Civil Dictionary PDF

B BACK BRIDGE
B Baleine
Metrology Temporary Construction
The symbol of Beaumé = Beaumé degree). A timberwork service bridge erected at the end
of the fillings during construction.
B.R.G.M.
Bureau des Recherches Géologiques et BACK FACE
Minières Face arrière ou Face de derrière
Geology Nomenclature of Materials
Geological and Mining Research Bureau. This The face of a dressed stone that will be placed
organization specializes in the studies and work against an inside a wall or visible on the rear
relating the ground and the basement. facing; face opposite the face of facing.
BACK BACK GAUGE

Extrados; Extradosser Pas de rivure
Construction; Work Metal Construction
1. Syn. with EXTRADOS Syn. with PITCH OF RIVETS.
2. To build extrados (of an arch or a vault).
3. To cut tails of the archstones so as to profile BACK LOADER
evenly the extrados. Rétro-chargeur
Syn. with MAKE AN EXTRADOS Equipment and Tools
An earthmover or handling plant equipped with a
BACKACTER bucket, articulated between two hydraulically
Pelle rétrocaveuse mécanique driven arms, running above the machine, which
Equipment and Tools can be filled in the front and emptied at the back,
Syn. with BACKHOE; DIGGER; DRAG without any intervention of the operator. Syn.
SHOVEL; TRENCH HOE with OVERHEAD LOADER
67
Dictionary of Civil Engineering
BACK NUT and regularly dressed and has the same centers as
Contre-écrou its intrados.
Materials 2. Of a vault whose extrados is not rough but
Syn. with LOCK NUT; COUNTER NUT; where tails of archstones are cut evenly.
SAFETY-NUT; CHECK NUT
BACKFALL
BACK OF THE VAULT or ARCH Contre-pente
Extrados Hydrology
Construction Syn. with ASCENDING SLOPE; REVERSE
Syn. with EXTRADOS GRADIENT; REVERSE SLOPE
BACK SHIELD BACKFILL

Arrière-bec Remblai
Equipment and Tools Construction
The back part of a shield. Syn. with TAIL Any earth brought back to erect a platform, raise
up the undisturbed soil, fill up an excavation,
BACK SHORE level a dip of ground. Back fillings are carried
Contre-fiche out by successive layers. In the great earthworks,
Temporary Constructions each layer is vigorously compacted with a
A raking shore that withstands a load or props up specific equipment: multiwheel rollers or
a wall. Syn. with INCLINED SHORE; RAKER; tamping rollers.
RAKING SHORE;; SHORING Types are:
full filling (le remblai bien clavé), which
BACK SMOOTHER perfectly fills a cavity;
Lissoir arrière consolidated filling (le remblai consolidé),
Equipment and Tools mixed with 5 to 20% of cement or flying ashes,
A flat piece of steel located at the back of a to improve its consistency,
finisher and aimed at making the surface of a linear or longitudinal filling (le remblai
slab or a screed. linéaire), not very wide, compared with its
length, mainly used to make road and railway
BACK-BALANCED platforms or dikes;
En porte-à-faux large-area fill (le remblai de grande étendue),
Construction that sets up a ground, naturally unsuitable to
Syn. with OVERHANGING; PROJECTING construction, or creates new areas at sea. It is
generally thick, but has an important surface
BACKBAND area.
Feuillure Syn. with FILLING IN; FILLING MATERIAL
Construction
Syn. with GROOVE. RABBET; REBATE BACKFILLER
Machine à remblayer ; Remblayeuse
BACKBREAK Equipment and Tools
Hors profil 1. A machine especially designed to fill trenches
Construction after mainlaying.
Syn. with OVERBREAK. 2. An earthmoving plant equipped by a scraping
bucket supported by a jib, and which is designed
BACKED to embank the trenches.
Etre extradossé; Extradossée Syn. with BACKFILLING MACHINE
Construction; Masonry
1. Of a vault or an arch when its extrados is built
68
BACKFILLING BACKHOE
Remblayage Pelle rétrocaveuse mécanique
Earthwork Equipment and Tools
The blocking up of an excavation, a cavity, etc. An earthmover specially designed for trenching
by material supply. The two types of fill are: to bury pipes. Syn. with BACKACTER;
hydraulic (le remblayage hydraulique), which DIGGER; DRAG SHOVEL; TRENCH HOE
consists in dredging materials of all dimensions
in the bed of a river, in carrying these mixed BACKHOE LOADER
water materials in pipings and in pouring them Chargeuse-pelleteuse
on the place envisaged of the filling. Deposits of Equipment and Tools
excavated materials are carried out by A self-propelled pneumatic-mounted earthmover
decantation at the exit of the piping, water equipped in the front of a loading bucket and at
turning over to the river by drainings judiciously the back of a dipper arm equipped with a pull
put up; shovel. Syn. with BUCKET LOADER;
mechanical (le remblayage mécanique), in LOADING SHOVEL
which materials are solely conveyed and set up
by mechanical means such as bulldozers, power BACKING
shovels, etc. Remplage; Fond
Syn. with STOVING Construction
1. Filling the space contained between the two
BACKFILLING MACHINE facings of a wall with wastes of bricks or quarry
Remblayeuse stones mixed with a mortar.
Equipment and Tools 2. Syn. with BACKGROUND; BASE
Syn. with BACKFILLER
BACKING
BACKGROUND Délardement
Arrière-plan; Fond; Subjectile Metal Construction; Building Materials
Drawing; Construction; Paining 1. The progressive diminution, according to a
1. What, in perspective, is furthest away from the slope of one fourth the thickness of a sheet metal,
eye of the onlooker. a leg or the web of a section to avoid
2. A support existing in the state. Syn. with concentrations of stresses by change of
BACKING; BASE thickness.
3. Syn. with SUBSTRATE. (The background is 2. The thinning of a metal part or a wooden piece
called new when it is bare, before any or the result of sloping action. Syn. with
application; it is called old, when it was once PARING
painted.)
BACKING (OF WALL)
BACKGROUND COLORING Renforcement
Coloration résiduelle de la surface examinée Work
Welding A complete work intended for allowing a
The unwanted coloring that remains after an structure to withstand loads of higher intensity
incomplete removal of a surface penetrating than firstly considered. Syn. with
colored fluid. REINFORCEMENT; STIFFENING
BACKGROUND PREPARATION BACKING BRICK

Mise en état de recette Grisée
Work Defects - Damage (Building Materials)
Syn. with PREPARATION A brick that presents a firing defect, inclusions,
cracks, or any other tare that makes it unfit to
facing. They are mostly used in filling by
builders.
69
BACKING COAT mycotic ring shake;

Couche de fond; Fonds star-shake;
Painting red rot of oak;
Syn. with FIRST COAT; PRIMING COAT dry rot.
BACKING STRIP BAD REINFORCEMENT ANGLE

Latte-support; Latte Défaut de raccordement
Building Materials; Welding Defects - Damage (Welding)
1. Syn. with BATTEN An overdeveloped dihedral angle formed by the
2. Syn. with (welding) LATH tangent plane to the parent metal and tangent
plane of the deposited metal and passing by the
BACKSETTING WALL line of connection.
Mur en reculement
Construction BAD STONE
A work built back from the general alignment. Pierre cariée
Defects - Damage (Building Materials)
BACKSTEP SHEET-PILE DRIVING A material made friable by an alteration; rotted
Fonçage ou Battage au pas de pélerin stone.
Foundation
An implementation process in which sheet piles BAD WORKMANSHIP
are driven into the ground in pairs and in two Malfaçon
phases; the first pair (panel) is sunk to its half- Defects
height; then the second comes and levels it. Syn. with DEFECTION WORK
Afterwards, the first one is driven at the wanted
level; then the third panel comes and levels the BAILING-UP REMOVAL
second one, which at its turn comes and levels Débourrage
the first one, and so on for remaining panels. Earthwork
Syn. with MATERIAL REMOVAL; TAMPING
BACK-TO-BACK PIPE REMOVAL
Tuyau adossé
Construction BAILING WATER
A discharge or supply pipe water (or other fluids) Epuisement
fixed on the facing of a wall, a pier, a post. Sanitary Engineering and Drainage
Syn. with DEWATERING; PUMPING
BACKWARD EROSION
Erosion régressive BAINITE
Hydrology Bainite
Syn. with REGRESSIVE EROSION; Metallurgy
UNDERCUTTING A metastable constituent of steel formed by the
decomposition of austenite in the temperature
BACTERIUM range where pearlite is formed and where
Bactérie martensite appears. It is made of ferrite grains in
Defects (Building Materials) which carbon is finely precipitated in carbide
A unicellular microbe belonging to the vegetable form.
kingdom. Enemy of wood, it reproduces by
scissiparity and its proliferation causes BAJOCIAN
fermentations. These lesions occur especially at Bajocien
the foot of trees, hindering their development and Geology
making them sometimes unusable. There are A lower formation of the Dogger which is
several types: represented by an oolitic zoogenous or entrochals
bacterial tumors; limestone.
mucous flows or wet rot;
70
BAKELITE ™ unfavorable combinations of loads and overloads

