HISTORY

OF
CIVIL
ENGINEERI
NG
CREATED BY: CHRISTIAN PAUL B.
BASITO

BSCE-1B
OBJECTIVES
THE LISTENERS WILL BE ABLE TO LEARN:

 HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING - ANCIENT

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES, PREHISTORIC CIVIL
ENGINEERING STRUCTURE

 THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CIVIL ENGINEERS

THROUGHOUT HISTORY

 THE FAMOUS CIVIL ENGINEERING PROJECTS

 DEVELOPMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEERING is everything you see that’s been built around us.

It’s about roads and railways, schools, offices, hospitals, water and power supply and much more. The kinds of
things we take for granted but would find life very hard to live without.
HISTORY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING -
ANCIENT CONSTRUCTION
TECHNIQUES, PREHISTORIC CIVIL
ENGINEERING STRUCTURES
MANUAL LABOR: THE FIRST ENGINEERING TOOL
Civil engineering involves the design, construction, and maintenance of
works such as roads, bridges, and buildings. It’s a science that includes a
variety of disciplines including soils, structures, geology, and other fields.
Thus the history of civil engineering is closely associated with the history
of advancement in these sciences. In ancient history, most of the
construction was carried out by artisans, and technical expertise was
limited. Tasks were accomplished by the utilization of manual labor only,
without the use of sophisticated machinery, since it did not exist.
Therefore, civil engineering works could only be realized with the
utilization of a large number of skilled workers over an extended period
of time.
 PREHISTORIC AND ANCIENT CIVIL ENGINEERING
STRUCTURES
It might be appropriate to assume that the science of civil engineering
truly commenced between 4000 and 2000 BC in Egypt when
transportation gained such importance that it led to the development of
the wheel. According to the historians, the Pyramids were constructed
in Egypt during 2800-2400 BC and may be considered as the first large
structure construction ever. The Great Wall of China that was
constructed around 200 BC is considered another achievement of
ancient civil engineering. The Romans developed extensive structures
in their empire, including aqueducts, bridges, and dams. A scientific
approach to the physical sciences concerning civil engineering was
implemented by Archimedes in the third century BC, by utilizing the
Archimedes Principle concerning buoyancy and the Archimedes screw
for raising water.
PYRAMIDS COLLOSEUM
OF GIZA GREAT WALL
OF CHINA
 THE ROLES OF CIVIL AND MILITARY
ENGINEER IN ANCIENT TIMES
As stated above, civil engineering is considered to be
the first main discipline of engineering, and the
engineers were in fact military engineers with
expertise in military and civil works. During the era of
battles or operations, the engineers were engaged to
assist the soldiers fighting in the battlefield by making
catapults, towers, and other instruments used for
fighting the enemy. However, during peace time, they
were concerned mainly with the civil activities such as
building fortifications for defense, making bridges,
canals, etc.
 Civil Engineering in the 18th - 20th Century
Until the recent era, there was no major difference between the terms civil
engineering and architecture, and they were often used interchangeably. It was
in the 18th century that the term civil engineering was firstly used
independently from the term military engineering. The first private college in
the United States that included Civil Engineering as a separate discipline was
Norwich University established in the year 1819. Civil engineering societies
were formed in United States and European countries during the 19th century,
and similar institutions were established in other countries of the world during
the 20th century. The American Society of Civil Engineers is the first national
engineering society in the United States. In was founded in 1852 with members
related to the civil engineering profession located globally. The number of
universities in the world that include civil engineering as a discipline have
increased tremendously during the 19th and the 20th centuries, indicating the
importance of this technology.
Modern Concepts In Civil Engineering
Numerous technologies have assisted in the
advancement of civil engineering in the modern
world, including high-tech machinery, selection of
materials, test equipment, and other sciences.
However, the most prominent contributor in this
field is considered to be computer-aided design
(CAD) and computer-aided manufacture (CAM).
Civil engineers use this technology to achieve an
efficient system of construction, including
manufacture, fabrication, and erection. Three-
dimensional design software is an essential tool
for the civil engineer that facilitates him in the
efficient designing of bridges, tall buildings, and
other huge complicated structures.
The Most
Influential Civil
Engineers
throughout
History
Before the term “civil engineering”
even had meaning,
ARCHIMEDES OF SYRACUSE
was paving the way for
generations that followed him. He
invested the compound pulley,
which turned out to be one of the
most important inventions in
history, and also developed
engineering principles for fluid
ARCHIMEDES
displacement.
OF SYRACUSE
(287-212 BC)
COMPOUND
PULLEY
JOHN SMEATON is considered to be
the first civil engineer and is often
referred to as the “Father of civil
engineering”. He worked to create
WINDMILLS AND
WATERWHEELS during the
Industrial Revolution and published
a paper about the correlation
between pressure and velocity for
objects moving through the air.
Smeaton had an extensive series of
commissions for the design of JOHN
bridges, canals, harbors and SMEATON
lighthouses (1724-1792)
WINDMILLS AND WATERWHEELS
EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE
While Smeaton gets the title of
“Father of Civil Engineering,”
BENJAMIN WRIGHT has been
declared the “Father of American
Civil Engineering.” He was the
man in charge of constructing the
erie, delaware, hudson,
chesapeake, and ohio canals. Five
of Wright’s nine children
followed in their father’s
footsteps and became civil BENJAMIN
engineers as well. WRIGHT
(1770-1842)
ERIE CANAL CHESAPEAKE AND DELAWARE CANAL

