This is a glossary of 20 words that are used in the field of Civil engineering. These are basic terms that could be used in the field, a civil engineer works with many other professionals to design, plan, maintain public and private infrastructure such as roads, buildings, bridges, water networks and transit systems.
alignnment
noun
Alignment means the arrangement of things in a straight line, the proper adjustment of machine parts, or an agreement between people and groups who share common goals.
Example: In a prehistoric monumental world seemingly concentrated on astronomical ALIGNMENT, for example Stonehenge, or an east-west orientation such as long barrows, why do so many henges, including Avebury, possess entrances off the cardinal points?
en: alignement
beam
noun
A beam is a long, rigid structural element—usually horizontal—designed to carry loads and resist bending.
Example: The beam may not have been totally perpendicular to the supports.
en: poutre
cantilever
noun
A cantilever is a rigid beam or structure that is fixed at only one end and hangs out unsupported over open space at the other end.
Example: A suitable measurement system is designed to measure the applied force on a steel CANTILEVER beam.
en: cantilever
column
noun
A column is a vertical arrangement, structure, or line that runs from top to bottom.
Example: Pre-stressed CONCRETE. Wall systems (Ching, 2001b) columns and walls, glass construction and masonry walls pre-cast CONCRETE wall panels, CONCRETE framework, CONCRETE columns Connections.
en: colonne
culvert
noun
A culvert is a tunnel or pipe structure that channels water or utilities underground beneath an obstacle like a road, railway, or path.
Example: Before building the road, construction crews dig out the creek bed and lay down a large corrugated steel pipe (the culvert) directly inline with the natural stream.
en: ponceau
ductility
noun
Ductility is the ability of a material to stretch, bend, or be drawn into a thin wire without breaking
Example: With thinner wire material, comes increased DUCTILITY, as the cable is not putting as much compression and tension on the inside and outside respectively, of a bend.
en: ductilité
elasticity
noun
Elasticity means the ability of an object or system to stretch, deform, or change in response to a force or variable, and then return to its original state.
Example: These two methods are used to calculate ELASTICITY with a linear demand curve.
en: élasticité
excavation
noun
Excavation means the act or process of digging into the ground to remove soil, rock, or other materials.
Example: Although EXCAVATION within the Avebury complex is rarely permitted, the research that has been completed has been extremely successful.
en: excavation
fatigue
noun
Fatigue means extreme physical or mental tiredness, or a weakening of a material caused by repeated stress.
Example: In general, bending stress was relatively small compared to the FATIGUE strength and the gear should firstly be failed by FATIGUE.
en: fatigue
footing
noun
A footing is a supportive base, a physical surface for walking, a structural foundation element, or a figurative basis for a situation.
Example: When the garage is completed, the weight of the roof travels down the studs, into the stem wall, and spreads out across the wide 24-inch footing.
en: semelle de fondation
gradient
verb
A gradient is a measurement of how steep a slope is or how fast a physical value changes over a specific distance.
Example: A physical gradient is the rate at which a physical property changes over a given distance, such as temperature dropping as you climb a mountain.
en: pente
leveling
verb
Levelling means the act of making a surface flat, reducing differences to create equality, or measuring land heights.
Example: In addition, the outcomes of many field surveys support the importance of appropriate land and seed management such as preparation of land by plaughing, puddling and LEVELING to prevent weeds germination, collection of clean seeds to avoid the contamination of weed seeds and water management (Baki & Azmi, 1992, Moody, 1992, Vongsaroj, 1992).
en: mise à niveau
materials
noun
A material is a physical substance or mixture of substances used to make objects, structures, or products.
Example: Approaches to the change of building MATERIALS of medieval peasant houses: The changing evidence and techniques also affected our knowledge about the building MATERIALS that were used for peasant houses.
en: matériels
pavement
noun
Pavement means a hard, artificial surface on the ground made of materials like asphalt or concrete
Example: For younger primary age children, supervision should be stressed when near roads, and roads surrounding schools should be adapted to younger pedestrians, perhaps with warning signs, speed limits and PAVEMENT barriers.
en: chaussée
plasticity
noun
Plasticity is the general ability of a material, living tissue, or organism to permanently change its shape, structure, or behavior in response to external forces or new conditions.
Example: In other words, a critical period is an abrupt decline in PLASTICITY. For instance, cataracts convert the optical lens into an opaque diffuser making it impossible for patients to distinguish shapes properly.
en: plasticité
pressure
pressure
Pressure is the amount of physical force applied to a surface divided by the area over which that force is spread.
Example: Although this should be a temporary condition while the skull is still malleable the child will turn while sleeping, therefore reducing the pressure on one area of the skull.
en: pression
silt
noun
Silt is a fine, dust-like sediment of rock and mineral particles that is larger than clay and smaller than sand.
Example: The table below indicates approximate ranges of nutrients needed by grapevines (Jackson, 1994): The soil in the Graves appellation is mainly gravel, limiting the growth of other vegetation, however the roots of the vines are able to seek out the lenses of clay, SILT and dirty sand, that are interbedded and hold moisture and mineral nutrients, key to the successful growth of vines such as Semillon.
en: limon
statics
noun
Statics is the branch of mechanics that studies forces acting on physical systems in equilibrium, meaning objects are either completely at rest or moving at a constant speed without any acceleration.
Example: A model will be created and a statics analysis be performed.
en: statique
torque
noun
Torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force
Example: Rally engine should have an extremely high TORQUE, extremely high horsepower, high acceleration, long life span and high operational temperature in order to maintain the car under safety condition as well as effectively operated.
en: couple
truss
noun
A truss is a rigid framework made of straight structural members connected at joints to form a network of triangles.
Example: Features diagonal members sloping down toward the center; highly efficient for bridges because long members handle tension rather than compression.
