Chapter 1

Introduction to Civil Engineering

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 Introduction
Civil engineering affects many of our daily activities: the buildings we live in and work in,
the transportation facilities we use, the water we drink, and the drainage and sewage systems that
are necessary to our health and well-being. Civil engineers:
• Measure and map the earth’s surface.
• Design and supervise the construction of bridges, tunnels, large buildings, dams, and
coastal
structures.
• Plan, layout, construct, and maintain railroads, highways, and airports.
• Devise systems for the control and efficient flow of traffic.
• Plan and build river navigation and flood control projects.
• Provide plants and systems for water supply and sewage and refuse disposal.
To build may be a primal urge. Our constructions, while they may be simply for shelter or
transportation, often include aesthetic touches that are there to make us feel good about what we
have built. Thus, bridges have geometrical designs intended to support weight, but they also have
an artistic detailing and a “look” that defines the era in which they were built. In constructing
buildings, highways, and bridges, civil engineers work with architects to develop the appearance of
the structure. Ugly buildings represent a failed communication between the two professionals; a
building that falls down, or cannot be maintained, also represents a failure, but one that the civil
engineer could possibly have prevented.
Civil engineering is much more than erecting skyscrapers or bridges. Civil engineers are
trained in the interactions among structures, the earth, and water, with applications ranging from
highways to dams and water reservoirs. Deeply involved with specifying appropriate construction
materials, many civil engineers and others are also employed by the manufacturers of those
materials. Since constructing a large building or public-works project can involve elaborate
planning, civil engineers can be outstanding project managers. They sometimes oversee thousands
of workers and develop advanced computerization and planning policies.
Most significantly, many civil engineers are involved with preserving, protecting, or
restoring the environment. Most water treatment and water purification projects are designed and
constructed by civil engineers (in these two areas, many of them are known as environmental
engineers). A growing number of civil engineers are involved in billion-dollar projects to clean up
toxic industrial or municipal wastes at abandoned dump sites. Civil engineers engage in such
diverse projects as preserving wetlands or beaches, maintaining national forest parks, and restoring
the land around mines, oil wells, or factories. There are about 186,000 civil engineers at work
today, according to federal data. This total is expected to rise by approximately 17 percent - slightly
above the average for all professions - by the year 2000.

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Chapter 2
History of Civil Engineering

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 History
Construction is one of humanity’s earliest organized activities. Therefore, it is no accident that civil
engineering was one of the very first to be formally organized (in the early 1700s in France). In the
United States, the American Society of Civil Engineers was organized in 1852 - the first national
engineering society in the country.
In the mid-1800s, and through to this day, one of the central tasks of civil engineers was the design
of roads and bridges. The history of American technology can be traced in the bridges around the
country, with wood being replaced by iron and steel. Those beams or girders were then replaced by
steel cables in such landmark structures as the Brooklyn Bridge (completed in 1883). In this
century, new forms of concrete and steel-reinforced concrete are the most common bridge-building
material. The advent of the automobile set off an avalanche of highway construction, culminating
in the legislation that set up a national highway trust fund in the 1950s. Over the past forty years,
thousands of miles of interstate highways have been built, redefining the landscape of America and
its cities.
The key theme in the civil engineering Canon of Ethics is the “protection of the welfare and safety
of the public”. Indeed, the “civil” in civil engineering refers to the discipline’s involvement in
public works, including government buildings, military bases, water treatment works, mass transit
systems, airports, shipping ports, and parks. Because of this involvement, many civil engineers find
themselves employees of, or suppliers for, local government. This relationship, combined with the
requirements for public safety, translates into a high degree of professionalism. Civil engineers
with professional engineer (P.E.) licenses are fairly common, and if a civil engineer expects to
perform work on public facilities, getting the P.E. license should be a priority.
A key word that arose in the 1980s and will remain important for civil engineers for many years to
come is “infrastructure”. This term refers to the facilities that local, state, and federal governments
provide in order for private industry to expand , or for improving the services for private citizens.
THE CURRENT SCENE
Construction is a key part of the overall American economy. Data from the U.S. Department of
Commerce show that more than $400 billion is spent each year on new construction, and about
another $100 billion is spent on repair and maintenance of existing structures. To this half- trillion-
dollar total can be added the $50 billion or so that is paid for construction materials. Many civil
engineers specialize in the development and production of new construction materials.
Infrastructure demands will be a big element of civil engineering for the next several years.
Federal, state, and city budgets for construction suffered in the early 1980s, but as the economy
grew in later years and tax dollars became available, the pace of construction activity increased.
The Summer Institute for Engineering and Technology Education, University of Arkansas 1995.
All rights reserved.
CIVIL ENGINEERING INTRODUCTION 4
In a recent New York Times article entitled “Cashing in on a Construction Boom”, one
construction executive was quoted as saying that his company’s “biggest concern is whether they
can find enough engineers to handle all the work they should be getting.”
Civil engineering also comes to the fore when social changes foster new development. In the 1950s
and 1960s, much business growth was created by the construction of the interstate highway system.
In the 1970s, the prominence of the Sunbelt became apparent, northern states began losing
population, while southern and western states gained dramatically. Such population swings require
new construction for roads, schools, water systems, and housing.
Overall, however, the civil engineering field in the United States is not as dynamic as it was two or
three decades ago when the interstate highways were being constructed, when new communities
were popping up all over the land, and when public funds were more available. The United States

