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






2. 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.






3. 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.






4. A sewer line that receives wastewater from many tributary branches and sewer lines and serves as an outlet for a large territory or is used to feed an intercepting sewer.






5. 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.






6. 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.






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






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






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






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






11. A system of gutters - catch basins - yard drains - culverts and pipes for the purpose of conducting storm waters from an area - but intended to exclude domestic and industrial wastes.






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






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






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






15. Masonry composed of roughly shaped stones - well bonded and brought at irregular intervals vertically to discontinuous but approximately level beds or courses.






16. 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






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






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






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






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






21. 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.'






22. 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.






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






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






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






26. 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.






27. Vertical member supporting the railing.






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






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






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






32. Tamping or rolling of a material to achieve a surface or density that is able to support predicted loads.






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






34. 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






35. American Society for Testing and Materials






36. 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






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






38. In the United States - a certification of individuals entitled to use the term 'landscape architect' or to practice landscape architecture or both - by means of examination and required degree and experience criteria.






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






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






41. 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






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






43. 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






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






45. 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.






46. British thermal units; the quantity of thermal energy required to raise one pound of water at its maximum density - 1 degree F. One BTU is equivalent to .293 watt hours - or 252 calories. One kilowatt hour is equivalent to 3412 BTU Back Pressure (wat






47. 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






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






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






50. 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