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
18th 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?

Individuals 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.
In the 18th century,
 Kings or rulers desired houses larger than huts of stone, John Smeaton was the
clay and priests wanted homes for the gods at least as first person to actually
call himself a “Civil
grand. To protect the growing wealth of these early Engineer’.
settlements, walls needed to be constructed. These were
the challenges that occupied the first engineers.
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 1st 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
• 5th – 6th centuries AD
• 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…