Bakélite expected in the project and multiplied by
Polymers and Building Materials balancing coefficients. In stability checking
Artificial resin obtained by polymerization of the calculations (whole stability as well as strength
unsaturated aldehyde and phenol. Insoluble in of elements), one applies these coefficients to the
mineral oils. loads, overloads, etc ., combined in the most
unfavourable manner, in order to ensure that
BAKELIZATION maximal stresses do not exceed the elasticity
Bakélisation limit of the material, considering that second
Building Materials order instability effects may happen.
Wood impregnation with Bakelite.
BALANCING RESERVOIR
BALANCE Bassin d’accumulation
Balancer; Balancier Hydrology
Construction Artificial pond used to store all collected water,
1. To realize a symmetry in a construction. without an outlet nozzle. This type of basin is
2. The top part of a drawbridge, supporting the used when no emptying is possible. Water is
counterweight. Syn. with EQUALIZING BAR. evacuated strictly by evaporation and by soil
infiltration.
BALANCE SECTION
Bielle de béton BALK
Strength of Materials Madrier
A fictitious section ensuring the balance of Building Materials
compressive stresses, notably at the right side of A squared timber piece, mostly of fir tree, of
the bearings. rectangular section whose commonly adopted
dimensions are 75 x 200 mm or 75 x 225 mm or
BALANCE WEIGHT 100 x 225 mm. They balks are mainly used in
Contrepoids sheetings, propping-up or scaffolding floors.
Construction Syn. with BEAM; THICK BOARD; PLANK
Syn. with COUNTERWEIGHT
BALL BREAKING
BALANCING Désegrégation en boules
Balancement Geomorphology
Construction Crystalline rocks alteration process (granites,
The reduction distribution of the staircase steps diabases, diorites), with spaced joints.
width in the straight or curved parts on the side
of the banister. Syn. with TURNING BALL MILL
Broyeur à boulets
BALANCING COEFFICIENTS Equipment and Tools
Coefficients de pondération A device used in pit sand manufacturing in
Strength of Materials which bars are replaced by strong steel balls. The
Coefficients applied to the actions in order to fineness obtained is higher than that obtained by
take into account the most unfavorable a rod mill.
combinations of loads such as external forces or
applied forces (loads and overloads), the action BALL RACE
of temperature variations and possibly the action Chemin de roulement
of earthquakes or the construction method. Handling
It is admitted that the security of a construction is Syn. with CONVEYOR LINE; RACEWAY;
ensured when it has been checked, with the help ROLLERPATH; RUNWAY; TRACK
of designs based on the strength of materials in
the elastic phase theories, that the construction
would remain stable if it was subjected to most
71
BALL RACE TRACK BALLAST HOLDER

Chemin de ripage sur billes Boite à lest
Handling Construction
A device employed in the installation of a 1. A compartment located at the end of a metal
structure using lateral displacement on a track deck that is intended for receiving the ballast in
formed by a symmetrical DC rail on which steel order to create a counterbalance. This ballast
balls of 100 mm diameter, which are kept in ball holder equips some metal bridges with
races, evolve. continuous beams, which may develop negative
reactions on bearing.
BALL TEST 2. A compartment intended for receiving the
Essai à la balle ballast to create a counterbalance in an
Test of Construction anchorage or at the end of the deck of some self-
A test which consists in propelling a ball through anchored suspension bridges. See Figure 1
a drain or a piping to detect a possible 3. A compartment intended for receiving the
obstruction or collapse. ballast to create the counterbalance of some
movable bridges.
BALL TEST IMPACT
Essai à la bille BALLAST PILE
Construction of R.C. and P.C. Colonne ballastée
An in situ control of hardened concrete which Foundation
principle consists in throwing on the concrete A kind of pile or well composed of a shaft of
surface, using a spring, a ball lodged in a tube. brought materials with studied grading, placed in
The height of the ball’s revival is measured after a drilling and compacted into the ground with a
percussion and the concrete hardness is radial vibrator placed at the point of a tube used
determined with a chart of reference. as a support.
BALLAST BALLAST RETAINER

Lest; Ballast Murette garde-ballast ou Garde-grève
Construction; Building Materials Construction
1. A weight intended for overloading or Syn. with GRAVEL GUARD
balancing all or part of a work to avoid butt of
decks uprisings for instance. Bascule bridges are BALLASTED MATTRESS
notably equipped with ballast. Matelas lesté
Ballasts can be: Foundation
permanent (le lest fixe): usually of concrete, A device formed by a very resistant fabric
which ensures the major part of balancing; (polypropylene mostly) in which hooks are
removable or sliding ballast (le lest drowned. These hooks are intended to fix
amovible): usually composed of cast iron pigs, concrete blocks poured directly on the mattress.
which can be modified during the lifetime of the This device is intended to protect the base of the
work according to the adjustments brought to the piles or abutments in watery site. (An alternative
structure and equipment; of this device consists of a layer of very resistant
counterpoise or counterbalancing (le lest de fabric comprising flanges filled with sand or
tarage): usually composed of cast iron pigs, gravel.)
which enables to compensate for variations in the
center of gravity’ weight and position noticed in BALLAST-GUARD LOW WALL
a built work compared to the theoretical values Garde-ballast
given by designs. If necessary, this ballast is set Construction
up after the swinging tests of the structure have A retaining dwarf wall of masonry established at
been achieved. the end of the railway bridges with a steel deck
2. Syn. with PIT GRAVEL to separate the railway platform from the deck
and to head off the ballast from running toward
bearings.
72
BALLASTING the capital, made up of a square tablet forming

Culasse compensatrice raised table, a quarter of circle, and a fillet. See
Construction Figure 3
In a metal bridge with several spans whose
extremes have a shorter span than the BALUSTRADE
surroundings, ballasting of concrete or (cast) iron Balustrade; Accotoir; Accoudoir
arranged at the extremities to oppose to the Construction; Architecture
uprising of the ends of the deck. See Figure 2 1. A guardrail rising up to elbow height (1 m
approximately), consisting of a succession of
BALLER balusters crowned by a tablet. A balustrade can
Cuillère be masonry or concrete. It contains:
Equipment and Tools the lower part that forms a pedestal or skirt;
A tool fixed at the extremity of a drill, solely the vertical part, formed either of blind or
used in soft ground. Can be used as a corkscrew open-work panels, or of balusters;
by sinking straight down into the ground and by a tablet or handrail that rests on the balusters or
transmitting it a rotary movement by means of an panels. Syn. with GUARDRAIL
horizontal driving sleeve. Sporadically, the 2. A low enclosure, solid or to open work.
baller, which has been filled with earth, is pulled 3. Wall appreciably raised up to elbow height.
out, in order to get samples of met grounds. Syn. Syn. with ARMREST
with SAMPLING SPOON; SOIL SAMPLER
BAND
BALLING UP Fretter
Bourrage Work
Foundation Syn. with BIND WITH A RING; HOOP;
Clogging of the bore bit of a drill by REINFORCE WITH STEEL HOOPS
accumulation of cuttings. Syn. with BIT
BALLING BANDED ROCK
Roche rubanée
BALLMARK Geology
Empreinte A stone having thin and nearby parallel bands of
Earthwork different colors, minerals, and textures.
Syn. with BALLPRINT
BANGING THE BRIDGE SUPPORT
BALLPRINT Battement d’appui
Empreinte Defects (Civil Engineering Structure)
Earthwork Damage affecting certain bridge decks. This
In soil compacting, surface of contact between phenomenon occurs when the deck does not rest
the cylinder of the road roller and the underlying correctly on its bearings and is abruptly applied
soil. Syn. with BALLMARK to it at convoys passing. On the railway bridges
this damage is in particular brought about by
BALUSTER excessive packing of the track to the immediate
Balustre surroundings of the work or for road bridges by a
Construction slight settlement of bearings. This continuous
A worked small column used as support to the hammering brings about at the end of a certain
tablet or handrail of the balustrade. Balusters time the unsealing of the bearing plates and
consist of three parts: disorders in masonries.
the base, generally formed of a square pedestal
surmounted by a torus, a scotia, etc.; BANGING THE SLATS
the shaft, turned or square, which usually Battement des lattes
appears as the bulbous form of a gourd and Defects (Civil Engineering Structure)
presents by the top a narrow part surmounted of In wooden deck bridges, a defect resulting from
an astragal, and at the bottom, a strongly the fastening of the slats, due either to a
widened portion; deformation of the boards in the aftermath of the
73
climatic conditions, or to a bad fastening or BAR

rotting of the support or boards. Barre; Barrette; Bar
Construction; Metallurgy; Metrology
BANK 1. A long component in a frame or long basic
Glacis; Accotement; Accolement; Banc element in a structure.
Construction; Civil Engineering; Building 2. A rectilinear product usually long quite and
Materials and basically round, square, rectangular. Syn.
1. A very even and uniform slope (lawn, coating, with IRON BAR
etc.) depending on the situation. Syn. with 3. A short metal plate.
GRADIENT; SLOPE 4. A unit of pressure
2. Syn. with BENCH; CESS SIDE; ROADSIDE;
SHOULDER; SIDE PATH; VERGE BAR BENDER
3. Syn. with BENCH; FORM; LAYER Ferrailleur; Cintreuse
Building Materials; Equipment and Tools
BANK 1. A worker specialized in the shaping and bar
Levée; Berge setting for reinforced concrete works. Syn. with
Earthwork; Hydrology IRON FIGHTER; STEEL BENDER; STEEL
1. Syn. with EMBANKMENT FIXER
2. A shore or edge of river, canal, etc., having a 2. Syn. with BENDING MACHINE; STEEL
raised and steep profile. Syn. with BENDER
EMBANKMENT; SLOPE
BAR BENDING
BANKER-MARK Ferraillage
Marque de tâcheron Building Materials
Masonry Syn. with BAR SETTING; STEEL FIXING;
The personal identification mark of the (CONCRETE) REINFORCEMENT; IRON
stonecutter, affixed on an ashlar which he cut. FRAMEWORK
Syn. with MASON’S MARK
BAR CHAIR
BANKING Cale à béton ; Espaçateur
Aile de pavé ou de chaussée Equipment and Tools
Civil Engineering Syn. with SPACER; BAR SPACER.
Side slopes of a pavement (roadway).
BAR CLAMP
BANK-ON-BANK LANDSLIDE Serre-joint
Glissement banc sur banc Equipment and Tools
Geomorphology A builder’s tool that keeps the boards of the
A movement of ground of an extent and formworks in their position, etc.
suddenness similar to a collapse and which
affects the complete thickness of a reef or ground BAR SCREEN
bench. The slip can be due to the lubrication by Grille de déplatage
water of the interface of two benches, cancelling Equipment and Tools
out a part of the bond strengths (the dip of Syn. with NEEDLE ELIMINATION GRIZZLY
stratums can be an aggravating factor).
BAR SETTING
BANQUETTE Ferraillage
Banquette Building Materials
Geomorphology All reinforcements going into the composition of
The horizontal top part of an escarpment in a a reinforced concrete structure. Syn. with IRON
zone of regression or within a landslide. Syn. FRAMEWORK; STEEL FIXING;
with BERM (CONCRETE) REINFORCEMENT; BAR
BENDING
74
BAR SPACER BARITE