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economy was also growing at a faster rate during the 1950s and 1960s, resulting in a higher
demand for new factories. Today, the reduced demand for civil engineers can be seen in the slightly
lower salaries that civil engineers earn coming out of school. Most salary surveys indicate that
B.S.C.E.s get 10-20 percent less than other engineering majors. It is still, however, a very healthy
salary.
This is not to say that one cannot have a very successful career in civil engineering. Perhaps more
than in most engineering professions, civil engineers work as partners in privately held firms.
These firms are set up the same way a law firm is, with several senior partners sharing the profits
and junior partners and associates earning salaries until they move up to senior status.
The business is what you can make of it. At the same time, saying that there is less growth in the
American economy is not the same as saying there is no growth. New factories are being built, new
skyscrapers and bridges are going up across the land, and more environmental work is being
scheduled.

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Chapter 3
Various divisions of Civil Engineering

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 Various divisions
Civil engineering is one of the oldest branches of engineering and is further divided into numerous
other sub-disciplines:
• Geotechnical engineering
• Environmental engineering
• Transportation Engineering
• Urban Engineering
• Materials Engineering
• Coastal Engineering
• Construction Engineering
• Structural Engineering
• Hydraulics & water resources engineering
• Geoinformatics
• Engineering Geosciences
Geotechnical engineering

Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering
behaviour of earth materials. Geotechnical engineering is important in civil engineering, but also
has applications in military, mining, petroleum and other engineering disciplines that are concerned
with construction occurring on the surface or within the ground. Geotechnical engineering uses
principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics to investigate subsurface conditions and materials;
determine the relevant physical/mechanical and chemical properties of these materials; evaluate
stability of natural slopes and man-made soil deposits; assess risks posed by site conditions; design
earthworks and structure foundations; and monitor site conditions, earthwork and foundation
construction.
Environmental engineering

Environmental engineering is a professional engineering discipline that takes from broad scientific
topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiology, and
mathematics to create solutions that will protect human health and improve the quality of the
environment. Environmental engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering and chemical
engineering.
Environmental engineering is the application of scientific and engineering principles to improve
and maintain the environment to:
• protect human health,
• protect nature's beneficial ecosystems,
• and improve environmental-related enhancement of the quality of human life.
Transportation engineering

Transportation engineering or transport engineering is the application of technology and scientific

principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode
of transportation in order to provide for the safe, efficient, rapid, comfortable, convenient,
economical, and environmentally compatible movement of people and goods transport.
The planning aspects of transportation engineering relate to elements of urban planning, and
involve technical forecasting decisions and political factors. Technical forecasting of passenger
travel usually involves an urban transportation planning model, requiring the estimation of trip
generation (number of purposeful trips), trip distribution (destination choice, where the traveler is
going), mode choice (mode that is being taken), and route assignment (the streets or routes that are

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being used). More sophisticated forecasting can include other aspects of traveler decisions,
including auto ownership, trip chaining (the decision to link individual trips together in a tour) and
the choice of residential or business location (known as land use forecasting). Passenger trips are
the focus of transportation engineering because they often represent the peak of demand on any
transportation system.
Urban Engineering

Municipal engineering is concerned with municipal infrastructure. This involves specifying,

designing, constructing, and maintaining streets, sidewalks, water supply networks, sewers, street
lighting, municipal solid waste management and disposal, storage depots for various bulk materials
used for maintenance and public works (salt, sand, etc.), public parks and cycling infrastructure. In
the case of underground utility networks, it may also include the civil portion (conduits and access
chambers) of the local distribution networks of electrical and telecommunications services. It can
also include the optimizing of garbage collection and bus service networks. Some of these
disciplines overlap with other civil engineering specialties, however municipal engineering focuses
on the coordination of these infrastructure networks and services, as they are often built
simultaneously (for a given street or development project), and managed by the same municipal
authority.
Materials Engineering

The interdisciplinary field of materials science, also commonly termed materials science and
engineering is the design and discovery of new materials, particularly solids. The intellectual
origins of materials science stem from the Enlightenment, when researchers began to use analytical
thinking from chemistry, physics, and engineering to understand ancient, phenomenological
observations in metallurgy and mineralogy. Materials science still incorporates elements of physics,
chemistry, and engineering.
Coastal Engineering

