with sufficient level of resistance against these
loads with minimum cost.
The structure is the collection of
element within a construction that are assumed, and
designed, to support the loads applied to the structure
and transmit them safely to the foundations.
Components of a Structure and its
Members
Structures can have many forms; they may not even be
visible to the casual observer. For example, Figure
shows the reinforced concrete frame for a multi-storey
building under construction. The frame acts as the
‘skeleton’ of the building and, like the skeleton of a
human being, when the building is complete and clad in
brick, glass or stone, the skeleton will not be visible.
Nevertheless, it is the skeleton that supports the entire
load: the outside cladding, the floors, services and so-
forth being hung from or otherwise supported on the
from.
SLABS
The primary elements in a frame are those that most
immediately support the applied loads. These are
generally the floor slabs. The function of the slabs is to
transmit the loading from where it is applied to those
members that supports the slabs. This requires the slabs
to transfer the loads in a direction perpendicular to the
direction of the loading. Normally, the applied loading
acts vertically, because this is the way gravity acts; the
slabs have to transfer the load horizontally to
supporting beams, walls or columns.
BEAM
The second form of member is a beam.
A beam collects the load from one or more slabs and
transmit it to the members supporting the beam. This
may be another beam, or a wall or column. Beams
behave in the same way as slabs but, because they
concentrate the load from slabs, they tend to carry
much higher load intensities.
TRUSS
A particular form of a beam is a truss.
This is a beam made up of small individual units usually
arranged to form a triangulated structure.
FOUNDATION
Foundations take the loads from the columns and walls
and transfer them to the underlying soil or rock.
Because the soil is normally much weaker than the
material forming the structure, the foundation generally
has to spread the load over a sufficient area of the soil
for the stresses in the soil to be limited to levels that
will not cause excessive settlements.
Hierarchy of Members in a Structure
Structural Reliability
The many loads a structure must withstand during its
life span are mostly of a “random” nature, meaning it
cannot be defined precisely with respect to its
magnitude and time of occurrence. So are the
resistance provided by the size and material of
structural components. Design in the face of uncertainty
requires the application of probability and statistics.
Structural reliability is the methodology
applying these mathematical tools to the load-
resistance analysis in structural design. It is used in the
development of design codes and specifications that are
followed by designers to provide acceptable levels of
safety against all loads.
The principle aim of structural design is the
assurance of satisfactory performance within the
constraints of economy. A primary complication toward
achieving this in practice is imperfect execution and the
lack of complete information. The existence of
uncertainties in structural engineering has long been
recognized and quantitatively accounted for through
the use of safety factors in design.
Reliability can be defined as the probabilistic
measure of assurance of performance with respect to
some prescribed condition(s). A condition can refer to
an ultimate limit state (such as collapse) or
serviceability limit state (such as excessive deflection
and/or vibration).
Earthquake Engineering
Disaster means occurrence of uncontrolled, painful and
serious conditions. There are various natural disasters
like:
 Earthquakes
 Volcanic eruptions
 Cyclones
 Fire
 Landslides
 Tsunami
 Flood
Earthquakes, cyclone and fire needs special
considerations in building design and construction since
they are more frequent, widespread and more
disastrous.
An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking of the earth
surface caused by the breaking and shifting of rocks
beneath. During earthquake, ground motion occurs in a
random fashion in all directions radiating from a point
within earth crust, called epicenter. It causes vibrations
of structures and induce inertia forces on them. As a
result, structure may collapse resulting into loss of
property and lives. Earthquakes do not kill people,
vulnerable buildings do so. Hence there is need of
designing earthquake resistant buildings, especially in
the earthquake prone areas.
Depending upon the possible causes, the earthquakes
may be classified as:
1. Natural earthquake - natural earthquakes may be
due to:
 active faults
 movement of tectonic plates or
 due to volcanic eruptions.
2. Earthquakes due to induced activities - These are
caused by vibrations induced by atomic explosions and
collapse of ground due to faulty mining.
Wind Engineering
A survey of engineering literature for the past
150years reveals many references to structural failures
caused by wind.
It is important to realize that a large percentage
of building failures from wind have occurred during the
buildings’ erection.
Strong wind caused by a hurricane, a tornado,
or a storm creates effects on structures that are also
time-varying and multi-directional. Strong wind around
a structure may push against a surface while creating a
partial vacuum behind another structural surface.
Unlike earthquakes, which occur infrequently,
especially the damaging ones, strong wind in some
areas occurs frequently and so is the damage it incurs.
Design against such wind-related effects is the realm of
wind engineering. Here again, the design approach is to
protect human lives with a reasonable cost.
A cyclone is a storm accompanied by high speed
whistling and howling winds. It brings torrential rains. A
cyclone storm develops over tropical ocean and blows
at speed as high as 200–240 km/hour. It is usually
accompanied by lightning, thunder and continuous
downpour of rain.
The following care should be taken in designing
buildings in cyclone prone areas:
 Foundations should be deeper
 R.C.C. framed structures are to be preferred
over load bearing structures
 Sloping roofs should be avoided.
 Cantilever projections should be avoided.
 Roof and parapet wall should be properly
anchored to the columns and walls.
 Height of the buildings should be restricted.
 Suitable wind load should be considered in the
building design.
 Openings in the wall should be less.
 Structure should not rest on loose soil.
Fire Engineering
In the event of a fire in a building, the high temperature
created by the fire may cause the building material to
lose its strength and eventually fail under the weight of
the building.
Fire engineering in the context of structural
engineering deals with the effective application of
protective materials to the structural components such
as steel beams and columns such that sufficient time is
provided for the occupants to escape and the
firefighters to arrive.
The research in fire engineering provides data
to be incorporated into design and construction codes
and specifications.
A building may be made more fire resistant by:
1. Using suitable materials - the fire resisting material is
having the following characters:
 It should not disintegrate under the effect of
heat
 It should not expand under heat so as to
introduce unnecessary stresses in the building
 The material should not catch fire easily
 It should not lose its strength when subjected to
fire.
2. Taking precautions in building construction - a
building may be made more fire resistant by minimizing
use of combustible materials, protecting steel by fire
resistant paints and providing stairs at suitable positions
and protecting them from fire.
3. By providing fire alarm systems and fire
extinguishers - all important buildings should be
provided with fire alarm system. Alarm may be manual
or automatic. Automatic alarm senses the smoke and
activate bells.
Bridge Engineering
Bridges are important to everyone. But they are not
seen or understood in the same way, which is what
makes their study so fascinating.
A bridge is a key element in a transportation
system for three reasons:
 It likely controls the capacity.
 It is the highest cost per mile.
 If the bridge fails, the system fails.
If the width of a bridge is insufficient to carry
the number of lanes required to handle the traffic
volume, the bridge will be a constriction to the traffic
flow. If the strength of a bridge is deficient and unable
to carry heavy trucks, load limits will be posted and
truck traffic will be rerouted. The bridge controls both
the volume and weight of the traffic carried.
Because a bridge is a key element in a
transportation system, balance must be achieved
between handling future traffic volume and loads and
the cost of a heavier and wider bridge structure.
Strength is always a foremost consideration but so
should measures to prevent deterioration. The designer
of new bridges has control over these parameters and
must make wise decisions so that capacity and cost are
in balance, and safety is not compromised.
Some structural engineers specialize in bridge design
and construction. Bridge design can be categorized
according to material and bridge type. One unique
feature of bridge design is it is closely integrated with
construction. From the bridge foundation to the
superstructure, the process of construction and
erection often requires detailed analysis by the design
engineers and likely dictates the designers’ choice of  Heat insulation
bridge type.
 Sound insulation
 Stone Arch Bridge
Forensic Engineering
 Wooden Bridges
Forensic Engineering refers to the study of causes of an
 Metal Truss Bridges
engineering event, usually a disaster or failure of some
 Metal Arch Bridges kind. In the context of structural engineering, it refers to
the investigation of a structural failure.
 Suspension Bridges
Activities associated with forensic engineering
 Reinforced Concrete Bridges include determination if the physical or technical causes
 Girder Bridges of accidents or failures, preparation of reports, and
presentation of testimony or advisory opinions that
Building Engineering assist in resolution of related disputes.

