Definitions

Civil Engineering
An engineer trained
in the design and
construction of
public works, such
as bridges, dams,
and other large
facilities.
Beginnings
Indus Valley Civilisation
 Building Materials
Materials were chosen based on availability and climate.
• Wood was readily
• Ruins of Babylon available in China.
(present day Iraq). All Traditional Chinese
that remains of the wooden architecture
famous city-state is a changed little over
thousands of years.
mound of broken mud-
brick dwellings.
www.wikipedia.org
• Greece consists almost
• View of the entirely of limestone with
city of many sources of fine marble.
Machu Therefore many Greek
Picchu structures were constructed
with limestone and marble.
constructe
d from www.wikipedia.org

stone cut
from the
surroundin
g
mountains.
www.wikipedia.org
 Vernacular Architecture
Methods of construction
that use locally available
resources and traditions to
address local needs.
www.wikipedia.org

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African Hut at Bana, a

small village of
An igloo, an Inuit winter dwelling Cameroon
 Vernacular Architecture

www.wikipedia.org
www.wikipedia.org

Apache wickiup built of brush,

Traditional
www.wikipedia.org Nepalese house built
grass, or reed
of stone and clay
Southern African rondavel
(or banda)
 The Pyramids

Bearing Wall

Stepped Pyramid

This pyramid was a solid structure, but

many early buildings were bearing wall
types. Bearing walls are solid walls that
provide support for each other and for the
roof.
Great Pyramid of Khufu
• Load-bearing walls are one of the earliest
forms of construction.
The Pyramids

Kukulkan's Pyramid
Modern Pyramids
The Parthenon
 How early problem of constructing door and
window openings in bearing walls without
sacrificing support solved ?
• post-and-lintel system, in building
construction, a system in which two
upright members, the posts, hold up a
third member, the lintel, laid horizontally
across their top surfaces. All structural
openings have evolved from this system

• Post-and-lintel construction is an
example of an early frame system.
 How was span limitation of post and lintel
construction solved by Romans ?

The Romans developed the arch to

overcome the limitations of the post and
lintel
 Arches
An arch is a curved structure for spanning an opening, designed to support a
vertical load primarily by axial compression. Because they are made from
smaller and lighter blocks of stone, they are easier to erect. Blocks are
placed in a curved formation in such a way that they give each other support.
The wedge-shaped units in the arch are called voussoir (voo SWAR). The
keystone is the voussoir at the crown of the arch, serving to lock the others
in place.

Keystone
The Vault
Domes
Pantheon

The Pantheon is an example of an arch

and dome system. It is the oldest standing
domed structure in Rome
Colosseum
Great Wall of China
Water Supply
Road Systems
Early Bridge Designs

www.wikipedia.org
 Roman Bridges
©istockphoto.com

istockphoto.com

A Roman bridge crosses the Afrin River in

northern Syria and is still in use today.
©istockphoto.com

Roman bridge in Vaison la Romaine,

south France
After the Fall of Rome
istockphoto.com

www.wikipedia.org

The first arch bridge in the world to be made out of cast

iron, a material which was previously far too expensive
to use for large structures
Structural Steel
istockphoto.com

Perhaps the best known

structural steel framed
building is the Empire State
Building, completed in 1931.
Reinforced Concrete
istockphoto.com

The Burj Khalifa (United Arab

Emirates) is the tallest man-
made structure ever built. It is
supported by a reinforced
concrete core using a special
concrete mix.
 Reinforced Concrete Bridges

www.wikipedia.org

Cedar Avenue Bridge (actually carrying Tenth Street) in Minneapolis,

MN over the Mississippi is a reinforced concrete open spandrel arch
bridge.
 Civil Engg. Education
• First private college to teach Civil engineering in the
United States was Norwich University(1819) by Captain
Alden Partridge
▪ First degree -Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1835)
▪ The Class of Civil Engineering and Mining was founded
at King's College London in 1838
▪ Private College for Civil Engineers in Putney was
established in 1839
▪ UK's first Chair of Engineering was established at the
University of Glasgow in 1840
▪ The Roorkee College was established in 1847 AD as the
First Engineering College in the British Empire.
 Image Resources

Microsoft, Inc. (2008). Clip art. Retrieved August 26, 2008, from
http://office. microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx
Wikipedia. Retrieved January 11, 2009, from www.wikipedia.org
iStockphoto. Retrieved January 11.2009, from
www.istockphoto.com
 References
Williams, T. I. (2000). A history of invention. New York:
Checkmark Books.