Coastal engineering is a branch of civil engineering concerned with the specific demands posed by
constructing at or near the coast, as well as the development of the coast itself.
The hydrodynamic impact of especially waves, tides, storm surges and tsunamis and (often) the
harsh environment of salt seawater are typical challenges for the coastal engineer – as are the
morphodynamic changes of the coastal topography, caused both by the autonomous development
of the system and man-made changes. The areas of interest in coastal engineering include the
coasts of the oceans, seas, marginal seas, estuaries and big lakes.
Besides the design, building and maintenance of coastal structures, coastal engineers are often
interdisciplinary involved in integrated coastal zone management, also because of their specific
knowledge of the hydro- and morphodynamics of the coastal system. This may include providing
input and technology for e.g. environmental impact assessment, port development, strategies for
coastal defense, land reclamation, offshore wind farms and other energy-production facilities, etc.
Construction Engineering

Construction engineering is a professional discipline that deals with the designing, planning,
construction and management of infrastructures such as roads, tunnels, bridges, airports, railroads,
buildings, dams, etc. Civil engineering is a related field that deals more with the practical aspects of
projects. Construction engineers learn some of the design aspects similar to civil engineers as well
as project site management aspects.
Structural Engineering

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Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are
trained to design the 'bones and muscles' that create the form and shape of man made structures.
Structural engineers need to understand and calculate the stability, strength and rigidity of built
structures for buildings and nonbuilding structures. The structural designs are integrated with those
of other designers such as architects and building services engineer and often supervise the
construction of projects by contractors on site. They can also be involved in the design of
machinery, medical equipment, and vehicles where structural integrity affects functioning and
safety.
Hydraulics & water resources engineering

Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and
conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive
use of gravity as the motive force to cause the movement of the fluids. This area of civil
engineering is intimately related to the design of bridges, dams, channels, canals, and levees, and to
both sanitary and environmental engineering.
Geoinformatics

Geoinformatics has been described as "the science and technology dealing with the structure and
character of spatial information, its capture, its classification and qualification, its storage,
processing, portrayal and dissemination, including the infrastructure necessary to secure optimal
use of this information" or "the art, science or technology dealing with the acquisition, storage,
processing production, presentation and dissemination of geoinformation".
Geomatics is a similarly used term which encompasses geoinformatics, but geomatics focuses more
so on surveying. Geoinformatics has at its core the technologies supporting the processes of
acquiring, analyzing and visualizing spatial data. Both geomatics and geoinformatics include and
rely heavily upon the theory and practical implications of geodesy.
Engineering Geosciences

Engineering geology is the application of the geology to engineering study for the purpose of
assuring that the geological factors regarding the location, design, construction, operation and
maintenance of engineering works are recognized and accounted for. Engineering geologists
provide geological and geotechnical recommendations, analysis, and design associated with human
development and various types of structures. The realm of the engineering geologist is essentially
in the area of earth-structure interactions, or investigation of how the earth or earth processes
impact human made structures and human activities.

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Chapter 4
Various options of higher studies after B-tech Civil
Engineering

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 Higher studies

1. Start a Job/Internship
You can start a job as a fresher in Construction, Real Estate, Infrastructure & project industry as a
site engineer or for any profile which suits your academics. If you are finding it difficult to get a
job, it is always advisable to get into an internship in any company related to your core domain.
Also, Register yourself on all the major job portals and start applying for the jobs.

2. Management Degree (Higher studies) In India

MBA in Construction Management, Project management, Real estate Management, Infrastructure
Management are some of the courses offered by Indian universities and institutes are in very much
in demand.
You can as well attempt for CAT examination with your engineering degree. If you are fortunate
enough, you may get into some IIM. If you wish to shift to management after Civil engineering,
you can as well give a thought on Construction Management, Project Management, and other
related management programmes.
Various companies are looking for candidates having a techno-managerial skill to perform
challenging work in a highly competitive environment.

3. M.S. in Civil Engineering in the U.S., Canada, UK, South East Asia, and Australia
Depending on your score in GRE, preferably 300+ you can choose one of the top ranking
universities for M.S in civil engineering with a specialization of your choice in foreign universities.
Civil Engineers are always in demand all over the globe. You can always look for better career
opportunities in foreign countries.

4. Higher Education in India through GATE Exam

You can give it a try. go for M.E. or M.Tech in Civil Engineering with a specialization of your
choice. After your M. Tech or M.E., you can also start your career in the construction sector. You
can also start your career in academics as if you have an interest in teaching.

Following are the specializations to choose from for M.E & M.Tech post-graduation degree course.