Cale à béton ; Espaçateur Barytes
Equipment and Tools Building Materials
Syn. with SPACER; BAR CHAIR Syn. with BARYTES; HEAVY SPAR
BAR TEST BARYTES

Eprouvette pour essais mécaniques Barytes
Test of Materials Building Materials
Syn. with TEST PIECE An opaque heavy aggregate (barium sulfate),
showing a lamellar structure. Its average density
BARB is 4.5. Barytes is used:
Barbure; Bavure as drilling mud;
Defects (Metallurgy) in paint manufacture
Syn. with BURR; SCALE; SMUDGE to manufacture concrete whose density reaches
3.6 and is used in the form of sand (0 to 3 mm),
BARE fine gravels (3 to7mm), gravel (7 to15 mm) and
Maigre stones (15 to 30 mm). Syn. with BARITE;
Building Materials HEAVY SPAR
Of an element which has insufficient dimensions
to fill a space, a void. Syn. with SCANT BARYTES CONCRETE
Béton de barytes
BARE STEEL Building Materials
Acier dénudé A material, whose main aggregate is barytes, that
Defects - Damage (Construction of R.C. and can have high densities (up to 6) and is used to
P.C.) form screens for protection from ionizing rays,
A defect characterized by the relatively extended for soundproofing, and heavy rafts.
appearance of reinforcements or cable ducts in a
reinforced or prestressed concrete structure. This BARYTINE
defect can be due to several causes: Barytine
insufficient concrete cover of the Building Materials
reinforcements or prestressing cable ducts, An opaque heavy aggregate (barium sulfate),
mechanical shock, more or less white colored, showing a lamellar
corrosion and expansion of steels, etc. structure. Its average density is 4.5. Barytine is
used to manufacture concrete whose density
BAREFOOT reaches 3.6 and is used in the form of sand (0 to
Nu-pied 3 mm), fine gravels (3 to7 mm), gravel (7 to15
Work mm) and stones (15 to 30 mm).
Of a drilling in the ground of which the lower
part was not cased. BARK POCKET
Entre-écorce
BARGE Defects (Building Materials)
Barge Syn. with INGROWN BARK; INTERBARK
Handling
A flat-bottomed boat, tractor drawn or pushed, BARLOW RAIL
used for river carriage of materials. Syn. with Rail Barlow
DUMB BARGE Construction
A rolled shaped section of small height having
BARING the same use as Zorès irons in the rough masonry
Déchaussement of some bridges. See Figure 4
Foundation
Syn. with LOOSENING
75
BAROID FILTER PRESS

Filtre-presse baroïd BARRAGE
Equipment for Measure and Control Barrage
Equipment used to determine the filtrate Civil Engineering Structure
(interstitial water) and thickness of the cake at A construction forming a retaining wall,
the time drilling mud are used. generally established in a river to create a
The equipment is composed of a mud tank pondage and in which the thrust is normal to the
installed on a frame of a filtering device as a wall. Generally speaking, the purpose of a
system to collect and measure the quantity of barrage is, either to regularize the flow of the
interstitial water and of a source of pressure. A river which it intercepts, or to use the driving
graduated test tube recovers the filtrate. The test force of the water.
progress for 30 minutes under a constant One calls permanent barrage, the one of which
pressure of 7 bars. The interstitial water is given no part is movable; sluice weir, the one
in it is the quantity of filtrate recovered at established by means of juxtaposed sluices;
the end of the 30 minutes. The test can be limited girders barrage, the one made of horizontal
to 7.5 minutes, in which case the quantity of wooden pieces (beams), engaging into vertical
interstitial water collected is regarded as half of grooves; needles weir, a movable barrage able to
that measured to 30 minutes. The thickness of the be erased entirely in time of flood and made of
cake is measured using a reglet, after light vertical wooden pieces (needles) which rest
dismantling of the cell and elimination of on a sill fitted out in a foundation raft. Among
superficial gel by washing with the water jet. the main types of barrage we can distinguish:
buttress dam (le barrage à contreforts),
BAROID SAND CONTENT SET formed by a shell strengthened by a system of
Elutriomètre buttresses; it can be built of masonry or concrete;
Equipment for Measure and Control earth-fill dam (le barrage en remblai), carried
A graduated glass burette with a conical bottom out with materials often taken near its
intended for measuring the sand content of a construction. Its shape and composition depend
drilling mud during its recycling. One draws for on the quality of the materials taken;
instance of mud that one sifts through a rock-fill dam (le barrage en enrochements),
sieve. Screenings are collected and placed generally made of a tight ground newel covered
in the burette. One washes by a light stream of with ordinary materials themselves covered by
water until the water contained in the burette ripraps. This type of barrage takes on a
becomes perfectly clear. The volume of sand trapezoidal shape and presents a cross section of
remaining on the bottom is measured in a quite considerable thickness;
centimeters cube by direct reading, from where homogeneous earth-fill dam (le barrage en
the content in sand remains in percentage. terre homogène de section transversale
trapézoïdale), built with tight materials
BAROID WEIGHTING MACHINE
(example: compacted clay);
Balance baroïd
heterogeneous earth-fill dam (le barrage en
Equipment for Measure and Control
terre hétérogène ou à zones), carried out when
An instrument used to measure the density of the
one does not have impermeable grounds in
drilling muds. It is about a genuine Roman
sufficient quantity and whose ground then
balance including a cylindrical cupola whose
constitutes an impermeable, vertical, or tilted
volume is constant and a beam directly graduated
in density. Having filled up the cupola with mud, central newel, contained between the bearing
the beam is balanced by moving the cursor, blocks (downstream) or protection (upstream)
from which the direct reading of the density. called fills and consisting of very diverse
materials (generally speaking, sandy and rocky
BAROSTAT grounds). Filters are interposed between the
Barostat newel and the fills to avoid the migration of the
Equipment for Measure and Control ground in the latter. The downstream filter
In the mechanics of fluids, an equipment being collects moreover the water which can percolate
designed to keep a pressure at a constant value. through the newel. The materials are very
76
carefully compacted to reduce the spaces, to BARREL SQUARE

improve the mechanical qualities of the materials Beauveau
and to avoid deformations of the work. This type Equipment for Measure and Control
of barrage is very sensitive to erosion by the A square with mobile branches, used by
water. stonecutters to check their work.
Syn. with DAM; WEIR
BARREL VAULT
BARRE DE SAINT-VENANT HYPOTHESIS Canonnière
Hypothèse de Barré de Saint- Venant Construction
Strength of Materials A cradle vault whose opening is larger at one of
An assumption according to which normal its extremities than at the other; one also says
stresses in all cross sections of a horizontal beam vault in canon.
bent in pure bending are proportional to their
vertical distance to the neutral axis passing in the BARRETTE
center of gravity of the section. Barrette
Foundation
BARRED GUARDRAIL Syn. with SUPPORTING-WALL UNIT.
Barreaudage
Construction BARRETTE PILE
All rails constituting a guardrail and, very Pieu-barrette
generally, any type of protection at a drop in the Foundation
ground. Syn. with BARS See SUPPORTING-WALL UNIT.
BARREL BARRICADE OF PILES

Buser; Buse Estacade
Civil Engineering Structure Construction
1. To implement ducts. Syn. with TO PIPE Syn. with PIER (on piles); PILING
2. Syn. with CHANNEL TUBE; DUCT; PIPE
CULVERT BARRIER PILLAR
Investison
BARREL (of the vault) Earthwork
Corps de voûte In underground earthwork, the volume of ground
Construction that must remain stable not to bring about
The masonry part of a vault between the intrados damage on the surface installations. The
and the extrados. protective break includes the barrier pillar and all
sublaying grounds to the surface and is all the
BARREL BAND more widened since the boring is deeper, by
Frette means of the angle of influence. Syn. with
Construction INVESTISON; PROTECTIVE BREAK. See
Syn. with COLLAR; FERRULE Figure 5
BARREL DEFORMATION BARROW

Déformation en tonneau Brouetter
Defects (Metallurgy) Handling
A bulged shape obtained through the To move materials with a wheelbarrow.
compression of a metal bloom after a forgeability
test. BARROWFUL
Brouettée
BARREL SHELL Handling
Coque Amount of materials that a wheelbarrow can
Construction hold.
Syn. with COQUE SKIN; HULL
77
BARS BASCULE METAL BEARING

Barreaudage Appareil d’appui métallique à balancier
Construction Construction
Syn. with BARRED GUARDRAIL A device of connection and transmission of the
actions that is used for great loads and important
BARTONIAN displacements. It is formed by two equalizers,
Bartonien one or several rollers, a bearing plate for
Geology movable bearing. For fixed bridge support
Formation of the upper Eocene contained apparatus, rollers are replaced by a hinge. See
between the Lutetian and Theludian (saccharoid Figures 44 and 46
gypsum, sands of Beauchamp, calcareous marl,
limestones of Saint-Ouen and Champigny). BASE
Culot; Couche de base; Couche de roulement;
BARYE Base
Barye Earthwork; Civil Engineering; Polymers
Metrology 1. A solid mass of earth remaining at the bottom
Stress and pressure unit of the CGS system, of the drift on the face during the works of
corresponding to 0.1 Pascal. heading of a tunnel by the timbered gallery
method.
BASALT 2. Concerning a pavement (roadway), the part
Basalte that is in contact with the wheels of the vehicles.
Geology Syn. with BASE COURSE; SUBBASE;
A rock of deep origin released in a molten state SURFACING
at around 1200°C and crystallized into a mixture 3. An epoxydic resin not hardened. (The
of plagioclase and pyroxenes. It is a compact combination base + hardener gives the epoxydic
gray-black rock little used in construction. binder or epoxy system.)
BASALTINE BASE
Basaltine Embase; Embase; Fond; Soubassement
Building Materials Construction
Reconstituted stone of crushed basalt and a 1. The intermediate lower pan located between
binder. the shaft and the sole plate of a pier.
2. The widened part located at the lower
BASALTIC extremity of a pole, enabling it to take bearing on
Basaltique its support while distributing forces on a greater
Geology surface in order to limit the punching effects.
Formed from basalt; relative to basalt. Syn. with FOOT
3. The lower part of a work.
BASCULE 4. Syn. with BACKGROUND; BACKING
Bascule 5. Syn. with FOUNDATION; WALL BASE
Construction
Sought overhang to bear above an empty space a BASE COURSE
part of balcony, etc. Binder
Civil Engineering
BASCULE The substratum of a road surface, as opposite to
Pousser, tirer au vide the topping, used as an elastic plug between this
Defects - Damage (Construction) layer and the foundation.
To lose its perpendicularity, when speaking
about the verticality of a wall. Syn. with TO BASE COURSE
OVERTURN Couche de base; Couche de roulement
Civil Engineering
Syn. with BASE; SURFACING; SUB BASE.
78
BASE COURSE OF SURFACING BASIC ROCK

