Introduction to Civil Engineering

by

Bhupinder Singh
Associate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
I.I.T Roorkee

What is civil engineering?

Civil engineering deals with the design, construction and

maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment
including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams and
buildings

After military engineering, civil engineering is the oldest

engineering discipline and is traditionally broken into several
specializations such as:
Structural engineering
Geotechnical engineering
Transportation engineering
Environmental engineering
Geomatics engineering
Hydraulic engineering

All the sub-disciplines involve building something!!!

From the earliest time when people started to build, it was found
necessary to have information regarding the strength of materials so
that rules for determining safe dimensions of
drawn up

- Timoshenko

structures could be

Strength of Materials is the queen of all sciences

F
F

W cos

W cos

What forces are required at a and b to achieve

equilibrium?

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Tensile testing of a wire by Leonardo da Vinci

Galileo (1564-1642)
The father of strength of materials

Cover page of Galileos book Two New Sciences

Support

Test specimen

Load

Galileos illustration of a tensile test

Stress distribution assumed by Galileo

(incorrect)

Galileos experiment with beams

The strength of a bar is proportional

to its cross-sectional area and is independent
of its length
Stress distribution according to Hookes law (correct)

Bending moment in the beam is proportional to the product ab

Sectional profile of a cantilever beam of equal strength
under a concentrated load

Sectional profile of a cantilever beam of equal strength

under a uniformly distributed load

Form of a cantilever beam of equal strength

Robert Hooke (1695-1703)

Uno sic tensio vic
Stress is directly proportional to strain

Hookes experiments on elasticity

Jacob Bernouli

Leonard Euler

Coulomb

Navier

Lagrange

Thomas Young

Strength of materials is at the heart of structural engineering

Objectives of Structural Engineering

Structural engineering is the science and art of
designing and making, with economy and elegance,
buildings, bridges, frameworks, and other structures so
that they can safely resist the forces to which they may
be subjected.
The Structural
Engineer,
Journal of the British Institute
of Structural Engineers

Structural
Engineering
Structural engineers
analyse. design and
construct steel, concrete,
or timber structures such
as:

Tall buildings & towers,

Bridges,
Dams,
Retaining walls, &
foundations
Stadiums.

Types of loads which can act on a structure

Dead loads
Live loads
Dynamic loads (e.g., trains,
equipment)
Wind loads
Earthquake loads
Thermal loads
Settlement loads

Dead Loads
Weight of the structure itself
floors, beams, roofs, decks, beams/stringers,
superstructure
These are loads that are always there

Live Loads
People, equipment
Loads that may move or
change mass or weight
Minimum design loadings are usually specified in
building codes

Load Example: Live load on a floor

Residential floor

Live Load = 2 kN/m^2

Dynamic Loads

Moving loads (e.g. traffic)

Impact loads (for example due to forging)
Gusts of wind, loads due to earthquakes
Loads due to cycling machinery

Load Example: Dynamic Load

Stamping
machine
F
t

Waste Treatment &

Environmental.

Wastewater treatment
engineers are civil or
environmental
engineers trained to
design or analyze water
treatment plants.
Water treatment plants
are categorized as
follows:
Sanitary waste treatment
facilities,
Industrial waste treatment
facilities,
Visit Sewage
Worldwater
Link:
Potable
(drinking)
treatment facility.

Largest treatment basins in the USA

23
SCAVENGER LIST

Transportation
Transportation

Engineers design
and analyze

Highways,
Railways,
Airports,
Urban and
Suburban Road
Networks,
Parking Lots, and
Traffic Control
Signal Systems.

Link: Transportation at work

24

SCAVENGER LIST

Geotechnical
& Soil
Mechanics
Geotechnical

Engineers analyze
the subterranean
rock and soil to
determine its
suitability to support
extreme loads.
Proper geotechnical
engineering
is essential for a safe
and
secure
Link: A bad engineering job
structure.

25
SCAVENGER LIST

Hydraulics & Water

Management
Water

management
involves the use of
hydrologic
and hydraulic
principles to design:
Drainage systems,
Detention/retention
ponds,
Navigational
waterways, and
Flood control levees,
dams, and lakes.

