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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 slope of a plot of land. Grading is the mechanical process of moving earth changing the degree of rise or descent of the land in order to establish good drainage and otherwise suit the intent of a landscape design.






2. 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.






3. 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.






4. An arrangement of pipes - equipment - devices - tanks and structures for treating wastewater and industrial wastes. A water pollution control plant.






5. 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.






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






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






8. 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






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






10. A pipe or conduit (sewer) intended to carry wastewater or waterborne wastes from homes - businesses - and industries to the POTW (Publicly Owned Treatment Works). Storm water runoff or unpolluted water should be collected and transported in a separat






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






12. 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






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






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






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






16. 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






17. A relatively clear or forested area left untouched in or near a city. It may be active open space - such as a baseball field - or passive open space - such as an area of natural woodland.






18. 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






19. 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






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






21. 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






22. 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.






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






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






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






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






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






28. Railing support at landings or other breaks in the stairs. If an angle post projects beyond the bottom of the strings - the ornamental detail formed at the bottom of the post is called the drop.






29. 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.






30. 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.






31. 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.






32. A chamber or well used with storm or combined sewers as a means of removing grit which might otherwise enter and be deposited in sewers. Also see STORM WATER INLET and CURB INLET.






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






34. 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.






35. A structure made of concrete or other durable material to protect bare soil from erosion by splashing or falling water.






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






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






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






39. In landscape architecture - a study of the potential cost of site purchase - demolition and improvement in comparison to the income or other benefit to be derived from site development.






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






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






42. 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.






43. 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






44. 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






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






46. 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.






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






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






49. A branch of biology dealing with the relationship between living things and their environment.






50. Not easily penetrated. The property of a material or soil that does not allow - or allows only with great difficulty - the movement or passage of water.