Couche de liaison; Binder Roche basique
Civil Engineering Geology
Concerning a pavement (roadway), the bottom A crystalline material poor in silica (< 52%) and
part in contact with the base course. Syn. with in calcium but rich in sodium and potassium.
BINDER; BINDING COURSE
BASIC STEEL
BASE DIE Acier de base
Dé d’amortissement Metallurgy
Construction A nonalloyed ferrous product for which no
Concrete or stone parallelepipedal element regulation related to any specific use is required.
placed at the base of the pitch of wing walls. See
Figure 6 BASICITY
Basicité; Alcalinité
BASE GUSSET Mineralogy; Hydrology
Nervure 1. The characteristic of a mineral rich in bases, in
Metal Construction other words in alkaline elements: calcium,
Syn. with STIFFENING RIB potassium, sodium, etc.
2. Syn. with ALKALINITY
BASE LEVEL
Niveau de base BASIDIOMYCETES DRY ROT
Hydrology Basidiomycètes
The lowest point reached by any form of Building Materials
streaming or plan below which a river cannot Mushrooms comprising certain lignivorous
erode its bed any more. species which cause decay and rot in wood
(except for soft rot).
BASE LINE
Ligne d’opération BASIN
Topography Bassin
A continuation of poles determining a straight Sanitary Engineering and Drainage
line which must be used as a basis for a mapping. A pit that collects water.
BASE PLATE BASIS

Plaque d’assise Base
A quadrangular steel or cast iron piece for Syn. with FOOT
distributing on a bearing of masonry the vertical
load which is transmitted to it by a beam or a BASKET
post, either directly, or by means of a bridge- Nacelle; Panier; Panier de cimentation
support apparatus (hinge, rolls, etc.) according to Equipment and Tools
the adopted system (restraint, semirestraint, fixed 1. A platform girdled by railings fixed at the end
or mobile articulation, etc). Syn. with SOLE of a telescopic articulated arm, the whole
PLATE; WALL PLATE. See Figure 7 assembled on a wagon or truck chassis. The
basket hold two or three people either inspecting
BASIC CEMENT or maintaining the work. Baskets equip tunnel
Ciment basique survey trucks, elevating platform (inspection),
Hydraulic Binders etc.
A binder whose hydraulicity index is lower than 2. A conical fabric screen used in the cementing
0.50; Portland cement for instance. of a drilling column. The injected grout
percolates through the perforations made in the
side walls, whereas the low part is tight,
79
preventing cement grout going down below of its 2. The quantity of mortar or concrete prepared in
exit point. a concrete mixer, a mortar box, a mixer, or on
the ground. Syn. with MIX
BASKET HANDLE
Anse de panier BATCH
Metal Construction; Construction Charge
1. The circular tip of an additional flange of Building Materials; Materials; Painting
metal beam. See Figure 8 1. The concrete ingredients that are batched and
2. Arch or vault with continuous curved line ready for mixing.
formed by a certain number of arcs of circle that 2. The volume of concrete carried by a truck
have, two by two, the same tangent in each point mixer.
of join (radius of circle arcs go by growing since 3. A chemical specie or mixture of mineral,
springings up to the key). Syn. with THREE- vegetable or animal nature, used to increase the
CENTERED CURVE. See Figure 9 mass of a product without that modifying the
peculiar qualities, or on the contrary to endow it
BASKET WORK with new properties.
Clayonnage 4. A mineral powder, insoluble in suspension
Work mediums, but not conferring to the latter any
Syn. with WATTLE WORK opacity, neither an active role in the paint.
BASTARD ASHLAR BATCH NUMBER

Libage Numéro de lot
Building Materials Welding
A large stone of good quality used after a simple The numerical, alphabetical, or alphanumeric
roughing-out with the hammer and a coarse cut locating of a weld metal supply, identifying a
with the punch. It is used in zones highly batch and allows to know the entire operations
solicited in compression or exposed to the shock which led to its production.
(foundation, bearing of pillar, coin stones, etc).
BATCH OF CONCRETE
BASTARD MATERIAL Lot de béton
Matériau bâtard Building Materials
Building Materials The totality of the concrete in place subject to the
A delivered product which does not correspond same sanction of check. It is thus a batch of use
to the samples. Syn. with BASTARD constituted by the totality of the concrete placed
PRODUCT in a part of a work.
BASTARD PRODUCT BATCHER

Matériau bâtard Doseur
Building Materials Equipment for Measure and Control
Syn. with BASTARD MATERIAL A device designed for measuring the bulk or the
weight of the different concrete ingredients going
BAT into the proportions of concrete before their
Briqueton; Demi-brique introduction into the mixing tank. Syn. with
Building Materials DOSING EQUIPMENT
A half brick. Syn. with BRICKBAT
BATCHING
BATCH Gâchage; Dosage d’un constituant d’un béton,
Broyée; Gâchée d’un mortier
Building Materials Building Materials
1. The quantity of mortar mixed at one time by a 1. Combining various constituents of mortar or
mixer. concrete to obtain a homogeneous product.
80
2. The absolute bulk of this concrete ingredient (flooring) BATTEN

in the batch, related to the sum of absolute bulks Plat-bord
of all concrete ingredients of the batch. Syn. with Temporary Constructions
VOLUME BATCHING A scaffolding board.
BATH BATTEN (DISH)

Bain Barrette; Bretelle
Welding Metal Construction
A preparation constituted by liquid penetrating Element of a lattice truss that connects
products in which are immersed the welded parts perpendicularly to two neighboring parallel
to be examined during a sweating inspection. sections in order to join them. Syn. STAY
(DISH)
BATHOLITH
Batholite BATTEN PLATE
Geology Traverse de liaison
A dome-shaped solid mass of rocks, of deep Construction
origin, present in country rocks. A metal element placed perpendicularly to the
chords of certain beams or poles and ensuring in
BATHONIAN places the spacing and the integral union of these
Bathonien chords. Syn. with STAY PLATE
Geology
The upper formation of the Dogger. BATTENBOARD
Latté
BATTEN Building Materials
Planchéier; Latter Syn. with BLOCKBOARD; COREBOARD;
Work STAVED LUMBER CORE
1. To build a floor with boards. Syn. with
PLANK OVER BATTER
2. Syn. with LATH Fruit; Recoupement; Talus
Construction
BATTEN 1. The negative angle made by the facing of a
Basting or Bastaing; Couvre-joint wall or a pier compared with the vertical. The
Construction high point standing back compared with the base.
1. Square wooden pieces the most common (The opposite is called counter batter). Syn. with
sections of which are: 55 x 155 mm and 65 x 185 RAKE. See Figures 10 and 10a
mm. Syn. with STRIP 2. The reduction of the thickness of a wall by
2. Syn. with BEAD; BUTT STRAP; CAPPING removing materials or suppressing surplus pans
STRIP; COVER PLATE; COVER STRAP; (lips, etc).
FILLER; JOINT COVER; TRIM 3. The facing of a wall set up with batter.
BATTEN BATTER
Tasseau; Liteau Fruit; Pente
Building Materials Nomenclature of Materials; Topography
1. A squared wooden piece of weak section 1. The side inclination of the flanges of some
(between 18 and 30 mm on side), used to part hot-rolled sections.
between them stored materials, to stall, etc. Syn. 2. Syn. with RAKE
with CLEAT
2. Syn. with LATH. BATTER (of vault, etc.)
Clavage
Civil Engineering Structure
The batter of springer, flat arch, or vault.
81
BATTER BOARD Equipment for Measure and Control

Fiche; Broche A measuring device used to check the density of
Equipment and Tools; Masonry liquid bodies. It is composed of a mechanism
1. A small blade of iron that is driven into the made of a float and ballasted with mercury or
joints to tighten the lines. Syn. with STAKE lead and that, when it is balanced, lets a fine
2. Syn. with LINE SUPPORT vertical rod emerge.
BATTER FACE BAUXITE