Link: Hoover Dam

Link: Flood Pictures
26
SCAVENGER LIST

Roorkee is the Mecca of civil engineering in India

1842: Construction of the Ganga canal begins

The Ganga canal at Roorkee

1847: Nov 25, Notification for Roorkee College of Civil

Engineering issued

1848: Jan 01, Roorkee College of Civil Engineering starts

functioning

1853: Bengal Sappers moved to Roorkee

1893: Courses in telegraphic engineering started at Roorkee

1898: Electricity, 110 V, comes to the college

1902: Tata Committee recommends Roorkee as the

location for the I.I.Sc. Eventually, I.I.Sc. was set up at
Bangalore

1909: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Started

1923: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering closed

1940: First Indian Principal, MG Sardana

1946: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Classes Started

again

Big structural engineering projects can be very challenging

right from conception, planning, analysis, design,
construction, finishing and maintenance

Case Study

Burj Khalifa An Outstanding Example

of Planning, Design and Construction

Only survivor of the seven wonders

of the ancient world!!

View of the surroundings from the tower

Burj Khalifa Construction Time Line

Jan. 2004: Construction started site preparation
Feb. 2004: Foundation work started beginning of piling
Mar. 2005: Superstructure started
June 2006: Level 50 reached
Jan. 2007: Level 100 reached
Mar. 2007: Level 110 reached
April 2007: Level 120 reached
May 2007: Level 130 reached
July 2007: Level 141 reached - worlds tallest building
Sept. 2007: Level 150 reached worlds tallest free standing structure
April 2008: Level 160 reached worlds tallest man-made structure
Jan. 2009 Completion of spire Burj Khalifa tops out
Sept. 2009 Exterior cladding completion
Jan. 2010 Official launch ceremony
Total construction period: Six years !!

Salient Features
Construction started: Jan. 2004
Construction completed: Sept. 2009
Official opening: Jan. 04, 2010
Total budget: Approx. Rs. 7000 crores (USD 1.50 billion)
160 habitable floors
2 parking levels in basement
Total floor area= 5 million square feet

 Total steel consumption = 55,000 T

Total concrete consumption= 330, 000 m3 (Approx. 2.3 million
50-kg bags of cement)
Total area of glass, steel and aluminum cladding = 1,42,000 m2
Maximum occupancy of the tower = Approx. 35,000
Water consumption = 9,46,000 l/day
Cooling load = >10,000 tons (cooling load in an average
household room is about 1 ton)
Highest vertical pumping of concrete in the world. Total lift =
606 m

Plan views at different elevations

Hymenocallis flower showing six spokes. This flower was the inspiration for the
three-lobed design of the Burj-Al-Khalifa

Site of the building before construction

How does a pile transfer load to the ground?

Piles by-pass the weaker soils
and transfer loads directly to the
stronger soil located deep below
the ground

Dense soil has a high load

carrying capacity

Pf

Pb
P = Pf + P b

End-bearing piles

Frictional piles

Piles can be made up of wood,

steel or concrete

Timber Cross Girder

Timber deck slab
Longitudinal girder
Timber piles

A timber bridge supported on wooden piles

Piles made up of hollow steel tubes

Braced steel piles

Piles made up of reinforced concrete

Typical pile loading details

(Foot over-bridge, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi)
(Load case IV (D.L. + S.I.D.L. + L.L. + Temp. + W.L.)
Maximum axial load = 2160 kN
Minimum axial load = - 420 kN
Maximum horizontal load = 230 kN
Design moment on pile section = 720 kNm

Drilling a hole in the ground with the help of a cylindrical auger

Reinforcement cage is being readied for being lowered into the drilled pile hole. Note
the drilling auger in the foreground

Typical reinforcement cage for a pile

Tripod

Auger

Drilling work for a bored cast-in-situ pile in progress

Drilling a hole in the ground with the help of a regular auger

Drilling a hole in the ground with the help of a regular auger

Steel casing pipe

Sometimes the hole drilled in the ground has to be stabilised with the help of a
hollow steel pipe

Steel reinforcement cage for a pile

Steel reinforcemen cage being lowered into the hole dug in the ground

Transit mixer

Tremie pipe

Concreting of the pile with the a transit mixer. Note the

use of a tremie for the underwater concreting.

All piles have to be load tested. Test piles are used

for this purpose. Working piles may also be used as test piles.

Breaking of pile head

Size of pile cap, 13.4 x 7.45 x 2.10 m

Total no. of piles = 192. Axial

load capacity of each pile =
30,000 kN.
Pile cap

Bed rock

Typical reinforcement cage

for a pile

Laying of the foundation. Note the longitudinal reinforcement in the piles.

 Maximum expected long-term settlement of the

foundations = 80 mm !
Grade of concrete in piles : 60 MPa
(25% fly ash + 7% silica fume ; w/c = 0.32)
Flow diameter of concrete used in piles: 675 +/- 75 mm

Dowels for the

superstructure

Pile cap
3.7 m

Top view of the completed foundation

Failure of pile foundation of a multi-storied building

Surcharge loading ?

