Innovation (Part I) p. 80
UNIT 17 Steel Building Advantages (Part II) p. 86
UNIT 18 What is Tilt-up Construction? (Part I) p. 91
UNIT 19 Precast Concrete, Tilt-up Construction and Tiltwall:
What's the Difference in These Terms? (Part II) p. 96
UNIT 20 Concrete Curing Compounds p. 101
UNIT 21 Environmental engineering p. 106
UNIT 22 Concrete: A Sustainable Construction Material
that can Help Fight Climate Change p. 111
UNIT 23 Recycling Concrete: An Eco Friendly Solution p. 116
UNIT 24 Sustainable Building p. 121
UNIT 25 New Construction Trends p. 126
FINAL TESTS p. 131
APPENDIX 1 REFERENCES to VIDEO FILES p. 134
APPENDIX 2 GLOSSARY OF CONSTRUCTION TERMS p.140
BIBLIOGRAPHY p. 184
UNIT 1
Civil Engineering
Read, translate the following text and be ready to fulfil the tests:
Engineering has been an aspect of life since the beginnings of human existence. The earliest practice of civil engineering may have commenced between 4000 and 2000 BC in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (Ancient Iraq) when humans started to abandon a nomadic existence, creating a need for the construction of shelter. During this time, transportation became increasingly important leading to the development of the wheel and sailing.
In modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures, or public works, as they are related to earth, water, or civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals with power plants, bridges, roads, railways, structures, water supply, irrigation, environmental issues, sewer, flood control, transportation, telecommunications and traffic.
Civil engineering is the second-oldest engineering discipline after military engineering, and it is defined to distinguish non-military engineering from military engineering. It is traditionally broken into several sub-disciplines including architectural engineering, environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, geophysics, geodesy, control engineering, structural engineering, transportation engineering, earth science, atmospheric sciences, forensic engineering, municipal or urban engineering, water resources engineering, materials engineering, offshore engineering, quantity surveying, coastal engineering, surveying, and construction engineering. Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies.
In essence, civil engineering may be regarded as the profession that makes the world a more agreeable place in which to live. Engineering has developed from observations of the ways natural and constructed systems react and from the development of empirical equations that provide bases for design.
In project architecture and civil engineering construction is the building or assembly of any infrastructure on a site or sites. Although this may be thought of as a single activity, in fact construction is a feat of multitasking. Normally the job is managed by the construction manager, supervised by the project manager, design engineer or project architect. While these people work in offices, every construction project requires a large number of laborers, carpenters, and other skilled tradesmen to complete the physical task of construction. For the successful execution of a project effective planning is essential.
Those involved with the design and execution of the infrastructure in question must consider the environmental impact of the job, the successful scheduling, budgeting, site safety, availability of materials, logistics, inconvenience to the public caused by construction delays, preparing tender documents, etc. Each type of construction project requires a unique team to plan, design, construct and maintain the project.
Read and memorize the active vocabulary to the text: