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






2. 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






3. 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.






4. 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






5. Solid material settled from suspension in a liquid.






6. The elevation of the invert (or bottom) of a pipeline - canal - culvert - or similar conduit. _ The inclination or slope of a pipeline - conduit - stream channel - or natural ground surface; usually expressed in terms of the ratio or percentage of nu






7. 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.






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






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. The conversion of large solid particles of sludge into very fine particles which either dissolve or remain suspended in wastewater.






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






12. A preliminary plan showing proposed ultimate site development. Master plans often comprise site work that must be executed in phases over a long time and are thus subject to drastic modification.






13. 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.






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






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






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






17. 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.






18. 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).






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






20. Post at which the railing terminates at each floor level.






21. 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.






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






23. 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






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






25. 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.'






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






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






28. 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.






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






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






31. 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






32. 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






33. 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.






34. 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






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






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






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






38. Narrowly defined - an extended view or prospect from a site which - many times - is as important as or more important than the site itself.






39. A sewer pipe to which building laterals are connected. Also called a COLLECTION MAIN.






40. A break in a lateral pipe somewhere between the sewer main and the building connection.






41. 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






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






43. The pipeline extending from the water main to the building served or to the consumer's system.






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






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. The force that resists the separation of two bodies in contact.






47. 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






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






49. 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.'






50. 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.