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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 pipes - conduits - structures - equipment - and processes required to collect - convey - and treat domestic and industrial wastes - and dispose of the effluent and sludge.






2. 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






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






4. 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.






5. In landscape architecture - the organization of areas of land for specific aesthetic or functional purposes. This can range from creating small backyard patios to huge urban plazas.






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






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






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






9. 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






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






11. 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.






12. The science and management of land - especially rural - agricultural land.






13. 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.






14. 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






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






16. A type of wastewater or service connection pipe made of a low grade of cast iron. _ In plumbing - a pipe that carries the discharge of toilets or similar fixtures - with or without the discharges from other fixtures.






17. 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.






18. 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.






19. 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.'






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






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






22. 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.






23. Pertaining to groundwater - a well - or underground basin where the water is under a pressure greater than atmospheric and will rise above the level of its upper confining surface if given an opportunity to do so.






24. 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






25. 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.






26. Any designated use or activity on a piece of land.






27. 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.






28. 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






29. 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.






30. 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.






31. 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.






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






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






35. 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.






36. An unstable condition of a solution (water) in which the solution contains a substance at a concentration greater than the saturation concentration for the substance.






37. 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.






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






39. 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.






40. 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).






41. 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.






42. 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.






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






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






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






46. 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.






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






48. A device made of pipe fittings used to prevent sewer gases escaping from the branch or lateral sewer from entering a building sewer.






49. A groundwater table that has seasonal changes in depth or elevation.






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