Saturated surcharge loading?

Erosion of slope ?

Loss of passive resistance

of soil?
Shear failure of piles ?

Over-turning of building?

Casting of the superstructure

Slip-form shuttering

Slip-form shuttering

Central core of the building

The building elevation takes shape

Self-climbing tower cranes

The building in splendid isolation

Structural Form of Tall Buildings

Drift control is the most important design parameter

in a high rise building

Drift index limits range from 0.001 to 0.005. Therefore, in a 33-storey 100 m high
building maximum top storey horizontal deflection between 0.1 and 0.5 m would
be allowed!
Or a relative deflection of 3 to 15 mm would be allowed over a storey height of
about 3 m!

Central core

Total sway at the highest point of the tower under wind

loads = 1.50 m

1:500 scaled aero-elastic models were used for the

wind tunnel studies of the structure

Elevator speed - 64 KMPH

Horizontal cleaning track at levels 40, 73 and 109.

Each horizontal track is provided with a bucket machine weighing 1.5
T

Itaipu dam, Brazil, 12600 MW installed capacity, more than 12.5 million cubic
metres of cncrete were used in the construction of this dam!

Water supply pipeline with a 7.5 m outside diameter the largest of its kind in the world.
Each 6.7m long segment weighs 225 T!

Offshore concrete platform for oil drilling. Total weight 40,000 T and submerged
in water for a depth of 145 m. Designed to resist 31m high waves.

Sports Palace, Rome, Italy, 100 m span, seating capacity 16000.

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, completed in the year 1937

Tower Bridge, London, combined bascule and suspension bridge

Bridge of Sighs, Venice, Italy, enclosed bridge made of white limestone, built in 1602

Brooklyn Bridge, New York, completed in 1883, first steel-wire suspension bridge

Forth Bridge, Scotland, one of the longest single cantilever spans in the world

Dongting Lake bridge, China, completed in the year 2002

Szechenyi Chain Bridge, Hungary, constructed in 1849, spans the Danube and connects
Buda with Pest in the Hungarian capital

Chengyang Bridge, China, combination of a bridge, corridor, verandah and a pavilion,

completed in 1916

Siosi Pul or the bridge of 33 arches, Iran, completed in 1602

Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge, Japan, completed in 1998, longest central suspension

span of any bridge.

Miliau Viaduct, France, cable-stayed road bridge opened in 2004, tallest

bridge in the world

Ponte Veccio, Florence, Italy, Europes oldest all stone closed-spandrel arch bridge

Gateshead Millennium Bridge, U.K., pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge, opened
In the year 2001.

Oresund Bridge, Denmark to Sweden, twin-track railway and dual-carriageway bridge,

longest rail and road bridge in Europe

Tsing-Ma bridge, Hong Kong, the longest span rail and road suspension bridge
in the world, opened in 1997

Erasmusbrug, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, cable-stayed part bascule bridge

completed in 1996

Rialto Bridge, Venice, Italy, built in 1591

Iron Bridge, England, first cast-iron arch bridge in the world, opened in the
year 1781

Puente Nuevo Bridge, Spain, built in the year 1751, took 42 years to complete

Magdeburg Water Bridge, Germany, a navigable aqueduct, opened in October 2003

Flared wall-type piers

Precast
prestressed
girders

Pier cap

Wall-type pier shaft

A hammer-head type of pier with precast longitudinal girders.

The deck slab will be cast-in-situ concrete

Local drop in the bed level of a stream due to interaction between

high velocity flow and loose bed material is called as LOCAL SCOUR

Flow structure at a well foundation. Local scour is caused due to both downflow as
well as the horse shoe vortex

Components of a Well Foundation

Stage-1: Construction of Sand Island and Laying of Cutting Edge

Sand Island

Sand Island is easily made on the dry river bank

Sand Island

Sand-Island together with the Well can be clearly seen in this Plate

Inner shuttering plates

Outer shuttering plates

Another view of Reinforcement Bars in Steining

Grab

Well Sinking in progress

Close-up of a typical Grab (Bells Dredger)

A view of Roorkee town in the mid-nineteenth century

Head-works of the Upper Ganga Canal, Haridwar

James Thomason (1804-1853)

Founder father of Roorkee Civil Engineering College

The previous Century Gate

S.W.P. Hanger (now, Convocation Hall)

The civil engineering department