UNIT - 2
IMPORTANCE OF CIVIL ENGINEERING IN SHAPING AND IMPACTING THE WORLD
Civil engineers play an extremely important role in the society. They are responsible for maintaining the overall safety of society in a number of ways. From constructing highways and buildings to bridges and tunnels, the responsibilities of civil engineers are many.
Civil engineers are responsible for planning and overseeing different construction efforts and apply civil engineering principles to ensure that the constructed structures are safe.
Civil engineers design, construct, supervise, operate, and maintain large construction projects and systems, including roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, dams, bridges, and systems for water supply and sewage treatment.
Shaping the World uses the knowledge and experience of civil engineers to help find solutions to some of the world's most pressing problems. These global challenges range from population pressures and growing urbanisation, climate change effects, energy and water shortages, to natural and human disasters.
Civil engineering has always had a big impact on our society and environment. Today looking at our metropolitan city, the contribution of civil engineering is something which is highly appreciated. From constructing highways and buildings to bridges and tunnels now, they are also responsible for looking after the fire control systems and installing quick fire exit points in the buildings they design. Civil engineers design, build, and maintain the foundation for our modern society – our roads and bridges, drinking water and energy systems, sea ports and airports, and the infrastructure for a cleaner environment, to name just a few. By giving shape to the society, civil engineers are essentially building the backbone for the world to relax on. A civil engineer is responsible for the energy, water, transportation and other infrastructure systems that are used every day.
A civil engineer is responsible for analysing different factors regarding a construction project. They analyse the site of the construction and the surrounding area. The process includes search and investigation, verifying whether location is feasible for construction purposes or not. civil engineer also analyse the entire construction work that needs to be completed at the site.
Once they have analysed the situation, they need to prepare detailed reports. The report encompasses a detailed description of the various factors present and also the factors that need to be changed before commencing the construction work.
They are also responsible for planning the construction project. they are required to inspect the project for ensuring that all rules, regulation and guidelines are been properly followed.
A civil engineer has to follow a construction project from beginning to end and make necessary changes along the way of completion.
Civil engineer needs to conduct a number of functions such as conducting chemical testing using various applications, use a drafting and design software throughout the project and conducting electrical testing of devices and equipment.
Wonders of modern world
As a tribute to the greatest civil engineering achievements of the 20th century, the American society of civil engineers (ASCE) has chosen the seven wonders of the modern world.
ASCE has honoured the following civil engineering marvels
Channel tunnel (England and France)
CN tower (Toronto)
Empire state building (New York)
Golden gate bridge (San Francisco)
Itaipu dam (Brazil)
Netherlands north sea protection works (Netherlands)
Panama canal (Panama)
“The original wonders were amazing sites to behold but today’s modern wonders are more than simple awe inspiring. They are functional, operational masterpieces that have revolutionized civil engineering and benefited humanity. The seven wonders of the modern world are a tribute to universal human desire to triumph over the impossible.’’ added Charles A. Parthum, ASCE 1996 president.
The society sought nominations from civil engineering societies and distinguished engineering experts from around the world. From their consensus emerged the seven wonders, which were judged on factors such as pioneering of design construction, contributions to humanity and engineering challenges that were overcome.
The list evokes the storied seven wonders of the ancient world, which first illustrated humanity’s fascination with engineering works that seemingly defied the limits of nature. While only a few of the original wonders remain, the modern wonders represent civil engineering’s legacy to the 20th century.
CHANNEL TUNNEL
The 31 mile channel tunnel (chunnel) fulfilled a centuries old dream by linking Britain and the rest of Europe. It’s more than a tunnel –it rolls infrastructure and immense machinery into an underwater tunnel system of unprecedented ambition. Three concrete cubes each 5 ft thick, plunge into the earth at Coquelles, France and burrow through the chalky basement of the English rush the broadest trains ever built- double decker behemoths 14ft across – travelling close to 100 mph. passengers board not on foot, but in automobiles and buses. Maintenance and emergency vehicles ply the third tunnel, between the rail tubes. Meanwhile machines are always at work, turning the channel tunnel into a living, intelligent structure. Huge pistons open and close ducts, relieving the pressure that builds ahead of the train’s noses. Some 300 miles of cold water piping run alongside the rail tracks to drain off the heat raised by air friction.