Talus Bauxite
Construction Geology
The facing of a work showing an important A coherent rock whose varieties have different
batter (ant. overhang). structures, of a typical red color when they
contain iron oxide (otherwise white).
BATTER LEVEL Bauxites are poor in silica and rich in alumina.
Niveau de pente; Clinomètre
Equipment for Measure and Control; BAY
Topography Culasse
1. Syn. with SLOPE LEVEL Construction
2. An instrument for measuring the slope of a The portion of an arch bridge contained between
terrain, the dip of a layer. Syn. with a pier and an abutment.
CLINOMETER
BAYONET
BATTER PEG Baïonnette
Piquet Construction
Topography Syn. with LENGTHENING A POST.
An element of wood sharpened into a point
partly sunk into the ground in order to serve as BEAD
landmark. Syn. with STAKE; MARKER Perle; Couvre-joint
Defects (Metallurgy); Construction
BATTER WALL 1. A globular defect affecting a piece of foundry.
Mur à fruit 2. Syn. with BATTEN; BUTT STRAP;
Construction CAPPING STRIP; COVER PLATE; COVER
A construction whose thickness varies in a STRAP; FILLER; JOINT COVER; TRIM
continuous way from the base to the top; the
section is trapezoidal. See Figures 11 and 11a. BEADED CHANNEL
C
BAUMANN TEST Metal Construction
Essai Baumann Syn. with C-SHAPED BAR IRON
Metallography
A macrographic test that consists in visually BEAK MOLDING
checking the quality of some steels with a Bec-de-corbin
practice developed by Baumann. Architecture
A projecting molding in a quarter round shape.
BAUME CONTENT
Degré Baumé BEAM
Metrology Poutre; Madrier
A measurement that characterizes the density and Construction; Strength of Materials; Building
the concentration of some liquid solutions, Materials
particularly acids. 1. A structural component mainly working in
bending through the agency of vertical forces
BAUME HYDROMETER and that transmits to the bearing points the loads
Aéromètre Baumé that are applied to it.
82
A beam is a lengthened and horizontal support BEAM HANGER

made of metal, wood, reinforced or prestressed Etrier
concrete and whose section has been studied for Construction
a good bending strength. Beams are mainly A U-shaped metal part used to support a beam or
subjected to bending moments and shearing that may be used as articulation.
forces. Simple beams are made up of only one
piece, of a section calculated to withstand the BEAM STAY
strains that aim at making them bending. When Buton
the strains become too strong, reinforced beams Construction
or compound beams are then used. Beams rest: A beam or strip of a raft taking up the thrust of
either on a bearing with restraint (cantilever) or the piers at their bases. Syn. with PART OF
are restrained at both ends (exceptional); FOUNDATION RAFT
either in cantilever and are then presented as
continuous beams to which have been added a BEAM WITH NARROW FLANGE
number of extra articulations in order to free Poutrelle à ailes étroites
oneself of the consequences of the difference in Building Materials
level of the supports; An iron and steel product whose width of the
either on two free bearings, free and restrained; flanges is lower or equal to 0.66 times the
they are independent or isostatic beams. These nominal height of the section and less than 300
beams work on the positive bending moment in mm.
middle of span and with simple shearing force on
bearing; BEAM-AND-SLAB FLOOR
either on several bearings (beam in continuity); Hourdis nervuré
they are continuous or hyperstatic beams. This Construction Term
type of beam bears on one hand a positive A reinforced concrete slab equipped with
bending moment much weaker than an prismatic elements, called webs, linked to the top
independent beam; but, on the other hand, when slab and projecting it and whose role is to
on bearing, it bears an important negative constitute a T-beam by association with the top
bending moment as well as the shearing force. slab. Generally, the web is of a rectangular
Syn. with GIRDER section and placed under the top slab. See Figure
2. A solid generated by a plane surface called 12
narrow section or normal section of the beam
whose center of gravity follows a curve called BEAMING
medium fiber and which moves while remaining Poutraison
normal to the curve. If the medium fiber is Handling
warped, the beam is known as warped; if the The setting up of a beam. Syn. with
medium fiber is plane, the beam is known as GIRDERING
plane; if the medium fiber is a straight line, the
beam is known as straight. Most of the beams BEAMS
are straight, horizontal, and subject to vertical Poutraison
loads. The strength of materials, in a restricted Construction
view of the definition, is basically constituted by A set of beams, main or others (transverse
the theory of beams resting on the three girders, stringers, etc.) bearing the cover or
following fundamental principles: the Saint- connecting the beams between them (distance
Venant principle, the Navier Bernoulli principle, pieces). Syn. with GIRDERAGE; GIRDERS
and Hooke’s law.
3. Syn. with BALK; THICK BOARD; PLANK BEARER
Porteur
Construction
Syn. with CARRIER; LOAD BEARING
83
BEARING 2. The vertical upright equipping a metal beam

Corps mort; Appareil d’appui; Appui and which is placed directly below of the bearing
Construction; Strength of Materials axis.
1. Concerning small timber works, sole replacing
the abutment distributing the loads transmitted BEARING CAPACITY
by the beams. Syn. with DEAD MAN. Portance
2. Syn. with BRIDGE-SUPPORT Geotechnics
APPARATUS; SUPPORTING DEVICE Syn. with GROUND CARRYING CAPACITY
3. Every element capable to produce reactions
likely to balance the outside forces system. BEARING DEVICE
Various types of bearing are used in civil Dispositif d’appui
engineering; they are characterized by the Temporary Constructions
number of degrees of displacement liberty that Set of additional elements used to make tunnel
they allow and by number of necessary formworks and which are intended for taking
components to determine their reaction. In the again the vertical and horizontal forces due to the
case of a plane structure, loaded in its plan, the weight of the formwork and the fresh concrete
number of these components is one for single pressures.
bearing, two for hinge, three for fixed bearing. It is necessary to distinguish the particular case
in which a complete ring is concreted in only one
BEARING BALANCE phase from the other cases (rings not closed or
Balancier rings concreted in several phases). In the first
Construction case, a circular formwork whose bearings are
A cast steel piece making up some bridge- carried out by anchor tie bars fixed to the
support apparatuses. ground is used. In the other cases, the
Two models essentially are available: positioning of the formwork is generally carried
the upper bearing balance (le balancier out with bearings on jacks and anchoring drifts
supérieur), which is fastened to the deck, that are fixed on a preliminary phase of
the bottom bearing balance (le balancier concreting, this one being or not integrated into
inférieur), articulated on the upper bearing the final coating. In small galleries, the effects
balance, which transmits the loads to the rolls, due to horizontal thrusts can be taken up by
knees or the hinge. staying.
BEARING BAR BEARING DIE

Carillon Dé d’appui
Masonry Construction
A small square iron sunk to force through a A parallelepipedal or trapezoidal element placed
masonry, ensuring the loading of the frames of a on the bridge pier caps and that receives the
bressummer at the time of an underpinning. bearing plates. See Figure 14
BEARING BLOCK BEARING DISK

Sabot Grain d’appui
A thick cast iron or cast steel piece mostly used A squared or plane hard steel part with a bulged
as bearing or distribution element. See Figure 13 face that allows to ensure the centering of an
articulated bridge bearing and the specific
BEARING BRACE transmission of loads of this bearing. See Figure
Montant d’about; Montant d’appui 15
Metal Construction
1. In a metal beam, the end upright located
directly below of the bearing.
84
BEARING DISTANCE Allowable working load per square centimeter of

Portée a foundation.
Construction
Syn. with BRIDGE SPAN; SPAN; SPAN BEARING UNIT OF SPAN
WIDTH Travure
Construction
BEARING LINE Set of load-bearing elements constituting a
Ligne d’appui bridge span.
Construction
A straight line passing through the center of BEARING UNITS or ELEMENTS
gravity of the different bearings laid out on the Eléments d’appui
same bearing and relating to the same oblique Construction
cross section of deck. Syn. with SUPPORT Constructive arrangements designed to transmit
LINE bearing reactions of bearing units to the strong
bases. Bearing elements are made up of
BEARING OF ELASTIC LIMIT abutments, piers, pilings, and foundations. Their
Palier de limite élastique particular function is to absorb differences of
Metallography level between the communication routes and the
The nearly horizontal portion of the tensile curve ground. Some of them are used to separate the
of certain alloys (in particular soft steel or portion of the line supported by the work from
annealings), reflecting a lengthening with the the portion of line located on the undisturbed soil
nearly constant load and which is shown on the or on an embankment.
metal by Piobert-Lüder lines (vermiculation). BEARING WALL
Mur porteur
BEARING PAD Construction
Coussinet Syn. with LOAD-BEARING WALL
Construction
Syn. with COUSSINET; PIER CAP BEARING WEDGE
Orgueil
BEARING PLATE Equipment and Tools
Plaque d’appui A setting block used as bearing point to a lever.
Construction See Figure 16
A steel part fixed on the pier cap or the
transverse head beam of a work and on which BEAT
moves rolls (or segments) of a bridge-support Damer
apparatus. Earthwork
Syn. with PUN; RAM; ROLL; TAMP
BEARING REACTIONS
Réactions d’appui BED
Strength of Materials Banc; Lit; Assise; Niveau; Horizon; Couche;
Connection forces (or torque) developed by Gisement; Gîte
bearings of a structure equal and opposed to the Geology
resultant of the vertical or inclined loads (or to 1. The relatively hard layer of earth from
the resultant moment) transmitted from a part of approximately 5 cm to 1 m thick, dating from a
the structure to this bearing. The bearing defined period, which can be followed on a
reactions have the effect of balancing the applied certain distance and which can be used as mark
loads. for exploitation.
2. In a sedimentary formation, the thinner layer
BEARING STRESS in a lithological classification. Syn. with LAYER
Taux de travail 3. Syn. with STRATUM
Foundation 4. Syn. with DEPOSIT; LAYER; VEIN
85
BED the face bed (le lit en parement), the last bed
Berceau; Enrocher; Sceller which has not been covered by another course of
Earthwork; Foundation and HydraulicWork; stones (or bricks);
Work the bed face or bedding (le lit de pose);
1. Layer of fine materials or concrete (or dots of the radiating or rayonnant face (le lit
concrete support) laid out on the bottom of a rayonnant), referring to the skew part of an
trench, intended for receiving a piping. archstone on which rests another archstone.
2. To proceed to the riprap of a bridge pier, a Syn. with FACE. See Figure 17
cofferdam, banks of a river, etc. Syn. with
PITCH BED (A BRICK, A STONE)
3. Syn. with PLUG; FASTEN; FIX IN Asseoir
Masonry
BED To position a bond element (quarry stone, brick,
Forme; Lit etc.), in the construction of a masonry wall, by
Construction; Building Materials striking its top face with a mallet in order to level
1. General term indicating horizontal it and make it adhere to the mortar bed or joint
complementary works made of various materials bed.
(sand, concrete, clinker, etc.), whose thicknesses
can vary from one point to another and which are BED ARCH
intended for receiving a screed or a tightness Arc de radier
coating. Two kinds of beds can be distinguished: Construction
slope beds (les formes de pente), of variable An arc-shaped wall set up in front of a bridge
thickness, intended for favoring water flow on pier to protect it from possible shocks.
the works; they receive a tightness directly
applied and its protection; BED COURSE REINFORCEMENT
levellings or screeds (les ravoirages). Renforcement des couches d’assise
2. A layer made with an unspecified material, Civil Engineering
e.g. a sand bed, mortar bed, stone courses bed, The increase of the bed course thickness of a
etc. roadway by adding material.
3. The natural separation of the various benches
of chalky rocks due to the phenomena of BED CUTTING
sedimentation and that reflects the marks of Taille d’un lit
stratification. The bed is either horizontal or Masonry
oblique. The dressing of the faces of a stone bed or course
4. Syn. with COURSE (OF MASONRY) (top and/or bottom horizontal faces of a stone).
Syn. with LAYER
BED JOINT
BED Joint délit; Joint de lit
Lit Masonry
Masonry 1. A masonry bonding on which rests the stone
The top and bottom horizontal surfaces of a or brick of the upper course.
masonry course of stones, bricks, 2. A horizontal or inclined joint that separates
or concrete blocks. There are several types of two courses of masonry. These joints are all in
beds: the same plane. Syn. with COURSE JOINT
the rough face (le lit brut), the surface of a
quarry stone which has not been cleaned; BED LINE
the bed face or bedding (le lit de dessous ou Ligne de lit
de pose): in regard to stones, the face that is set Masonry
on an already bonded stone; The horizontal straight line formed by stone or
the top face (le lit de dessus) which, in a stone, brick courses, as opposed to the vertical joint
is the face opposite the bedding; line. Syn. with LAYER LINE. See Figure 18
86
BED LOAD BEDDING CLEAVAGE