HUDSON
SQUIRE WHIPPLE designed and
built a weight lock scale that had
a capacity of 300 tons, which
proved especially useful to build
bridges. He used his invention to
weigh canal boats and also built
several short span iron bridges for
the New York and Erie Railroad.
Although his designs became
known around the world, he’s
perhaps best known for his work SQUIRE
on the Erie Canal. WHIPPLE
(1804-1888)
WEIGHT LOCK SCALE
 One of the most versatile civil
engineers in history is
ISAMBARD KINGDOM
BRUNEL, who became famous
for designing tunnels, railroad
lines, bridges, and ships. His most
well-known accomplishment was
creating the network of tunnels,
viaducts, and bridges for the
Great Western Railway that
linked London to Bristol. ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL
(1806-1859)
NETWORK OF TUNNELS,
VIADUCTS, AND BRIDGES
 An Englishman, SIR HENRY
BESSEMER, is credited for
inventing the first mass-
producing steel process that led to
the development of the modern
skyscraper. He patented a de-
carbonization process that utilized
blasts of air in 1855, and he was
later knighted for his contribution
to the scientific community.

HENRY BESSEMER
(1813-1898)
FIRST MASS-PRODUCING STEEL
PROCESS
 A former Harvard professor,
ARTHUR CASAGRANDE
developed the design principles
used in the construction of earth
and rock dams throughout the
world. While working as a
consultant to the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, he contributed to
theoretical work in the field of soil
behavior and the construction of
many dams around the world.
ARTHUR CASAGRANDE
(1902-1981)
WINDMILLS AND WATERWHEELS
 THE
FAMOUS
CIVIL
ENGINEERI
NG
PROJECTS
ROOKLYN BRIDGE
Brooklyn Bridge is the first steel-wire hangedbridge in New York City that links
Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is one of the ancient hanged bridges in the United States that
was completed in 1883. Brooklyn Bridge was designed by John Augustus Roebling.
Started in 1869 and completed fourteen years later in 1883, it connects the boroughs of
Manhattan and Brooklyn, spanning the East River. It has a primary span of one,595.5 feet
(486.3 m) and turned into the first steel-twine suspension bridge built. It was first named
the “New York and Brooklyn Bridge” and the “East River Bridge”, however it became
later dubbed as the “Brooklyn Bridge”, and formally was named as such by the city
government in 1915. Since opening, it has become an icon of New York City and turned
into specified a countrywide historic Landmark in 1964 and a national historical Civil
Engineering Landmark in 1972.
OLDEN GATE BRIDGE
Joseph B. Strauss and Charles A. Ellis with Strauss Engineering Organization designed
Golden Gate Bridge in 1921.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a hanged bridge that crosses through the Golden Gate, the
only-mile-wide (1.6 km) gorge links San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge
links the American city of San Francisco, California – the northern side of the San
Francisco Peninsula – to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California
State Route across the gorge.

