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Civil Engineering Vocab

Subject : engineering
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
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  • 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. 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.






2. A material - other than aggregate - cementitious material or water - added in small quantities to the mix in order to produce some (desired) modifications - either to the properties of the mix or of the hardened product.






3. 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.






4. 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.






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






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






7. 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.






8. A road laid through a garden or park-like landscape - usually with median and roadside plantings.






9. 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






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






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






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






14. 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.






15. 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.






16. Harmonious use of the land for more than one purpose; not necessarily the combination of uses that will yield the highest economic return - e.g. - a mix of residential and commercial developments in the same area.






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






18. Solid material settled from suspension in a liquid.






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






20. 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.






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






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






23. A groundwater table that is changed by artificial means. Examples of activities that artificially raise the level of a groundwater table include agricultural irrigation - dams and excessive sewer line exfiltration. A groundwater table can be artifici






24. 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.






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






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






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






28. 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






29. 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.






30. 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






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






32. 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.






33. 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






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






35. A water service shutoff valve located in a water service pipe near the curb and between the water main and the building. This valve is usually operated by a wrench or valve key and is used to start or stop flows in the water service line to a buildin






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






37. 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.






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






39. 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






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






41. Water or wastewater flowing from a higher elevation to a lower elevation due to the force of gravity. The water does not flow due to energy provided by a pump. Wherever possible - wastewater collection systems are designed to use the force of gravity






42. 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






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






44. The legal grant of right-of-use to an area of designated private property.






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






46. 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.






47. 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






48. Material used to fill in a trench or excavation






49. A manhole in which the rate of the water entering is greater than the capacity of the outlet under gravity flow conditions. When the water in the manhole rises above the top of the outlet pipe - the manhole is said to be 'surcharged.'






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