Structural engineers often become building design
specialists because building design is more frequently in
demand than bridge or dam designs, especially in urban
centers. Building engineers also design special buildings
such as stadiums and large dome structures.
The following are the basic elements of a
building:
1. Foundation
2. Plinth
In case of major disasters, often a team of
experts are assembled to study the cause of the disaster
and to make recommendations to prevent future
disasters. Even when the cause of disaster is terrorism,
forensic engineering would reveal the weakness in
design and provide guidance for future designs.
 In examining the activities of the ASCE, one sees
that the scope of civil engineering investigations
can be quite large, encompassing the following
disciplines:

3. Walls and columns Structures

4. Sills, lintels and chejjas  Geotechnical works
5. Doors and windows  Highways
6. Floors  Waterway, port, coastal, and ocean facilities
7. Roofs  Culverts and pipelines
8. Steps, stairs and lifts  Air transportation and aerospace
9. Finishing work  Environmental facilities
10. Building services.  Hydraulics, irrigation, and drainage installations

Basic Requirements of a Building  Architectural technology

The planning and construction of a building should be  Materials engineering

aimed at fulfilling the following requirements:
 Strength and stability
 Dimensional stability
 Resistance to dampness
 Resistance to fire
Forensic engineers commonly are concerned with the
engineering aspects of legal problems, the activities of
civil forensic engineer are much broader, addressing all
issues of failures of constructed facilities, legal or not.
This is demonstrated by the following stated purposes
of the eight current committees and task committees of
the ASCE/TCFE (ASCE 2000):
 Committee on Dissemination of Failure
Information (CDFI)

 Committee on Practices to Reduce Failures

 Forensic Practices Committee

 Committee on Education

 Committee on Technology Implementation

 Publications Committee

 Task Committee on Avoiding Failures Caused by

Computer Misuse

 Task Committee on Lift-Slab Construction