Débit solide Litage
Hydrology Geology
All solid elements that a waterway is likely to Secondary stratification inside a bench.
carry: sands, gravel, pebbles, or blocks. (It is
interesting to know this bed load that is BEDDING PLANE
susceptible to cause the erosion of piles or Litage; Lit de carrière
abutments). Geology; Building Materials
1. Syn. with BEDDING
BED OF AN ABUTMENT 2. Syn. with BEDDING PLANE
Abloc
Foundation BEDDING ROD
The concrete foundation of a bridge abutment. Canne à scellement
Syn. with FOUNDATION PIER Materials
Syn. with FIXING ROD; SETTING ROD
BED SURFACE
Surface de lit BEDDING STONE
Masonry Moellon de plat
The horizontal pointed face, as opposed to the Masonry
surface of joint, which is vertical. A stone of which bed is dressed and on which it
rests
BEDDED AGAINST THE GRAIN EDGE
Pierre en délit BEDOULIAN
Masonry Bédoulien
A quarry stone or ashlar implemented in a Geology
construction such that its natural bedding A substage of the Aptian of the Cretaceous
vertically appears compared to the compression system.
strains. Syn. with BEDDED STONE; FACE
BEDDED BEECH
Hêtre
BEDDED CLAY Building Materials
Argilite A broad-leaved tree of temperate forests. Its
Geology density is 0.6 to 0.75. It is classified, from a
Syn. with ARGILLITE; MUDSTONE hardness viewpoint, as half-hard. It is a tightened
grain wood of pale color and is seldom used in
BEDDED STONE construction, except for coarse formworks,
Pierre posée sur son lit; Pierre en délit; Passe laggings, etc.
Masonry; Nomenclature of Materials
1. A stone implemented so that its base is one of BEECHWOOD MALLET
its quarry faces. Mailloche
2. Syn. with BEDDED AGAINST THE GRAIN Equipment and Tools
EDGE; FACE BEDDED Syn. with DRIVING MALLET
3. A stone cut up in the direction of its quarry
face. BEETLE
Masse; Maillet
BEDDING Equipment and Tools
Litage; Enrochement 1. A large wooden mallet used as a striking tool.
Geology; Foundation 2. Syn. with MALLET; MAUL; WOODEN
1. The presence of beds in a sedimentary HAMMER;
formation. Syn. with BEDDING PLANE
2. Syn. with ENROCKMENT; PITCHING;
RIPRAP; ROCKFILL
87
BEGINNING includes one or two knives articulated at the head

Amorce; Amorçage or the base; it is operated by a kelly. Knives are
Masonry; Work serrated to facilitate cutting the ground as the
1. Syn. with TOOTHER. tool rotates.
2. The beginning of the boring of a hole. Syn.
with PRIMING BELLING TOOL
Aléseur
BEHEADED RIVER Equipment and Tools
Rivière décapitée A special tool (with blades or rolls) used to
Hydrology extend wells or regularize their walls.
A waterway whose headwaters have been
diverted by a capture. BELLY
Panse
BEHEADING Construction
Capture The bulged part of a baluster.
Hydrology
Syn. with CAPTURE; RIVER CAPTURE; BELLY OUT
STREAM CAPTURE Pousser au dehors
Defects (Masonry)
BELITE Syn. with RUIN
Bélite
Hydraulic Binders BELT CONVEYOR
A bicalcium silicate containing small quantities Convoyeur à bande ou à courroie; Tapis
of magnesia or alumina; it is one of the principal transporteur
components of the cinders of artificial Portland Equipment and Tools
cement. 1. A conveyor made up of an endless rubber
cloth and widened V-shaped, supported by rolls
BELL and driven by drums. This type of conveyor is
Tulipe notably used in sandpits to carry sand from its
Nomenclature of Materials extraction area until its stocking area.
The special shape inside certain anchorage cable 2. A rubber strip to continuous motion used to
bases. carry materials or loads.
BELL-BOTTOMED BELT TELECONVEYOR

Patte d’éléphant Télétransporteur à bande
Construction Equipment and Tools
Describes the widened base of a reinforced A belt conveyor of materials (excavated
concrete post. See Figure 19 materials, etc.) without premise on the ground. It
is acted of a combination between the cablecar
BELLED PILE and the belt conveyor (there are neither rollers
Pieu à bulbe nor pylons).
Foundation The teleconveyor is made up of an EPDM rubber
A pile with a widened base. band whose each edge is suspended to a steel
wire rope. The chord length ranges from 30 to
BELLING BUCKET 400 m follow ing the bandwidth. Loaded once, the
Benne à lames extensibles belt passes between two support rollers and
Equipment and Tools gripping which brings about a nearer of its
A tool used to create a widened base at the edges. The helping weight of load, it then takes
bottom of a boring being drilled. It is a base the shape of a gutter more or less closed which
widening bit (or under reamer) with a height protects the carried product. Capacity: 36 to
limited to the progressive widening of the shaft 3600 metric tons per hour.
of the pile in the shape of a bell. The tool
88
BENCH 2. To fashion reinforcements for a reinforced

Berme; Dalle concrete work.
Earthwork; Geology 3. Syn. with HITCH
1. A narrow passage that, to avoid Crumblings,
parts a traffic trench, a ditch, etc., from the BEND DOG
excavated materials that are the result of its Griffe à couder
digging. Syn. with BERM; STEP; TERRACE Equipment and Tools
2. The part of a rocky bench delimited by cracks Syn. with BENDER
or joints.
BEND OF A TREE TRUNK
BENCH Courbure du tronc
Redent; Accotement; Banquette; Banc Building Materials
Construction; Temporary Constructions; A natural deformation of a trunk of tree whose
Building Materials causes can be the wind, the proximity of an
1. A step performed in a ground to abrupt slope, obstacle, etc. This particularity is exploited
to sit there an embankment and prevent its slip. (researched) within the context of inherent frame
Syn. with GRADUATED BANK constructions.
2. Syn. with BANK; CESS SIDE; ROADSIDE;
SHOULDER; SIDE PATH; VERGE BENDER
3. A step fitted out in the wall of an excavation, Griffe à couder
allowing the provisional deposit of the earths Equipment and Tools
extracted below. Syn. with FORM A bar bender’s tool for bending concrete
4. Syn. with BANK; FORM; LAYER reinforcement bars of a small diameter. Syn. with
BEND DOG
BENCH MARK
Borne-repère BENDING
Topography Pliage; Cintrage; Bandage; Flexion
An element of any matter and form, embedded or Metallurgy; Work; Construction; Strength of
sealed, which is used to determine a level, to Materials
mark out a spot, etc. 1. The way of working of thin metallurgical
products, by turning down of a part toward the
BENCH VISE other according to a given angle. This task is
Servante performed by hand, or with a folding machine.
Equipment and Tools Syn. with FOLDING
Syn. with PROP; SUPPORT. 2. The bended shaping of sheet metals, bars,
wood, etc.
BENCHING MARK 3. All arch stones, including the key, forming a
Repérage de nivellement centering in place.
Topography 4. Syn. with FLEXION
The determination on the site or from its vicinity
of a reference mark attached, if possible, with the BENDING FAILURE TEST
general leveling of France or, with a well-located Essai de rupture par flexion (appelé également
point which one will establish if necessary. This : Essai de traction par flexion)
location is intended for being of use as control Test of Materials
point for all operations of leveling relating with Syn. with TENSILE BENDING TEST
the site.
BENDING MACHINE
BEND Cintreuse
Arquer; Ferrailler; Noeud Equipment and Tools
Construction; Building Materials; Equipment Syn. with BAR BENDER; ROD BENDING
and Tools MACHINE; STEEL BENDER; TUBE
1. Syn. with ARCH; CAMBER; CURVE BENDING MACHINE
89
BENDING STRENGTH a weakening or plasticization of the ground

Résistance à la flexion under the sidewalls.
Building Materials
The conventional stress reflecting to the breaking BENT OF STEEL (COLUMN)
of a material subjected to a bending test. Syn. Palée
with FLEXURAL STRENGTH Construction
A continuation of metal stanchions joined
BENDING STRESS between them by horizontal beams and diagonal
Effort de flexion wind braces. This unit forms a plan of high
Strength of Materials rigidity and is likely to be of use as bearing not
All stresses applied on a cross section of a beam only to the vertical loads but also to the
on which act vertical forces, placed in a vertical horizontal or oblique stresses acting parallel to
symmetry plan. Syn. with FLEXURAL STRESS its plane. See Figure 20
BENDING TEST BENT SHEETING

