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Civil Engineering Vocab

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. British thermal units; the quantity of thermal energy required to raise one pound of water at its maximum density - 1 degree F. One BTU is equivalent to .293 watt hours - or 252 calories. One kilowatt hour is equivalent to 3412 BTU Back Pressure (wat






2. A large - public park - often highly scenic and isolated belonging to and operated by the federal government.






3. The movement or dislocation of underground soil or structure. Earth shift is usually caused by external forces such as surface loads - slides - stresses or nearby construction - water movements or seismic forces.






4. A septic tank or other holding tank which serves as a temporary wastewater storage reservoir for a Septic Tank Effluent Pump (STEP) system. See SEPTIC TANK.






5. Rain and snow water accumulated in the earth's porous rock.






6. A coordinating agency formed in 1961 for state boards that administer licensing exams and maintain records for landscape architects to practice.






7. A type of wastewater or service connection pipe made of a low grade of cast iron. _ In plumbing - a pipe that carries the discharge of toilets or similar fixtures - with or without the discharges from other fixtures.






8. A chamber or well built at the curbline of a street to admit gutter flow to the storm water drainage system. Also see STORM WATER INLET and CATCH BASIN.






9. Landscape architecture - (civil) engineering - urban planning and architecture. Agronomy is also often included in this group.






10. Masonry composed of roughly shaped stones fitting approximately on level beds - well bonded and brought at vertical intervals to continuous level beds of courses.






11. Shoring members placed across a trench to hold other horizontal and vertical shoring members in place.






12. A U.S. government agency responsible for developing and enforcing regulations that guide the use of land and natural resources.






13. A natural underground layer of porous - waterbearing materials (sand - gravel) usually capable of yielding a large amount or supply of water.






14. A popular social concern of the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries aimed at improving the appearance of urban areas through better planning and the addition of formal - romanticized public spaces and gardens.






15. The form of the land. Contour lines are map lines connecting points of the same ground elevation and are used to depict and measure slope and drainage. Spot elevations are points of a specific elevation.






16. Masonry composed of irregularly shaped stones laid without regularity of coursing - but well bonded.






17. A capped opening in a building lateral -usually located on the property line - through which the pipelines can be cleaned.






18. The lowest point of the channel inside a pipe - conduit - or canal.






19. The upper surface of the zone of saturation of groundwater in an unconfined aquifer.






20. A holding basin in which variations in flow and composition of a liquid are averaged. Such basins are used to provide a flow of reasonably uniform volume and composition to a treatment unit. Also called a balancing reservoir.






21. One or a series of oneinch diameter holes through a manhole lid for purposes of venting dangerous gases found in sewers.






22. A material - other than aggregate - cementitious material or water - added in small quantities to the mix in order to produce some (desired) modifications - either to the properties of the mix or of the hardened product.






23. Subsurface water in the saturation zone from which wells and springs are fed. In a strict sense the term applies only to water below the water table. Also called 'phreatic water' and 'plerotic water.'






24. Material used in backfilling of an excavation - selected for desirable compaction or other characteristics.






25. Load applied along or parallel to and concentric with the primary axis






26. Railing support at landings or other breaks in the stairs. If an angle post projects beyond the bottom of the strings - the ornamental detail formed at the bottom of the post is called the drop.






27. The amount of liquid which a solid material can absorb. Sand - as an example - can hold approximately onethird of its volume in water - or three cubic feet of dry sand can contain one cubic foot of water. A denser soil - such as clay - can hold much






28. Water that may contain objectionable pollution - contamination - minerals - or infective agents and is considered unsafe and/or unpalatable for drinking.






29. The prepared and compacted base on which a manhole is constructed.






30. Installation of pumps to lift wastewater to a higher elevation in places where flat land would require excessively deep sewer trenches. Also used to raise wastewater from areas too low to drain into available collection lines. These stations may be e






31. Legal right to use the property of others for a specific purpose. For example - a utility company may have a fivefoot easement along the property line of a home. This gives the utility the legal right to install and maintain a sewer line within the e






32. A large pipe to which a series of smaller pipes are connected. Also called a HEADER.






33. The protection - improvement and use of natural resources according to principles that will assure the highest economic or social benefits for people and the environment now and in the future.






34. The man-made creation of or alterations to a specific area - including its natural resources. This is in contrast to the 'natural environment.'






35. A strip of unspoiled - often treed - agricultural or other outlying land used to separate or ring urban areas.






36. A reservoir for the storage of filtered water of sufficient capacity to prevent the need to vary the filtration rate with variations in demand. Also used to provide chlorine contact time for disinfection.






37. The dropping or lowering of the ground surface as a result of removing excess water (overdraft or overpumping) from an aquifer. After excess water has been removed - the soil will settle - become compacted and the ground surface will drop and can cau






38. The science and art of design - planning - management and stewardship of the land. Landscape architecture involves natural and built elements - cultural and scientific knowledge - and concern for resource conservation to the end that the resulting en






39. Broken stones - boulders - or other materials placed compactly or irregularly on levees or dikes for the protection of earth surfaces against the erosive action of waves.






40. A collection pipe to which building laterals are connected.






41. A conservation group that maintains a revolving fund for quickly buying land that is in danger of being developed inappropriately or without regard to proper environmental considerations.






42. A small tank (usually covered) or a storage facility used to store water for a home or farm. Often used to store rainwater.






43. The force that resists the separation of two bodies in contact.






44. The creative illustration - planning and specification of space for the greatest possible amount of harmony - utility - value and beauty.






45. A 19th- and 20th-century planned community traditionally featuring careful mixes of housing - open space - commercial activity and recreation. Examples include Reston - Va. - and Columbia - Md. - in the United States - and Harlow and Stevenage in Gre






46. A wall that supports any vertical load in addition to its own weight.






47. The conversion of large solid particles of sludge into very fine particles which either dissolve or remain suspended in wastewater.






48. A device that admits surface waters to the storm water drainage system. Also see CURB INLET and CATCH BASIN.






49. A system of major sewers serving as transporting lines and not as local or lateral sewers.






50. Material used to provide a bedding or foundation for pipes or other underground structures. This material is of specified quality for desirable bedding or other characteristics and is often imported from a different location.