Home Underground Gas StorageEthanol refineries Alaska's oil reservoirPetroleum refiningCivil Engineering


Civil Engineering

The civil engineering field is a wide assortment of engineering responsibilities that deal with the infrastructure of a planned community and the surrounding areas that will be affected by land mass utilization. The three construction phases that are followed in every civil engineering contract are project planning, construction and structural maintenance.

During the project planning phase, several groups in the civil engineering field will consider the land areas that are available on which large structures can be placed. They will determine how these structures will be arranged on these properties following a project map of their own design. The only requirement to qualify for civil engineering services is that these structures must be constructed on a large scale, rather than simple residential communities, which are not under their area of responsibility.

As a primary responsibility that is undertaken during the planning phase, civil engineering groups will also be responsible for creating maintenance plans for the aftercare of the structures that will be built. All buildings that are placed on large land masses must undergo this maintenance determination process.

During the planning phase, civil engineering groups will also determine the environmental impact that these buildings will have on the surrounding cities and natural resources. During this time, civil engineering groups will create detailed maps that will outline the routes for all utilities that will be connected to these structures. All negative feedback that is received covering environmental impact studies will be corrected and rerouted at this time.

During the project planning phase, civil engineering groups will consider and define all options to effectively route external transportation frameworks such as railway systems, interstate highways, bridges, and further design internal transportation areas such as street design, public transportation, and traffic light placement. The planning phase will include the placement of all facilities that will be needed to make the planned construction a fully functioning engineered model such as fire and police stations, and hospitals.

During the construction process, civil engineering groups will concentrate their efforts on building these structures that will generate the power needed to bring these built buildings to life. They will also develop maintenance plans for these power stations. The realm of responsibility of civil engineers extends underground to the sub-structure levels that will accommodate electrical lines, water lines, gas lines, telephone cabling, flood control systems, and security systems.

The mission of the civil engineering work ethic is focused on how their structural creations react with nature based on their finesse with interpretive experimentation with equations that are the base of their designs. This field was conceived with the intention of being primarily for use by the military and the public. It later became necessary to redefine the meaning of the specialty to differentiate it from military engineering. There are still some affiliations with the military to this date through the United States Army engineering section that is defined as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. All contracted work is accomplished through an umbrella grouping of civil engineering sub-specialties that are trained and responsible for completing all phases of the construction process.