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






2. 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.






3. 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).






4. Subsurface water in the saturation zone from which wells and springs are fed. In a strict sense the term applies only to water below the water table. Also called 'phreatic water' and 'plerotic water.'






5. Any method of determining the weight a compacted material is able to support without damage or displacement. Usually stated in pounds per square foot.






6. A multinational organization of landscape architects whose purpose is the promotion of landscape design and planning.






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






8. A sewer that discharges into a branch or other sewer and has no other common sewer tributary to it. Sometimes called a 'street sewer' because it collects wastewater from individual homes.






9. A popular social concern of the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries aimed at improving the appearance of urban areas through better planning and the addition of formal - romanticized public spaces and gardens.






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






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






12. The elements of supply inherent to an area that can be used to satisfy human needs - including air - soil - water - native vegetation - minerals and wildlife.






13. 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.






14. 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






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






16. Narrowly defined - the amount of countryside and/or city that can be taken in at a glance. Also - an area of land or water taken in the aggregate.






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






18. The angle between a horizontal line andthe slope or surface of unsupported material such as gravel - sand -or loose soil. Also called the 'natural slope.'






19. A structure or chamber which is usually sunk or lowered by digging from the inside. Used to gain access to the bottom of a stream or other body of water.






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






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






22. 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.






23. 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.






24. Material used to fill in a trench or excavation






25. 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






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






27. A line from which heights and depths are calculated or measured. Also called a datum plane or a datum level.






28. 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.






29. A reservoir for the storage of filtered water of sufficient capacity to prevent the need to vary the filtration rate with variations in demand. Also used to provide chlorine contact time for disinfection.






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






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






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






33. This landscape architecture specialization has evolved to encompass maintenance of a site in its present condition; conservation of a site as part of a larger area of historic importance; restoration of a site to a given date or quality; renovation o






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






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






36. A reactor or basin in which baffles or other devices create a series of compartments. The environment and the resulting microbial population within each compartment can be controlled to some extent by the operator. The environmental conditions (food






37. A wastewater pumping station that lifts the wastewater to a higher elevation when continuing the sewer at reasonable slopes would involve excessive depths of trench. Also - an installation of pumps that raise wastewater from areas too low to drain in






38. 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






39. Water that may contain objectionable pollution - contamination - minerals - or infective agents and is considered unsafe and/or unpalatable for drinking.






40. The movement of water through very small spaces due to molecular forces.






41. 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






42. 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.






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






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






45. Water that does not contain objectionable pollution - contamination - minerals - or infective agents and is considered satisfactory for drinking.






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






47. 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






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






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






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