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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. Most plumbing codes require a vent pipe connection of adequate size and located downstream of a trap in a building wastewater system. This vent prevents the accumulation of gases or odors and is usually piped through the roof and out of doors.






2. 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






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






4. 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.






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






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






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






8. 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.






9. 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.






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






11. 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.






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






13. 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






14. 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.






15. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






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






22. An authorization issued by a government agency allowing construction of a project according to approved plans and specifications.






23. 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.






24. 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.






25. 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.






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






27. 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






28. A wastewater treatment process used to convert dissolved or suspended materials into a form more readily separated from the water being treated. Usually the process follows primary treatment by sedimentation. The process commonly is a type of biologi






29. 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.






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






31. 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.






32. An arrangement of pipes - equipment - devices - tanks and structures for treating wastewater and industrial wastes. A water pollution control plant.






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






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






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






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






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






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






39. 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






40. A site that might appear to be natural but has elements and features that were planned and specified by a landscape architect. Designed landscapes include Central Park in New York to the siting of buildings.






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






42. A record of each person involved in the handling and possession of a sample from the person who collected the sample to the person who analyzed the sample in the laboratory and to the person who witnessed disposal of the sample.






43. The natural elements with which landscape architects work - such as plant materials and the soil itself.






44. A flat board or plate - deflector - guide or similar device constructed or placed in flowing water or slurry systems to cause more uniform flow velocities - to absorb energy - and to divert - guide - or agitate liquids (water - chemical solutions - s






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






46. 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






47. 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.






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






49. Clarifier - Settling Tank. A tank or basin in which wastewater is held for a period of time during which the heavier solids settle to the bottom and the lighter materials float to the water surface.






50. That part of rain or other precipitation that runs off the surface of a drainage area and does not enter the soil or the sewer system as inflow.