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Summary

civil engineering, the profession of designing and executing structural works that serve the general public, such as dams, bridges, aqueducts, canals, highways, power plants, sewerage systems, and other infrastructure. The term was first used in the 18th century to distinguish the newly recognized profession from military engineering, until then preeminent. From earliest times, however, engineers have engaged in peaceful activities, and many of the civil engineering works of ancient and medieval timessuch as the Roman public baths, roads, bridges, and aqueducts; the Flemish canals; the Dutch sea defenses; the French Gothic cathedrals; and many other monumentsreveal a history of inventive genius and persistent experimentation.

The beginnings of civil engineering as a separate discipline may be seen in the foundation in France in 1716 of the Bridge and Highway Corps, out of which in 1747 grew the cole Nationale des Ponts et Chausses (National School of Bridges and Highways). Its teachers wrote books that became standard works on the mechanics of materials, machines, and hydraulics, and leading British engineers learned French to read them. As design and calculation replaced rule of thumb and empirical formulas, and as expert knowledge was codified and formulated, the nonmilitary engineer moved to the front of the stage. Talented, if often self-taught, craftsmen, stonemasons, millwrights, toolmakers, and instrument makers became civil engineers. In Britain, James Brindley began as a millwright and became the foremost canal builder of the century; John Rennie was a millwrights apprentice who eventually built the new London Bridge; Thomas Telford, a stonemason, became Britains leading road builder.

John Smeaton, the first man to call himself a civil engineer, began as an instrument maker. His design of Eddystone Lighthouse (175659), with its interlocking masonry, was based on a craftsmans experience. Smeatons work was backed by thorough research, and his services were much in demand. In 1771 he founded the Society of Civil Engineers (now known as the Smeatonian Society). Its object was to bring together experienced engineers, entrepreneurs, and lawyers to promote the building of large public works, such as canals (and later railways), and to secure the parliamentary powers necessary to execute their schemes. Their meetings were held during parliamentary sessions; the society follows this custom to this day.

The cole Polytechnique was founded in Paris in 1794, and the Bauakademie was started in Berlin in 1799, but no such schools existed in Great Britain for another two decades. It was this lack of opportunity for scientific study and for the exchange of experiences that led a group of young men in 1818 to found the Institution of Civil Engineers. The founders were keen to learn from one another and from their elders, and in 1820 they invited Thomas Telford, by then the dean of British civil engineers, to be their first president. There were similar developments elsewhere. By the mid-19th century there were civil engineering societies in many European countries and the United States, and the following century produced similar institutions in almost every country in the world.

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Formal education in engineering science became widely available as other countries followed the lead of France and Germany. In Great Britain the universities, traditionally seats of classical learning, were reluctant to embrace the new disciplines. University College, London, founded in 1826, provided a broad range of academic studies and offered a course in mechanical philosophy. Kings College, London, first taught civil engineering in 1838, and in 1840 Queen Victoria founded the first chair of civil engineering and mechanics at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, offered the first courses in civil engineering in the United States. The number of universities throughout the world with engineering faculties, including civil engineering, increased rapidly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Civil engineering today is taught in universities across the world.

The functions of the civil engineer can be divided into three categories: those performed before construction (feasibility studies, site investigations, and design), those performed during construction (dealing with clients, consulting engineers, and contractors), and those performed after construction (maintenance and research).

No major project today is started without an extensive study of the objective and without preliminary studies of possible plans leading to a recommended scheme, perhaps with alternatives. Feasibility studies may cover alternative methodse.g., bridge versus tunnel, in the case of a water crossingor, once the method is decided, the choice of route. Both economic and engineering problems must be considered.

A preliminary site investigation is part of the feasibility study, but once a plan has been adopted a more extensive investigation is usually imperative. Money spent in a rigorous study of ground and substructure may save large sums later in remedial works or in changes made necessary in constructional methods.

Since the load-bearing qualities and stability of the ground are such important factors in any large-scale construction, it is surprising that a serious study of soil mechanics did not develop until the mid-1930s. Karl von Terzaghi, the chief founder of the science, gives the date of its birth as 1936, when the First International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering was held at Harvard University and an international society was formed. Today there are specialist societies and journals in many countries, and most universities that have a civil engineering faculty have courses in soil mechanics.

The design of engineering works may require the application of design theory from many fieldse.g., hydraulics, thermodynamics, or nuclear physics. Research in structural analysis and the technology of materials has opened the way for more rational designs, new design concepts, and greater economy of materials. The theory of structures and the study of materials have advanced together as more and more refined stress analysis of structures and systematic testing has been done. Modern designers not only have advanced theories and readily available design data, but structural designs can now be rigorously analyzed by computers.

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Civil engineering | Definition, History, Functions, Branches, & Facts