ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Chapter 1:  
Background, History, and   
Wonders of Civil Engineering  
  
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Contents  

• ​Course Outcomes & Program

 Outcomes
• ​Learning Outcomes
• ​Civil Engineering As A
Profession ​• ​Civil Engineering’s
Historical ​Inheritance
• ​The Ancient Engineers
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING  
Course Outcome & Program Outcome ​This
chapter address CO1PO1/PLO1

CO1 : Apply the knowledge of being professional in

engineering practices and attributes. PO1 : Apply
knowledge of mathematics, natural science, engineering
fundamentals and an engineering specialization to wide
practical procedures and practices.
PLO1 : Knowledge
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Learning Outcome  
At the end of this session, students should be able to:

1. ​Define civil engineering as a profession ​2.

Describe civil engineering’s historical inheritance ​3.
Explain the ancient engineers
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING ​Civil

Engineering As A Profession

​In the western world, the origins of civil engineering as a profession

can be found in the years including the Industrial Revolution, the late
18​th ​and early 19th centuries.

​The scientific discoveries the new commercial needs of the Industrial

Revolution converged to create an ideal environment for innovation.
During this period, certain military engineers began to work on
nonmilitary, or civil, projects.

​The term civil engineer was adopted to emphasize this difference. In

response to the growth of these new civil projects, the British
Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) was chartered in 1818 and the
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) was founded in 1852.
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING ​Civil

Engineering As A Profession
• ​What is an Engineering ?

❑ ​According to the ​Accreditation Board for Engineering and

Technology (ABET)

• ​ENGINEERING is :
​Profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural
sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied to
develop ways to utilize economically the materials and nature for
the benefit of mankind

❑ ​According to the ​Institution of Engineer Australia ​(IE Australia)

• ​ENGINEERING is :
​A profession directed towards application advancement of skill
based upon knowledge in maths, S&T , integrated with business
and management
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Continued...
 ❑​Who is an Engineer?

I​ ndividuals who combine knowledge of

sciences, mathematic and economic to
solve technical problems that confront
society.
​“The engineer is a ​problem solver”
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
Continued...

What is Civil Engineer?

• ​A broad field of engineering that ​encompasses ​the ​conception​,
design​, ​construction ​and ​maintenance ​of fixed structures, or ​public
works​, as they are related to earth, water, transportation systems,
or civilization and their processes.
 • ​American Society of Civil Engineers 1961 (ASCE)

"​ Civil engineering is the profession in which a knowledge of the

mathematical and physical sciences gained by study,
experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop
ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of nature
for the progressive well-being of humanity in creating,
improving, and protecting the environment, in providing facilities
for community living, industry and transportation, and in
providing structures for the use of humanity.”
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING ​•

Birth of engineering disciplines

 ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING ​ ​Civil

Engineering’s Historical Inheritance

​After 4000 B.C., when humans began to abandon the

 nomadic way of life, the need for water, permanent shelter,
religious monuments and burial sites emerged.

​Early river valley civilizations, such as those around the Tigris

and Euphrates (Mesopotamia), Nile (Egypt), Indus (India),
and Hwang-ho (China), required canal systems to irrigate
surrounding land so that farmers could raise sufficient food
to support the population.
be constructed. These were the
​Kings or rulers desired houses larger challenges that occupied the first
than huts of stone, clay and priests engineers.
wanted homes for the gods at least as In the 18th century, John Smeaton was the first
person to actually call himself a “Civil Engineer’.
grand. To protect the growing wealth of
these early ​settlements, walls needed to
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
Continued...
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
Continued...
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING ​The

Ancient Engineers
• ​The Original 7 Wonders of the World

ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

 Great Pyramid of Giza  
• ​Date of Construction
​2584-2561 BC
• ​Builder
​Egyptians
• ​Notable feature
​Believed to have been
built as the tomb of
fourth dynasty
Egyptian Pharaoh
Khufu
• ​Date of destruction
​Still in existence
• ​Cause of destruction
​Still in existence
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
 Hanging Garden of Babylon  
• ​Date of Construction
​Around 600 BC
• ​Builder
​Babylonians
• ​Notable feature
​Multileveled gardens reaching 22 meters (75 feet) high,
complete with machinery for circulating water. Large trees
grew on the roof.
• ​Date of destruction
​After 1​st ​century
• ​Cause of destruction
​Earthquake
ECM157 –

INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

 Mausoleum of ​Halicarnassus  
• ​Date of Construction
​351 BC
• ​Builder
​Carians, Persians,
Greeks
• ​Notable feature
​Stood approximately 45
m (150ft) tall, with each
of the four ​sides a
domed with sculptural
reliefs.
• ​Date of destruction
​by AD 1494
• ​Cause of destruction
​The original structure was destroyed. A new structure was
built and was damaged by an earthquake and eventually
 disassemble by European.
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

Colossus of Rhodes  
• ​Date of Construction
• ​292-280 BC
• ​Builder
• ​Greeks
• ​Notable feature
• ​A giant statue of the Greek god Helios,
god of the sun, 35m (100 ft) tall
• ​Date of destruction
• ​226 BC
• ​Cause of destruction
• ​Earthquake
• ​Modern location
• ​Rhodes, Greece
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
 Statue of Zeus at Olympia  
• ​Date of Construction
• ​466-456 BC (Temple)
• ​435 BC (Statue)
• ​Builder
• ​Greeks
• ​Notable feature
• ​Occupied the whole
width of the aisle of
the temple that ​was
built to house it, and
was 12 m (40ft) tall
• ​Date of destruction
​ ​– 6​th ​centuries AD
• ​5th
• ​Cause of destruction
• ​Fire
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
 Lighthouse of Alexandria  
• ​Date of Construction
• ​c. 280 BC
• ​Builder
• ​Hellenistic Egypt (Greeks)
• ​Notable feature
• ​Between 115 and 135 m (380-440ft) high, it was among tallest
structures on Earth for many centuries. The name of the island
that is was built on, Pharos, eventually became the Latin word
for lighthouse, ​pharos
• ​Date of destruction
• ​AD 1303-1480
• ​Cause of destruction
• ​Earthquake
ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL
ENGINEERING

Temple of 
 Artemis at Ephesus  

• ​Date of Construction
• ​c. 550 BC
• ​Builder
• ​Lydians, Persians, Greeks
• ​Notable feature
• ​It took 120 years to build. Herostratus burned it down to
achieve lasting fame. Rebuilt by Alexander the Great only to
be destroyed again by the Goths.
• ​Date of destruction
• ​356 BC (by Herostratus) AD 262 (by the Goths)
• ​Cause of destruction
• ​Arson by Herostratus, Plundering
• ​The Seven Wonders of the Modern World ​ ​It
was chosen by the American Society of Civil Engineers
Channel Tunnel

CN Tower

Golden Gate Bridge

Itaipu Dam

The Empire State Building

Panama Canal

North Sea Protection Works

ECM157 – INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING
Thank you…