There are many moving parts in any real estate development project. And everyone from architects to contractors has their own specialized vocabulary that can be difficult for outsiders to understand. This includes Civil Engineers.
If you’re not familiar with the lingo of civil engineering, it can be hard to know what’s going on in a real estate project meeting or during the planning and construction process. In this article, we’ll explain 28 civil engineering terms that begin with the letter A-L. These are essential concepts for anyone involved in the real estate project lifecycle.
30 Civil Engineering Terms You Might Hear In A Real Estate Project Meeting (A-L)
1. Alteration:
Making changes to the physical structure of a building. A civil engineer will be brought in to oversee any alterations to ensure that the changes don’t negatively impact the stability or safety of the building.
2. As-built drawings:
These drawings show the actual dimensions of a building or piece of infrastructure, as opposed to the original design plans. As-built drawings are important for civil engineers to have so that they can see what was actually built and identify any deviations from the original plans.
3. Bearing capacity:
The bearing capacity of a piece of land is the amount of weight (or load) that it can support without failing. This is an important consideration for civil engineers when designing buildings or other structures, as the weight of the structure needs to be within the bearing capacity of the land it is built on.
4. Benchmark:
A benchmark is a reference point that can be used for comparison. In civil engineering, benchmarks are often used to compare the elevation of a piece of land to the surrounding area. Knowing the topography of an area is important for understanding things like how likely it is to flood, or what kind of drainage pattern exists.
5. Best management practices (BMPs):
Best management practices are methods that have been proven to be the most effective at achieving the desired result. In civil engineering, BMPs are often used to refer to methods of managing stormwater runoff so that it doesn’t cause flooding or other problems.
6. Bridge load:
The bridge load is the weight that a bridge is designed to be able to support. The weight of the traffic using the bridge is an important factor for civil engineers to consider when designing a new bridge.
7. Capacity:
The capacity of a system is the maximum amount of traffic or other demand that it can handle. In civil engineering, capacity is often considered in terms of things like the carrying capacity of a road or the storage capacity of a reservoir.
8. Catchment:
A catchment is an area of land where all of the runoff from precipitation (rain, snow, etc.) drains into a common body of water. This is an important consideration for civil engineers when designing drainage systems, as the catchment needs to be large enough to handle the amount of runoff.
9. Channel:
A channel is an artificially created or naturally occurring conduit through which water flows. In civil engineering, channels are often used to refer to the waterways that are created for drainage purposes.
10. Civil engineering:
This branch of engineering deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and natural built environment, including roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.
11. Clearance:
The clearance is the distance between two objects. When it comes to civil engineering, clearance usually refers to the vertical height of a bridge or the horizontal width of a road.
12. Climate change:
Climate change refers to any long-term alteration to the average weather conditions in an area. As climate change continues to alter our weather patterns (ie. more extreme storms), civil engineers must take this into account when designing structures like buildings which are meant to withstand such conditions.
13. Context:
The context is the surrounding environment in which a structure is built. This is an important consideration for civil engineers, as the context can impact the design of a structure (for example, a building in a seismic zone needs to be designed to withstand earthquakes).
14. Cost-benefit analysis:
A cost-benefit analysis is a method of decision-making that involves comparing the costs and benefits of different options. In civil engineering, cost-benefit analyses are often used to compare the costs and benefits of different construction methods or materials.
15. Culvert:
A culvert is a structure that allows water to flow under a road, railway, or another obstacle. Designing culverts is an important aspect of drainage system design for civil engineers, as they must take into account the size of the runoff in that area.
16. Density:
The density of a material is the mass per unit volume. In civil engineering, density is often considered in terms of the density of concrete or other building materials.
17. Earthwork:
Earthwork is the process of moving and shaping earth materials (such as soil and rock) to create the desired feature. This is an important factor that civil engineers must account for when designing roads, bridges, and other structures.
17. Earthwork:
Earthwork is the process of moving and shaping earth materials (such as soil and rock) to create the desired feature.Civil engineers must take this important factor into account when building roads, bridges, and other structures.
18. Erosion
Erosion is the process by which water, wind, or other agents wear away at the earth’s surface. Civil engineers are especially mindful of this when designing structures in erosion-prone environments (like coastal or river regions).
19. Foundation:
A foundation is the lowermost part of a structure that bears the weight of the rest of the structure. The type of foundation used in a particular project is an important consideration for civil engineers, as it needs to be able to support the weight of the structure.
20. Geotechnical engineering:
This branch of civil engineering deals with the behavior of earth materials (such as soil and rock) in relation to construction. The strength of a foundation is an important factor for civil engineers to consider when determining a structure’s stability.
21. Green infrastructure:
Green infrastructure refers to the use of plants and other living things to manage stormwater and provide other environmental benefits. When making decisions, civil engineers must consider how green infrastructure can be used to lessen the negative consequences of construction projects.
22. Hazard:
A hazard is a potential source of harm or damage. In civil engineering, hazards are often considered in terms of the risk they pose to people or structures (such as floods, landslides, and earthquakes).
23. Hydrology:
Hydrology is the study of water in all its forms (liquid, solid, and gas). Water is a crucial element that civil engineers must account for when designing things such as dams and irrigation systems.
24. Impermeable:
An impermeable material does not allow water to pass through it. When designing structures that must be waterproof (e.g., dams, underground storage tanks), civil engineers must consider this aspect carefully.
25. Infiltration:
Infiltration is the process by which water moves from the ground into a structure. This is an important design consideration for civil engineers, as a lack of proper drainage can lead to water damage.
26. Levee:
A levee is a man-made structure that is used to protect against flooding. Given that civil engineering projects in coastal or river regions are especially prone to flooding, this is an important consideration for engineers working on such projects.
27. Life cycle analysis:
A life cycle analysis is a tool used to assess a product’s environmental impact over its entire life cycle. This is an important consideration for civil engineers, as they must consider their projects’ long-term impacts.
28. Load:
A load is any force that acts on a structure. In civil engineering, loads are often classified as either live or dead. Live loads are those that come from people or animals, while dead loads are those that come from the weight of the structure itself.
This article introduces you to some of the most important civil engineering terms, beginning with the letter A-L. We’ll cover another 40 terms in part two, beginning with the letter M-Z. We hope you found this article helpful and informative! And be sure to bookmark this in case you need to refer back to this glossary in the future.
