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






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






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






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






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






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






7. 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






8. The gathering of a gas - liquid - or dissolved substance on the surface or interface zone of another material. Advanced Waste Treatment (water) n Any process of water renovation that upgrades treated wastewater to meet specific reuse requirements. Ma






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






10. 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.






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






12. 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






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






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






15. 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






16. The linear or a real dimension over which a higher component transmits load to a lower component






17. 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.'






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






19. A special valve with a hinged disc or flap that opens in the direction of normal flow and is forced shut when flows attempt to go in the reverse or opposite direction of normal flows.






20. In landscape architecture - the organization of areas of land for specific aesthetic or functional purposes. This can range from creating small backyard patios to huge urban plazas.






21. OE The pressure at a specific elevation exerted by a body of water at rest - or _ In the case of groundwater - the pressure at a specific elevation due to the weight of water at higher levels in the same zone of saturation.






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






23. The height to which something is elevated - such as the height above sea level.






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






25. An opening in pipes or sewers designed for rodding or working a snake into the pipe in either direction. Twoway cleanouts are most often found in building lateral pipes at or near a property line.






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






27. A pipe or conduit (sewer) intended to carry wastewater or waterborne wastes from homes - businesses - and industries to the POTW (Publicly Owned Treatment Works). Storm water runoff or unpolluted water should be collected and transported in a separat






28. 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.'






29. Downward movement of the soil or of a structure which it supports






30. 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.






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






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






33. Federal agency responsible for producing and managing many federally-funded public service programs - especially those affecting housing and public spaces.






34. 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






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






36. 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.






37. 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.






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






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






40. 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.






41. A downspout or pipe installed to drain a roof gutter to a storm drain or other means of disposal.






42. 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.






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






44. A professional who designs - plans - and manages outdoor spaces ranging from entire ecosystems to residential sites and whose media include natural and built elements; also referred to as a designer - planner - consultant. Not to be confused with lan






45. 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.






46. 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.






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






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






49. The formation of separate layers (of temperature - plant - or animal life) in a lake or reservoir. Each layer has similar characteristics such as all water in the layer has the same temperature. Also see THERMAL STRATIFICATION.






50. Solid material settled from suspension in a liquid.