CN TOWER
The world’s tallest free standing structure soars 1.815 ft above the sidewalks of Toronto, three times the height of its better known cousins, the seattle space needle. The CN tower, as heavy as 23,214 large elephants was erected at an amazing rate of 18ft per day. During construction concrete flowed from the bottom of the tower as it ascended, while aircraft type bombsights kept the tower plumb as it went up. Today the tower is off by mere 1.1 inch. Designed with the aid of a wind tunnel, the CN tower can withstand 260 mph gusts. The Skypod, a seven storey structure 1,100 feet high was built around the base of the tower and jacked into place as one unit. A pair of 10-ton counterweight is attached to the mast to keep the tower from swaying too much. A Sikorsky helicopter hoisted the crowning antenna, for which the tower was originally erected. FM radio signals are broadcasted from the base of the antenna, while television signals are sent from the top. Presently, 16 of Toronto’s media signals are transmitted from the tower.
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
At 1250 feet the empire state building is the best known skyscraper in the world, and was by far the tallest building in the world for more than 40 years. The building’s most astonishing feat however was the speed in which it rose into the Newyork city skyline. Construction was completed in only one year and 45 days, without requiring overtime. Iron workers set a torrid pace, riveting the 58,000-ton frame together in 23 weeks. While just below them, masons finished the exterior in eight months, and plumbers laid 51 miles of pipe and electricians installed 17 million ft. of telephone wire. The building was so well engineered that it was easily repaired after a bomber crashed into it in 1945. The precise choreography of the operation revolutionized the tall building construction industry. Although it has been surpassed as the world’s tallest building, the empire state building remains the standard against which all other skyscrapers have been judged for the last 65 years.
GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
More than 60 years after its completion, the golden gate bridge remained the world’s tallest suspension bridge. Hanging from two 746 ft high towers, its cables- each a yard thick are the biggest ever to support a bridge. In fact, the golden gate bridge contains enough cable to encircle the earth three times. To leap across the mouth of an ocean harbour, something never before accomplished, civil engineers planted one pier in the open sea, 1,000 ft from the shore. Construction crews braved biting cold, 70 mph gusts and dizzying heights to complete the bridge in only four years. The bridge combines engineering strength and beauty. It survived the 1989 loma prieta earthquake, and weather has shut it to traffic only three times in 60 years. Currently the span is undergoing a seismic retrofit to withstand a 90 second earthquake that measures 8.3 on Richter scale. Today, the golden gate bridge remains one of the world’s most revered and photographed bridges.
ITAIPU DAM
Five miles wide and requiring enough concrete to build five hover dams, the Itaipu dam spans the parana river at the brazil/Paraguay border. During its construction, workers shifted the course of the eighth longest river in the world by removing 50 million tons of earth and rock to dig a 1.3 mile bypass. The main dam as high as a 65 storey building is composed of hollow concrete segments, while the flanking wings are earth and rock fill. Enough iron and steel was used at Itaipu to build 300 Eiffel towers. Another marvel of Itaipu is its powerhouse – half a mile long, half underwater and containing 18 hydroelectric generators each 53 ft across. Some 160 tons of water per second pour onto each turbine, generating 12,600 mega watts enough to power most of California. Itaipu currently supplies 28 percent of all the electric energy in Brazil’s south, southeast and central-west regions and 72 percent of Paraguay’s total energy consumption.
NETHERLANDS NORTH SEA PROTECTION WORKS
Unique in the world, this vast and complex system of dams, floodgates, storm surge barriers and other engineered works literally allows the Netherlands to exist. For centuries, the people of the Netherlands have repeatedly attempted to push back the sea –only to watch merciless storm surges flood their efforts, since the nation sits below sea level and its land mass is still sinking. The north sea protection works consists of two monumental steps the dutch took to win their struggle to hold back the sea. Step 1-A 19 mile long enclosure dam built between 1927 and 1932. The immense dike, 100 yards thick at the waterline, collars the neck of the estuary once known as the Zuiderzee. Step 2 was the delta project to control the treacherous area where the mouths of the meuse and rhine rivers break into a delta. The crowning touch was the eastern schelde barrier, a two mile barrier of tell gates slung between massive concrete piers. The gates fall only when storm waters threaten. The North sea protection works exemplifies humanity’s ability to exist side by side with the forces of nature.
