The scope of civil engineering.

Civil engineering is an extremely broad professional field. The areas of interest may range from psychology of the motorist to the physical structure of plastics, from the mechanics of dispersion of flow to knowledge of computers, from traffic-flow theory to the behavior of thin shells, from earth physics to bacteriology. Civil engineering problems involve the physical, mathematical life, social, communications and engineering sciences.

Civil engineering projects involve many other professional areas, including law, public health, economics, management, finance, and the other branches of engineering. The scope and complexity of the field, and its degree of involvement with other fields, has increased rapidly with the development of modern science and technology and the growth of populations and national economics.

During the past 25 years we have experienced more scientific development than in all previous history and it is as well that we should differentiate between the work and responsibility of the scientists as contrasted with that of the civil engineer. A noted scientist has explained that “the most common activity in which a scientist finds himself is to make mistakes, recognize them and correct them”. Through constant research and experimentation the scientist unlimitedly makes his great discovery. In contrast the professional civil engineer, in the application of scientific principles, is trained not to make mistakes. One failure can completely ruin his career and this extremely important difference must be always kept in mind.

The word “construction” is used in a general sense today to cover the erection and repair of all types of buildings, roads, bridges and other structures. Construction involves large members of people whose skills and special interests cover a wide range of occupations. It embraces work that varies from house building to the engineering of vast hydro-electric schemes in remote and mountainous country. In all these fields there is a wide choice of creative and satisfying forms of activity.

The word “building” is mainly concerned with domestic dwellings, including houses and multi-storey flats, schools, hospitals, and office blocks, while “civil engineering” deals more with their surrounding features like bridges, roads, harbors, water supply and hydro-electric schemes. Civil engineering projects are mostly on a greater scale and take longer to complete than the average building work. There is no hard and fast dividing line; a builder might construct an estate road, civil engineering contractors can erect buildings, and both may be employed on different parts of one large project. The foundations of major buildings for example, are usually civil engineering work and involve more field-survey work.

Concrete and steel are the chief materials in civil engineering and the techniques of building with steel and reinforced concrete and timber are so widely used that many projects can be described as building with a large amount of theoretical engineering knowledge. The work known as “structural engineering” deals particularly with the calculation and design of all kinds of structures whose strength is mostly provided by steel, reinforced, prestressed or precast concrete or other alloys. This work involves a great deal of mathematics and a sizeable project may well embody contributions from several different professions acting as consultants, and many other subcontractors in addition to the main contractor.