Essai de flexion; Essai de pliage Tôle cintrée
Test of Materials Metal Construction
1. A test that allows to measure the endurance In the former metal works, cover formed by
strength or staying power of the materials to the sheet metal parts welded on the top flanges of the
strains of plane or rotary section. This study (central) girders. On this sheet metal are welded
relates to the deformation of a test specimen that folded flat irons on which is also welded a grid
is either embedded at an end and endures at the of reinforcements for reinforced concrete. Any
other a transverse progressive strain, or posed on concrete filling then forms a reinforced concrete
two extreme supports and undergoes in the slab for which the taut reinforcement is made up
centre an increasing strain. These strains can be by the bent sheet.
static or dynamic, wavy or alternated. Syn. with
FLEXURAL STRENGTH TEST BENT STEEL SHEETING
2. A test carried out on metallurgical products, Tôle pliée
consisting in folding a cylindrical or prismatic Metal Construction
test bar so that the axes of the two branches In the former metal works, cover formed by
remain in the same plane. The folding can take sheet parts with grooves or stiffeners covering
place up to the two branches are brought to the framework of the bridge. These sheets are
parallelism, either to block, or on shim, or also also filled with concrete. See figures 21 and 21a
up to one of the two branches of the test bar
makes with the prolongation of the other a given BENTONE™
angle. After bending, one seeks on the external Bentone™
face deformed by extension, possible tears Materials
appeared in the metal. The test is carried out in A thickening agent that appears as a powder and
two times, generally with the hydraulic press. In that is used as gelling or thickening agent to head
the first place, the test bar is cranked in the shape off the sedimentation of the pigments, fillers, and
of V, then the two branches of the V are closed other particles in suspension in solvents or
one on the other, either completely (bending to binders.
block), or placing between the two branches a
shim of fixed thickness. BENTONITE
Bentonite
BENDING THE RAFT Materials
Déformation en parapluie du radier Finest-grained clays (80% are less than a
Defects (Civil Engineering Structure) micrometer), where some are able water- inflated
A dislocation with uprising of the raft concerning (10 to 30 times their initial volume) being
notably the tunnels and that can be due to a surrounded by a water sheath rigidly absorbed,
swelling of the country rock, high-side pressures, hallmark the solvatation phenomenon. Most
effective are those that are purely alkaline; they
90
flocculate (negative colloids) at the touch of 1. A protection built at the base of a pile, an
ferric hydrates and of red or yellow sands (rust is abutment, a jetty, or any construction in watery
a positive colloid). Owing to its thixotropic site to struggle from underwashings.
properties, the bentonite is used as drilling mud 2. A horizontal step reigning throughout the
(piles, diaphragm walls, etc). Syn. with length of an earth fill dam.
BENTONITE MUD 3. In hydraulic work, gap contained between the
contiguous piles and the cofferdam.
BENTONITE CONCRETE 4. A passage fitted out between a levee and the
Béton à la bentonite edge of a canal or a ditch. Syn. with TERRACE
Building Materials 5. Syn. with BENCH; STEP; TERRACE
A material in which a slight proportion of 6. Syn..of BANQUETTE
bentonite is added. The aim of this addition is to
improve the workability and the frost resistance BERNOULLI-NAVIER HYPOTHESIS
of the concrete. Hypothèse de Navier et de Bernoulli
Strength of Materials
BENTONITE MUD An assumption according to which cross section
Bentonite of a prismatic part always remains plane,
Materials identical to itself, and normal to the horizontal
Syn. with BENTONITE axis. This assumption, of most contestable, can
be concretized in the case of prismatic parts by a
BENTWOOD stacking of currency pieces perforated in their
Bois cintré center (medium fiber).
Building Materials
A material bent by shaping while it got plastic BERRIASIAN
under heat and humidity (or by any other Berriasien
process), then by cooling and drying, with or Geology
without a particular finish. A substage of the Valanginian.
BERLIN WALL. BERTH

Berlinoise; Blindage berlinois Souille
Earthwork; Temporary Constructions Earthwork
Syn. with BERLINER SHEETING A running lengthways excavation carried out
under water by dredging to be of use as base to a
BERLINER SHEETING construction (example: riprap at the periphery of
Berlinoise; Blindage berlinois a pile, base of immersed caissons, etc.).
Earthwork; Temporary Construction
A sheeting method that dates of the creation of BESSEMER STEEL
the Berlin’s subway and that consists in setting Acier Bessemer
up vertically into the ground, either inside Metallurgy
drillings or by driving, along the perimeter of the A product elaborated in the Bessemer converter.
future excavation, sections mostly metal spaced
of few meters from each other (from 2 to 4 m), BÊTA SYSTEM
then to excavate by sheeting as they advanced Procédé Bêta
the walls by means of plates (concrete, sheeters, Building Materials
etc.) taking bearing on the flanges of the A restoration method of the timber structures that
sections. Syn. with BERLIN WALL consists after elimination of the worm-eaten or
rotted parts, in putting into place the structure,
BERM glass fiber bars and in reconstituting the whole
Risberme; Berme; Banquette with an epoxydic resin concrete.
Construction; Civil Engineering; Earthwork;
Geomorphology
91
BETATRON Welding
Bétatron Acute arris of the chamfered edge of an element
Equipment for Measure and Control and a plane perpendicular to the surface of this
High-energy radiography equipment used in element.
particular to monitor concrete works. The
principle consists of an emission of electrons by BEVEL OFF
means of a gun, accelerated by a high-energy Dégraisser
magnetic field. Electrons are ejected and come Carpentry
bombarding a transmitter that produces X Syn. with TRIM THE EDGES
radiation. This apparatus enables moreover to
check the strands of steel prestressing cables, in BEVEL SHOULDER
particular under important thickness of concrete. Embrèvement
Construction
BÉTHELL™ SYSTEM The partial connection of two elements by
Procédé Béthell conjugated shapes. Example: between walls or
Building Materials between sidewall and wing wall. Syn. with
A wood treatment method by injection and GAIN
impregnation of creosote in autoclave.
BEVEL SQUARE
BEVEL Chanterelle; Fausse équerre
Biseau; Chanfrein Equipment for Measure and Control
Building Materials A carpenter’s square with a movable blade for
1. A slantwise shaping. setting out angle. This tool is also used by
2. The felling of the angle of a stone block joiners, and bricklayers. Syn. with
forming a skew molding in the inclined plan. CHANTERELLE; SLIDING SQUARE
Syn. with CHAMFER; SLANT
BEVELED SIDING
BEVEL Bardage à clin
Taluter; Ebiseler Construction TermA cladding carried out using
Work boards placed in horizontal rows; those of a row
1. To cut at an oblique angle; to bevel a part. partly cover those with the row immediately
2. To cut a stone, a wooden piece on the bias. below. Syn. with LAP SIDING
BEVEL BEVEL-EDGED PLANK

Biseau; Délarder Tavillon.
Construction; Building Materials Nomenclature of Materials
1. The sloping plane of a cornice or a plinth A board sawn in bevel.
allowing the water to flow out. Syn. with
CHAMFER; SLANT BEVELING
2. To reduce the thickness or to chamfer a Equerrage; Zone délardée; Délardage
course, a slab, etc., to facilitate the Work; Metal Construction
implementation of it or its passage in a narrow 1. The strengthening or jointing of wooden
space. Syn. with SLOPE pieces with metal squares.
2. Syn. with SLOPING
BEVEL
Pente, Chanfrein; Retraite BIAXIAL BUCKLING
Nomenclature of Materials Flambement biaxial
Syn. with CHAMFER Strength of Materials
A buckling occurring with displacement of the
BEVEL ANGLE central part of the compressed bar compared with
Angle de chanfrein the theoretical perpendicular axis of inertia xx
and yy.
92
BICABLE BIND
Bicâble Frette; Ligaturer; Lier
Handling Construction; Construction of R.C. and P.C.;
An aerial conveyor of separated cables where Work
one ensures the traction and the other carries the 1. A device that heads off the transverse
load (carriers, etc.). extension of a part. In the case of a cable: wire or
soft steel wire rolled in contiguous single turns
BICOMPONENT around the cable is used.
Bicomposant 2. Syn. with TIE
Materials 3. To join by bonding or by a binder. Syn. with
An organic binder of two constituents to be TIE; BOND
mixed at the time of the implementation. One-
part hardening by the moisture of the air go into BIND WITH A RING
the category of two-part. Syn. with TWO-PART Fretter
Work
BICONICAL To strengthen, consolidate, with a hoop. Syn.
Bicône with BAND; HOOP; REINFORCE WITH
Equipment and Tools STEEL HOOPS
A conical-shaped bore bit equipped with two
toothed wheels. BIND WITH IRON
Ferrer
BIDIM™ Masonry
Bidim To strengthen masonry with hold down shakles.
Materials
A nonwoven textile used in drainage that shows BINDER
the appearance of tablecloths of different Liant; Frette; Couche de liaison; Binder
grammages. These tablecloths, made up of Building Materials; Painting; Civil Engineering
continuous polyester fibers, are obtained by the 1. A product having the property to be able to
direct tailing process with coating pell-mell and link for a long time, bonding matters of identical
later consolidation by lashing. This processing or different natures, mostly solids.
intermingles fibers, giving a good tensile There are several types of binders:
strength in all directions and an important air-cured (le liant aérien), whose setting or
thickness. The bidim are used as antipolluting hardening is due to air exposure, generally by the
rugs in drainage. action of carbon dioxide;
hydraulic (le liant hydraulique), a mineral
BINARY CEMENT GROUT powder mainly formed by silicates and
Coulis binaire aluminates of calcium, forming a paste with
Materials water setting and hardening gradually, even safe
A simple grout into which bentonite is added. from the air, in particular under water (cements
are hydraulic binders);
BINARY CONCRETE bituminous (le liant hydrocarboné), a material
Béton binaire containing bitumen or tar;
Building Materials organic (le liant organique), a material made
Syn. with TWO-COMPONENT CONCRETE up of organic macromolecules (pertaining to
organic chemistry). We can distinguish one-parts
BINARY STEEL (example: oil bitumen, tar and bray coal,
Acier binaire thermoplastic polymers) from double parts;
Metallurgy
formulated organic (le liant organique
An iron and steel product in which one of
formulé), a family of constituents of binders made
element is in higher dosage than that indicated
up of monomers, oligomers, admixtures, and
for primary steels.
batches.
93
2. The centerpiece of a paint, generally formed 4. Syn. with CONNECTION; COUPLING;

