Test your basic knowledge |

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. A manhole which fills and allows raw wastewater to flow out onto the street or ground.






2. Solid material settled from suspension in a liquid.






3. Not easily penetrated. The property of a material or soil that does not allow - or allows only with great difficulty - the movement or passage of water.






4. The change to an area's natural resources - including animal and plant life - resulting from use by man. Some projects may require conducting of an 'environmental impact study' before development can proceed.






5. A dimensioned drawing indicating the form of an existing area and the physical objects existing in it and those to be built or installed upon it.






6. The illustration and description of problem-statements and large-scale design solutions that affect extensive areas of land; the anticipation of problems that will be encountered as human use and development of land continues.






7. The property of a material or soil that permits considerable movement of water through it when it is saturated.






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






9. A manhole located at the upstream end of a sewer and having no inlet pipe. Also called a TERMINAL MANHOLE.






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. A structure made of concrete or other durable material to protect bare soil from erosion by splashing or falling water.






12. A sewer that receives wastewater from many tributary branches or sewers and serves a large territory and contributing population.






13. Sewers are surcharged when the supply of water to be carried is greater than the capacity of the pipes to carry the flow. The surface of the wastewater in manholes rises above the top of the sewer pipe - and the sewer is under pressure or a head - ra






14. A wall that resist horizontal forces applied in the plane of the wall.






15. Sand - silt - gravel and rocks carried or washed into a collection system by infiltration water flows.






16. Downstream opening or discharge end of a pipe - culvert - or canal.






17. 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.






18. A break in a lateral pipe somewhere between the sewer main and the building connection.






19. A professional society that represents landscape architects in the United States and Canada and seeks to better the practice and understanding of landscape architecture through education - research - state registration and other programs.






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






21. The amount of runoff that reaches the point of measurement within a relatively short period of time after the occurrence of a storm or other form of precipitation. Also called 'direct runoff.'






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






23. A line from which heights and depths are calculated or measured. Also called a datum plane or a datum level.






24. 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.






25. 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.






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






27. The pipe system for collecting and carrying water and watercarried wastes from domestic and industrial sources to a wastewater treatment plant.






28. A manhole located at the upstream end of a sewer and having no inlet pipe. Also called a DEADEND MANHOLE.






29. Horizontal shoring members - usually square - rough cut timber - that are used to hold solid sheeting - braces or vertical shoring members in place. Also called STRINGERS.






30. A branch of biology dealing with the relationship between living things and their environment.






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






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






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






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






35. A U.S. government agency charged with administering vast areas of public land.






36. An opening or point of access in a building wastewater pipe system for rodding or snake operation.






37. A small box-like structure that contains valves used to regulate flows.






38. The elevation of the invert (or bottom) of a pipeline - canal - culvert - or similar conduit. _ The inclination or slope of a pipeline - conduit - stream channel - or natural ground surface; usually expressed in terms of the ratio or percentage of nu






39. A groundwater table that has seasonal changes in depth or elevation.






40. A railing composed of balusters capped by a handrail.






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






42. An agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture - primarily responsible for planning and overseeing the use of national forest lands by private - commercial and government users.






43. A sewer installed to connect two separate sewers. If one sewer becomes blocked - wastewater can back up and flow through the interconnector to the other sewer.






44. The used household water and watercarried solids that flow in sewers to a wastewater treatment plant. The preferred term is WASTEWATER.






45. Opening in a sewer provided for the purpose of permitting operators or equipment to enter or leave a sewer. Sometimes called an 'access hole' or a 'maintenance hole.'






46. In zoning - a housing or commercial development composed of individual units that are regulated as a whole.






47. The taking in or soaking up of one substance into the body of another by molecular or chemical action (as tree roots absorb dissolved nutrients in the soil).






48. 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






49. The pipeline extending from the water main to the building served or to the consumer's system.






50. A type of easement granting permission to a constructor or developer to build over a street or structure.