▪ Structural Engineering
▪ Environment Engineering
▪ Geotechnical Engineering
▪ Construction Management
▪ Traffic and Transportation Engineering
▪ Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering
▪ Geo-informatics
▪ Transportation Engineering
▪ Water Resource Engineering

5. Job opportunity in Public sector Undertakings (PSUs)

If you are technically strong, you can apply for PSU’s. Nowadays they are mainly dependent on
GATE score. They are publishing advertisement regularly in the national newspapers. So, prepare
hard for GATE. Practically all civil service positions in public works departments are held by civil
engineers. Some Government departments like Central public works department (CPWD),
Department of Atomic energy etc. conduct their own exams for recruitment.

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Following are the major Public Sector Companies hiring Civil Engineering Graduates:
NTPC – National Thermal Power Corporation Limited
BHEL – Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
ONGC – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited
HAL – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
GAIL – Gas Authority of India Limited
SAIL – Steel Authority of India Limited
IOCL – Indian Oil Corporation
BSNL – Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
ISRO – Indian Space Research Organization

6. Government Engineering Jobs

You can also write various Government Exams for class one post in various government
engineering departments. You can prepare for the exams like UPSC & IES: Indian Engineering
Services to secure your job in the government department, you can go for CSIR fellowship.
State Public work departments (PWD) and other engineering departments have regular recruitment
for civil engineering graduates and it is comparatively easy to crack. You are also eligible for Bank
Jobs in India. (Bank PO’s) one of the very lucrative career option nowadays.

7. Start a civil engineering entrepreneurial venture in India

Although there are very few names in India, the picture is changing quite fast. This is an untapped
market and therefore has the biggest potential. Civil Engineers can team to innovate and come up
with ideas that better the process of design & construction. A Bachelor’s degree doesn’t teach
enough theoretical or practical knowledge for you to meet the requirements of the industry, be it the
private sector or the public sector. That’s why there is always a year-long probationary training
period for all graduate level entrants? And the work you do is more or less worthless, not involving
many things you learned in your course.

Pursuing careers in civil engineering is one the most searched, most discussed and probably the
hottest topic in terms of job availability in today’s time in most of the countries around the globe.
Finding the right career in any field of interest is one of the toughest job for those people who are a
bit confused about their futuristic plan but flexible in any working environment, but if the proper
guidance and information about the concerned issue is provided then the issue can be easily solved
with greater precision without losing our value time. Before opting a field as a career one must
have the answers to some definite questions which play a vital role in anyone’s career because,
with every passing day, the world as a global market is becoming tougher and tougher for the
existence of new arrivals. So, it is necessary to have proper knowledge about the concerned field
before opting it as a career.

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Chapter 5
Various job prospects after B-tech Civil Engineering

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 Job Prospects

A student after his graduation in the civil engineering can get good opportunities now with the
expansion of real estate industry and focus on infrastructure development. It is possible for students
to get jobs not only in India but also overseas especially in gulf countries.The presence of
architectural companies as well as construction firms abroad is the main reason behind this.
Private Sector Jobs
You can get lucrative jobs in the private sector. You can work as Consultant with private
construction firms like Larsen & Toubro Limited, Jaypee Group, Punj Lloyd, IVRCL Infra etc.
Also you can join as Consultants with Architectural Firms and Engineering services firms. You can
even get recruited as Consultant Engineer with IT firms, Transportation and even in the Private
aviation fields.
Government Sector Jobs
You can get good jobs not only with the private sector, but the public sector too. It is possible for
freshers to get employed as trainee or junior engineer. By appearing in the UPSC, IAS, IPS as well
as the IES civil service exam you can land a job government sector. The PSC also carries out
exams as to select qualified engineers in to various state government departments like Public work
department or PWD. Those who are skilled in this field have a chance to get promoted into the
posts of Assistant Engineers, Executive Engineers etc. Engineering professionals in the field of
Civil Engineering are required in fields such as Gas and Oil plants, Power generation firms,
Construction of pipelines and water mains etc. The Railway recruitment Board is another major
recruiter of B.Tech Civil Engineers. You can also try your luck in the defense sector.
Job Prospects Abroad
There are numerous job prospects available for graduates of civil engineering abroad. Many
pioneer international private companies as well as firms of the public sector recruit Civil Engineers
for construction purposes. There are firms that require professionals of civil engineers for its
various departments. You will even get better prospects and pay packages in most of the developed
countries if you have M.Tech or relevant Master’s degree. There are more than twenty five civil
construction and architecture companies in fortune 500 and they pay handsome to civil engineers
especially with some specialization in high end designs.

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Chapter 6
My career plan after completion of B-tech Civil
engineering

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 My Career Plan

Short term

• Improve public speaking abilities

• Become more visible to stakeholders
• Learn systematic approach for building a safe site

Long term

• Transition to a site engineer role in leading construction company in India

Goals

• Secure job
• Continued work-life balance and job satisfaction
• Ready to apply investment plan for future

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