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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. 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.






2. A wall or plate placed in an open channel and used to measure the flow of water. The depth of the flow over the weir can be used to calculate the flow rate - or a chart or conversion table may be used to convert depth to flow. A wall or obstruction u






3. 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.






4. Pertaining to groundwater - a well - or underground basin where the water is under a pressure greater than atmospheric and will rise above the level of its upper confining surface if given an opportunity to do so.






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






6. Acronym for 'Computer Aided (i.e. - Assisted) Design and Drafting -' a digital design process in which landscape architects use computers to help produce precise drawings and details for the construction of a project.






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






8. 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.






9. Soil that cannot absorb any more liquid. The interstices or void spaces in the soil are filled with water to the point at which runoff occurs.






10. A community's used water and water carried solids (including used water from industrial processes) that flow to a treatment plant. Storm water - surface water - and groundwater infiltration also may be included in the wastewater that enters a wastewa






11. A rough guess of the amount of flow in a collection system. When greater accuracy is needed - flow could be computed using average or typical flow quantities. Even greater accuracy would result from metering or otherwise measuring the actual flow.






12. A road laid through a garden or park-like landscape - usually with median and roadside plantings.






13. Water or wastewater flowing from a higher elevation to a lower elevation due to the force of gravity. The water does not flow due to energy provided by a pump. Wherever possible - wastewater collection systems are designed to use the force of gravity






14. Movement of soil from one place to another. Generally accompanies SILTING of a sewer system. Where infiltration is taking place and silt is carried into a sewer system - such silt or soil is removed from the ground around the sewer pipe and the resul






15. Precipitation which has been rendered (made) acidic by airborne pollutants.






16. The pipes - conduits - structures - equipment - and processes required to collect - convey - and treat domestic and industrial wastes - and dispose of the effluent and sludge.






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






18. 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.






19. 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.






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






21. Record of an area's natural and man-made resources - including vegetation - animal life - geological characteristics and mankind's presence in such forms as housing - highways and even hazardous wastes.






22. The science and management of land - especially rural - agricultural land.






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






24. A trained builder or installer of landscapes - retained to implement the plans of landscape architects.






25. 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






26. 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.






27. 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.






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






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






30. A water service shutoff valve located in a water service pipe near the curb and between the water main and the building. This valve is usually operated by a wrench or valve key and is used to start or stop flows in the water service line to a buildin






31. 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.






32. 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






33. That part of the precipitation falling on a drainage area which does not escape as surface stream flow during a given period. It is the difference between total precipitation and total runoff during the period - and represents evaporation - transpira






34. An agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior charged with the planning and administration of all parks and monuments in the federal park system. The NPS is often referred to as the largest single employer of landscape architects in the United Sta






35. A pipe or conduit that carries wastewater or drainage water. The term 'collection line' is often used also.






36. 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






37. An unstable condition of a solution (water) in which the solution contains a substance at a concentration greater than the saturation concentration for the substance.






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






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 water treatment process in which solid particles settle out of the water being treated in a large clarifier or sedimentation basin.






41. 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.






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






43. A separate pipe - conduit or open channel (sewer) that carries runoff from storms - surface drainage - and street wash - but does not include domestic and industrial wastes. Storm sewers are often the recipients of hazardous or toxic substances due t






44. The legal grant of right-of-use to an area of designated private property.






45. The excess water running off from the surface of a drainage area during and immediately after a period of rain. See STORM RUNOFF.






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






47. 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






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






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






50. 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.