Civil Engineering > Introduction to Civil Eng.

We all know the meaning of the word “failure”. Based on the context though, this can mean a lot of different things. For every profession out there, it takes a different set of meanings. Here we will of course focus on civil engineering and construction. Although this post was written in plain English for nonengineers to follow, it is hoped that it will also be a good refresher, an interesting read or even reference for many engineers as well. Pay attention to the links given here, which are continuation to specific fields in civil engineering, so by saying “this post”, the author means also the linked posts from here. Including […] Read More

Civil Engineering is the oldest engineering discipline, which is practically as old as human civilization. Until about may be 100-150 years ago, there was no clear distinction between a civil engineer and an architect, but as the needs developed for designing the function and aesthetics of structures vs. their actual load carrying mechanisms, architecture and civil engineering began to go their separate ways, although they still interact all the time. When we said load carrying mechanism here, naturally most people will think a structure carrying a certain load such as a building or bridge carrying the weight, wind and earthquake loads. But actually, the term “load” can be regarded in […] Read More

To understand what liquefaction is, we must first understand shear stress in soils, which in turn means, the strength of soil… Load carrying capacity of any material arises from its shear strength. Soils, rocks, which carry our structures are no exception to this rule. The greater a foundation material has shear strength, the better it can support our structures with less settlement. Shear strength is a result of how well the particles of a material stick to each other, and, the resistance they provide when they are made to slide over each other. In other words, Shear strength = The resistance provided particles sticking to each other + The resistance […] Read More

For non engineers, structural analysis may seem like an overly complex subject. A person who is not a civil engineer will never be required or even allowed to solve a real structure, but it is still good to give some general idea for learning. This came to my mind when I heard a question once, from a nonengineer, who drew sketch of a really simple structure and asked if we solve this member by member such as column by column, slab by slab and beam by beam. This is of course not correct and civil engineers know that it doesn’t work that way… So for people who are not civil […] Read More