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






2. 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.






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






4. 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






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






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






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






8. 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.






9. 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.






10. A network of pipes - manholes - cleanouts - traps - siphons - lift stations and other structures used to collect all wastewater and wastewatercarried wastes of an area and transport them to a treatment plant or disposal system. The collection system






11. 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.






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






13. 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.






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






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






16. Material used for backfilling a trench or excavation which was not the original material removed during excavation. This is a common practice where tests on the original material show it to have poor compactability or load capacity. Also called BORRO






17. A receptacle designed to collect and retain grease and fatty substances usually found in kitchens or from similar wastes. It is installed in the drainage system between the kitchen or other point of production of the waste and the building wastewater






18. 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.






19. 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.






20. The condition of water or soil which contains a sufficient amount of acid substances to lower the pH below 7.0.






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






22. Regulations specifying the type of construction methods and materials that are allowable on a project.






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






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






25. 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






26. 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






27. Branch or lateral sewers that collect wastewater from building sewers and service lines.






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






29. 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.






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






31. 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






32. 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.






33. A layer - usually of concrete or mortar - for providing continuous support to such items as bricks - slabs - pipes.






34. A biological wastewater treatment process which speeds up the decomposition of wastes in the wastewater being treated. Activated sludge is added to wastewater and the mixture (mixed liquor) is aerated and agitated. After some time in the aeration tan






35. A sewer designed to carry both sanitary wastewaters and storm or surface water runoff.






36. 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






37. Elements added to a natural landscape - such as paving stones - gravel - walkways - irrigation systems - roads - retaining walls - sculpture - street amenities - fountains - and other mechanical features.






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






39. 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).






40. Vertical member supporting the railing.






41. 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






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






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






44. Material used to fill in a trench or excavation






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






46. 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.






47. The running off of water from a land surface or subsurface - such as through sewers or natural means.






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






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






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