Introduction to Civil Construction
Civil construction falls in the category of civil engineering which is all about designing, constructing and maintaining the physical and naturally built environment. Civil construction is the art of building bridges, dams, roads, airports, canals, and buildings.
Civil engineering is the oldest disciplines of engineering. Since the very beginning of the human existence, it has been the aspect of life. One of the main aspects of civil construction is structural engineering. It helps in designing the structure in a way that it is able to support itself successfully along with resisting loads. The stability of the design will serve as the foundation of civil construction.
In today’s society, there are huge projects meant for civil construction and engineering. The infrastructure used in our daily lives all has been created because of civil construction and engineering. The roads, railways, stadiums, harbors, schools and other buildings constructed all are a contribution of civil engineering.
Civil Construction Stages
Classifying large projects into civil construction stages has always been anticipated whether it is for independent or conjunction construction. To escalate the progress of the civil construction, every stage of the process is taken as individual contracts. All of the contracts are continued in special patterns and schedules. To maintain the quality of work in the construction process, the duration of every stage should be analyzed and evaluated before the process starts. Every stage of construction should have its own time period of implementations. The stages of construction for a couple of projects are mentioned below:
Highway Project
- · Locating the plant for the project site
- · Dissipating the site of the project
- · Underground work involving Earth work for the embankment of the highway
- · Drainage establishment
- · Pavements structure constructions
- · Placing road signs, lights and signals
Water Supply Project
The water supply project requires construction with great care and perfection. It requires certain things that need to be taken in the spot light and they are:
· Site dissipating
· Building of the dam structure
· Constructing the controls and spillways
· Pumping house connections
· Adding in construction tunnels and transmission lines
· Establishment of the plant of water treatment
What Does Every Construction Plan Setup Require?
To start the process of construction, the entire stages are classified further into numerous operations. Every stage of the construction process has always been facilitated with high technology equipment to sure quality and perfection. Professionals from all sorts of departments come together and work as a team to get started with these projects. Every sub operation having another operation is marked as the part of the project that is to be carried out through the division of labors with respect to skills and quality equipment. All the operations required for the process of construction of the R.C.C. retaining wall are mentioned in the list below:
· Diggings by machine
· Digging through labor force
· Assembling to form out the work
· Inserting the support
· Use of concrete and pouring it
· Filling the earth back again
Role of Civil Engineers
Civil engineers are the people who are responsible for managing the construction projects. They are responsible for making the design of the project they are assigned whether it is a transport project, a water or sewerage system project or more. They plan, design and then test the structures before they are ready to be used by the public. The work starts from making architectural drawings, then choosing material for the project and then working on the design. They don’t just have to think about the structure but also how the structure of the project will affect the surrounding. They have to produce an economical, safe and environmentally stable structure for a particular project.
Civil engineers can choose the fields of municipal engineers, chief civil engineer, structural engineers, construction engineers, water supply distribution engineers, or even transport engineers as area of specialization. These engineers are also required to handle some activities related to site preparation. These include excavation, grading the large projects or even earth moving. They have to evaluate and monitor the projects too. They are also responsible for ensuring quality of materials and project structures.
Construction & Civil Engineering addresses the broad issues facing companies involved in the built environment. It covers areas as diverse as road building, oil and gas projects, shipbuilding, tunnels, bridges, canals, dams, wind farms and rail construction – and all the associated disciplines that enable these projects to come to fruition.
Major infrastructure projects are covered, alongside several subdisciplines, including environmental engineering, geotechnical issues, earth science, surveying and technology.
A civil engineer must be familiar with construction materials, and construction machinery. With this knowledge, he can meet safety, durability, reliability and cost requirements. He needs to have knowledge of a mechanical and structural engineer too.
Civil Construction and Engineering Employment Opportunities
The international markets are flooded with job opportunities for civil engineers. The work these engineers are required to do sometimes is not confined to indoors, often they have to spend time at construction sites for monitoring the operations and solve project related problems too. They typically have to work full time and at times they have to work for extra hours too just for ensuring the project requirements are met.
The salary of a freshly graduated civil engineer having bachelor’s degree can range between $55,570 and $73,908. Experience and advance degree can let these engineers work on higher management positions and they can even start their own construction business.
Future of Civil Construction
It is expected that civil engineers will experience 20% growth in employment opportunities from 2014 to 2022. More and more engineers will be needed for managing and rebuilding projects likes roads, dams and other buildings. There is going to high competition in the market so a civil engineer if wishes to grab the market opportunities should have the best education.