The bridge is one of the most famous identified symbols of San Francisco, California, and
the United States. It has been introduced as one of the wonders of the current world
through the Yang Society of Civil Engineers.
EIFFEL TOWER
The Eiffel Tower is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and
built the tower.Constructed from 1887–89 as the entrance to the 1889 World’s Fair, it
started to be criticized through some of France’s main artists and intellectuals for its
layout. However, it has emerged as an international cultural icon of France and one of the
most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower is the highest visited
monument in the world.

The tower is 324 meters tall; the tallest structure in Paris. Its base is a square, measuring
125 meters on every side. All through its production, the Eiffel Tower passed the
Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it
held for 41 years until the Chrysler building construction in New York City was completed
in 1930..
 HOOVER DAM
Hoover Dam, frequently known as Boulder Dam, is placed at the Colorado River at the
southern tip of Nevada and the Arizona border. Within the early 1900s, after many failed
efforts to control the lower Colorado River with levees and irrigation canals, the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation decided the great solution for the arid Southwest could be to block
the river and create a yr.-spherical water supply. Surveyors investigated seventy sites
alongside the complete river’s path and settled on Nevada’s Boulder and Black Canyons.
Both presenting a capability reservoir of greater than thirty million acre-ft. Surveys found
out that the prevalence of Black Canyon for storing the Colorado River’s whole glide for
up to two years. Although in 1922, the “Fall-Davis report” recommended to the U.S.
Senate construction of the All-American Canal in California’s Imperial Valley and a high
dam at or near Boulder Canyon.
 PANAMA CANAL
The Panama Canal is a large canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It is
considered a major engineering feat during the early 20th century, designed by John
Frank Stevens.The Panama Canal is around 80 km (50 miles) long and links the Pacific
and Atlantic Oceans, running across the center of Panama. Locks at the Pacific and
Atlantic ends of the canal either lower down vessels to sea level or raise them up to the
canal. The canal itself is made up of the Gaillard Cut channel and the artificial Gatun
Lake. The lake was created by the damming of the Chagres River.The first attempt to
build the canal was made by a French company, but the attempt ended in failure in 1889.
The American government finally bought the French company, and their attempt to build
the canal started in 1904. The project ended with victory, with the Canal inauguration in
1914, and it is now a vital artery of international trade, with nearly 14,000 ships travelling
through it every year.
QINGDAO HAIWAN
BRIDGE
The world’s longest cross-sea bridge has been revealed by China, proving yet
again how era and economics are the strongest factors of its economic system.
According to the Telegraph, the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge measures 26 four miles
(forty two.6 km) and links Qingdao city in China’s eastern Shandong province
with the Huangdao district. Having a first rate architectural significance, the
Qingdao Haiwan Bridge facilitates the reduction of the space between the 2
points by means of 30 km, a life saver in this sort of busy society like China’s, not
to mention it being a tourist attraction. The six-lane bridge is almost three miles
longer than the preceding record holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in
Louisiana.
Development of
Civil
Engineering
The civil engineering has
developed greatly over time. New
methods have begun to appear in
the design of buildings and
architectural design, based,
mainly, on the technological
development in construction
materials used and the reliance on
environmental-friendly and
stronger materials.
NEW ADVANCES IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
Among these innovations are:
• Cork walls reinforced with concrete that are used in many buildings around the
world. Some of the advantages of them are saving time, which is seven times
faster than construction with traditional materials, and decreasing the number
of workers needed for the construction. This innovation makes the buildings
more earthquake-resistant than conventional construction. It is moisture-
resistant and fire-resistant and facilitates the change of design of the buildings.
• A group of scientists have created the Ultra Rope, a rope made of carbon fiber,
to achieve the highest rate of rigidity. These ropes are so strong that they can
be used to install lifts in skyscrapers.
• Civil engineering has reached the so-called smart buildings and buildings are
characterized by several features:
1. Have the ability to detect and react to the surrounding conditions.
2. Fast response to the needs of its users.
3. Create a comfortable environment for its users.
● Dubai, Abu Dhabi and
Doha are among the most
cities in the Middle East to
contain the most intelligent
buildings in the region,
with airports ranked first
as the smartest facilities,
followed by hotels and
hospitals in the third place

● And it is expected that by

2020, Dubai will become
one of the highest and most
intelligent cities in the
world
THANK YOU!