PANAMA CANAL
The dream of Spanish conquistadors and the failed ambition of famed French canal builder Ferdinand de lesseps, the panama canal is one of the civil engineering’s greatest triumphs. Under the direction of U.S. Col. George Washington Goethals, 42,000 workers dredged, blasted and excavated from colon to balboa. They moved enough earth and rubble to bury the island of manhattan to a depth of 12 ft or enough to open a 16 ft wide tunnel to the centre of earth. The canal was finished on time and within budget. But after completion, a challenge remained: how to tame the flood waters of chagres river, known to rise 25 ft in a day during monsoon season? Solution: civil engineers erected a dam that formed the world’s then largest man-made lake. Today the canal operates much as it did in 1914. In each transit, 52 million gallons of fresh water is lost, but it is quickly replaced by panama’s heavy rainfall. The canal remains a testament to the combined skills of structural, geotechnical hydraulic and sanitary engineers.
Wonders of the ancient world
The pyramids of Egypt
Hanging gardens of Babylon
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Colossus of Rhodes
Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
Mausoleum of Helicarnassus
Pharos (lighthouse) of Alexandria
PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient pyramid-shaped masonry structures located in Egypt. The most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the Giza pyramids are counted among the largest structures ever built. The Pyramid of Khufu is the largest Egyptian pyramid.
HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON
They were described as a remarkable feat of engineering with an ascending series of tiered gardens containing a wide variety of trees, shrubs, and vines, resembling a large green mountain constructed of mud bricks. It was said to have been built in the ancient city of Babylon, near present-day Hillah, Babil province, in Iraq.
STATUE OF ZEUS AT OLYMPIA
The Statue of Zeus at Olympia was a giant seated figure, about 12.4 m (41 ft) tall, made by the Greek sculptor Phidias around 435 BC at the sanctuary of Olympia, Greece, and erected in the Temple of Zeus there.
COLOSSUS OF RHODES
Construction began in 292 BC. Ancient accounts, which differ to some degree, describe the structure as being built with iron tie bars to which brass plates were fixed to form the skin. The interior of the structure, which stood on a 15-metre-high (49-foot) white marble pedestal near the Rhodes harbour entrance, was then filled with stone blocks as construction progressed. Other sources place the Colossus on a breakwater in the harbour. According to most contemporary descriptions, the statue itself was about 70 cubits, or 32 metres (105 feet) tall. Much of the iron and bronze was reforged from the various weapons Demetrius's army left behind, and the abandoned second siege tower may have been used for scaffolding around the lower levels during construction.
TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS
The Artemesium was famous not only for its great size, over 350 by 180 feet (about 129.5 by 68.6 metres), but also for the magnificent works of art that adorned it.
MAUSOLEUM OF HELICARNASSUS
The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene. Its elevated tomb structure is derived from the tombs of neighbouring Lycia. The Mausoleum was approximately 45 m (148 ft) in height, and the four sides were adorned with sculptural reliefs, each created by one of four Greek sculptors: Leochares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros, and Timotheus. It was destroyed by successive earthquakes from the 12th to the 15th century, the last surviving of the six destroyed wonders.
PHAROS OF ALEXANDRIA
It was a lighthouse built by the Ptolemaic Kingdom, during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (280–247 BC), which has been estimated to be at least 100 metres (330 ft) in overall height. The lighthouse was severely damaged by three earthquakes between 956 AD and 1323 and became an abandoned ruin. It was the third-longest surviving ancient wonder (after the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and the extant Great Pyramid of Giza), surviving in part until 1480, when the last of its remnant stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site.
In another 50 years, the list of civil engineering wonders may include
According to ASCE, in 2025 civil engineering would be Entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life, civil engineers serve competently, collaboratively, and ethically as master:
The aspirational Vision 2025 challenges the civil engineer, to rise to a new level of leadership and professionalism. To earn that confidence, civil engineers, as a body of professionals, should exhibit mastery in five key areas:
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