Materials for civil and construction engineers

by Michael Mamlouk (Author), John Zaniewski (Author)

A basic function of civil and construction engineering is to provide and maintain the infrastructure needs of society. Materials for civil and construction engineers provides this aspect of materials.

The infrastructure includes buildings, water treatment and distribution systems, wastewater removal and processing, dams, and highway and airport bridges and pavements.

Although some civil and construction engineers are involved in the planning process, most are concerned with the design, construction, and maintenance of facilities.

The common denominator among these responsibilities is the need to understand the behavior and performance of materials. This is discussed in Materials for civil and construction engineers.

Although not all civil and construction engineers need to be material specialists, a basic understanding of the material selection process, and the behavior of materials, is a fundamental requirement for all civil and construction engineers performing design, construction, and maintenance.

Materials for civil and construction engineers facilities are different from material requirements in other engineering disciplines.

Frequently, civil engineering structures require tons of materials with relatively low replications of specific designs.

Generally, the materials used in civil engineering have relatively low unit costs. In many cases, civil engineering structures are formed or fabricated in the field under adverse conditions.

Finally, many civil engineering structures are directly exposed to detrimental effects of the environment.