by organic macromolecules that ensures the JOINING; LIAISON; LINKING BOND
bonding of the paint on the support, the cohesion
of the product and resistance to atmospheric BINDING AGENT
agents. It is a non-volatile, filmogenous Liant
substance, thus remaining on the support after Building Materials; Painting
drying and partially forming the dry film on Syn. with BINDER
which it endows its properties. A binder can only
be made up of siccative oils or mixed with BINDING CAPACITY
certain natural or artificial resins. It also can only Pouvoir agglomérant
be made up of a synthetic resin or in combination Civil Engineering
with other synthetic or natural resins. Syn. with BINDING POWER
Syn. with BINDING AGENT
3. Syn. with HOOP BAR; HOOP RING BINDING CLIP
4. Syn. with BASE-COURSE OF SURFACING; Etrier
BINDING COURSE Equipment and Tools
A U-shaped bent part, often of flat iron, enabling
BINDER BAR subjection of a part to another. Syn. with
Cadre; Etrier CLEVIS
Construction of R. C and P. C.
1. A quadrilateral-shaped transverse BINDING COURSE
reinforcement intended for receiving the running Couche de liaison; Binder
lengthways bars of the bar setting with a Civil Engineering
minimum of four bars. Binder bars are Syn. with BASE COURSE OF SURFACING;
distributed (by design) to resist shearing forces. BINDER
Syn. with BINDING. See Figure 22
2. Syn. with BINDING; LINK; SECONDARY BINDING HOOP
REINFORCEMENT; STIRRUP; TIE Frette
Construction
BINDER REACTIVITY TEST A steel frame ensuring the hooping of a part.
Essai de réactivité d’un liant
Test of Materials (Polymers) BINDING PIECE
A test that allows to determine the pot life of a Binding piece
polymer according to the curve time/temperature Foundation
set at the time of the test. Syn. with TRANSVERSE PLANK
BINDING BINDING POWER

Etrier; Cadre; Frettage; Liaisonnement; Pouvoir agglomérant
Liaison Civil Engineering
Construction of R.C. and P.C.; Work The ability for spontaneous cementing of certain
1. A metal reinforcement going into the materials. (This quality is especially required to
composition of the bar setting of a reinforced increase the stability of certain embankments.)
concrete structure (beam, slab, etc.) and that Syn. with BINDING CAPACITY
connects main bars between themselves. The
stirrup prevents the slipping of concrete layers on BINDING WIRE
each other (resistance to shearing stress). Syn. Ligature
with BINDER BAR; LINK; SECONDARY Construction of R.C. and P.C.
REINFORCEMENT; STIRRUP; TIE. See Syn. with TIE; TYING WIRE; WIRE TIE
Figures 24 and 24a
2. Syn. with BINDER BAR.
3. Syn. with HELICAL REINFORCEMENT;
HOOP REINFORCEMENT; HOOPING
94
BINGHAM’S PRACTICE the anisotropy brought about in some materials

Formule de Bingham by outside actions enables the analysis of the
Rheology stress field through photoelasticimetry. The axis
The law on the flow of bodies having exceeded of birefringence, in a point, are directed
the plasticity threshold. following the main directions of stresses in this
point. Syn. with DOUBLE REFRACTION
BINGHAMIAN FLUID
Fluide binghamien BIT
Materials Morceau; Foret
A fluid both viscousity and cohesive. Building Materials; Equipment and Tools
1. An element detached from a block of stone
BIOLITH that must be dressed to provide a quarry stone.
Biolite 2. Syn. with DRILL
Geology
Any biogenic limestone. BIT BALLING
Bourrage du trépan
BIOLOGICAL REINFORCING Foundation
Consolidation biologique Syn. with BALLING UP
Work
A process that consists in preserving grounds BIT HOOK
from erosion, notably the slope of embankments Caracole à trépan; Caracole
and open cut, by planting (iris, acacias, etc.) or Equipment and Tools
by seedling (example: alfalfa). These plantings 1. A tool used by drillers to recover a bore bit
dry and form a spongy layer retaining the lost in the bottom of a drilling.
streaming water and nailing the ground. 2. Syn. with BORE EXTRACTING
BIOPOLYMER BIT WEIGHT

Biopolymère Poids au trépan
Polymers Work
A polymer of biological origin used to A compressive force applied on a bore bit by
manufacture drilling muds, paints, adhesives, etc. drill collars, stabilizers, and lower rods of the
stand of drill pipe. Syn. with WEIGHT ON THE
BIRD SCREEN BIT
Grillage aviaire
Construction BITCH
The setting out of wire mesh placed in front of an Hatée
access inside a building, that prevents the birds Equipment and Tools
from penetrating there (opening; bull’s eye; A cranked and counter cranked metal bar with a
drainage channel, etc). right angle.
BIRD’S MOUTH BITE

Chevronner Mordre
Building Materials Work
Implementing rafters of a centering, a roof To pickle with acid. Syn. with PICKLE
covering, etc.
BITUMASTIC
BIREFRINGENCE Mastic bitumineux
Biréfringence Materials
Strength of Materials A bitumen-based pasty product with addition of
The property of some materials to provide not mineral matter.
one but two refracted rays when they are exposed
to a luminous source. The birefringence due to
95
BITUMEN hard asphalt (le bitume solide ou semi-solide):

Bitume a mixture of soluble native hydrocarbons in the
Materials sulfide of carbon (containing sulfured,
All natural organic products rich in carbon and oxygenated, or nitrogenous derivatives and
hydrogen, poor in volatile products. In this possessing an agglomerating or adhesive power)
category we can distinguish petroleum gases, and mixed or not with foreign matter: water,
crude oils (oil), mineral waxes, asphalts, and mineral substances, or organic wastes.
asphaltites. One adds there analogous products
obtained by retorting of natural organic matters BITUMEN ELASTICITY MEASUREMENT
(bituminous schists). Mesure d’élasticité des bitumes
The bitumen appears as a viscous liquid or as a Test of Materials
mastic or plastic solid; it is one of the first all Monitoring achieved by tensile test to constant
thermoplastic materials. speed with the Alwetron gauge. (This test also
The main types of bitumen are: applies to coatings of other nature.)
artificial bitumen (le bitume artificiel):
material made of tar of coal, rosin, and lime; BITUMEN GRAVEL
petroleum asphalt (le bitume de pétrole): the Grave-bitume
residue from distillation of asphaltic oils; Building Materials
asphaltic bitumen (le bitume asphaltique): Syn. with EMULSION GRAVEL
natural material mixed with clay or sand;
smooth asphalt (le bitume coulé): mixture of BITUMINIFEROUS
sand, bituminous mastic, and other bituminous Bituminifère
matters, likely to become fluid under the heat Materials
and that can to be poured in thin layers. Said of product provide bitumen: bituminiferous
cutback asphalt made with petroleum rock, schist, limestones.
distillate (le bitume fluidifié): paving (-grade)
asphalt of category 80/100 into which are added BITUMINITE
products coming from the distillation of oil; Bituminite
lubricating oil distillate (le bitume fluxé): Materials
paving (-grade) asphalt into which is mixed oils A range of asphalt.
of coal tar. These flux oils can be very different
in viscosity, temperature of distillation, and BITUMINIZED
division; Bitumé ou Bituminé
polymer-modified bitumen (le bitume modifié Materials
aux polymères): mostly results from the pure Said of what is coated with bitumen.
bitumen combination with polymers endowing at
this product a best consistency and a greatest BITUMINIZED FELT
elasticity; Feutre bitumé
Tightness
natural asphalt or native asphalt (le bitume
Felt of fiberglass or asbestos coated bitumen,
naturel): constituted by heavy hydrocarbons and
used as waterproofing membrane and that
is mostly considered as a residue of former oil
appears under two aspects: bituminized felt
deposits of which most light elements have been
impregnated and mineral-surfaced bitumen felt.
eliminated over time. Generally bitumen is found
mixed with small quantities of foreign matter
BITUMINOUS
particularly with clay and silica (example:
Bitumineux
Trinidad’s asphalt);
Materials
refined asphalt (le bitume raffiné): a product
Is said of what contains bitumen or that
stemming from the purification, by melting and
possesses its characteristics.
decantation, of the natural asphalt, if necessary
mixed of tar of schist and in any rate cleared of
the greater quantity of earthly matter that it
contains;
96
BITUMINOUS COATED MATERIAL mechanical advantages of epoxy resin or

Enrobé polyisocyanate (hardness, flexibility, adhesion,
Materials heat resistant, and to hydrocarbons).
Syn. with BITUMINOUS MIXTURE
BITUMINOUS RUNOUT
BITUMINOUS CONCRETE Coulure de produit bitumineux
Béton hydrocarboné ; Béton bitumineux Defects - Damage (Building Materials)
Building Materials Defect consisting of bituminous protection
A material whose binder is bitumen, tar, etc. products which drain or flow in reaction
according to the temperature.
BITUMINOUS EMULSION
Emulsion BITUMINOUS TAR
Civil Engineering Goudron de houille; Coaltar
A product constituted by bitumen droplets in Materials
suspension in water, but not mixed with it owing Syn. with COAL TAR
to the presence of a soap.
BLACK
BITUMINOUS MASTIC Noir
Mastic hydrocarboné Painting
Materials A term given to the surface colors which reply
A product of filler coating with a bituminous the next conditions appreciably:
binder. Colors must be practically achromatic for
chosen conventional source, namely it
BITUMINOUS MIXTURE corresponds to them none appreciable dominant,
Enrobé Their Y luminous luminance is always close
Materials enough to zero.
A material made up of aggregates and fillers
coated with bitumen, tar or asphalt. Bituminous BLACK BOLT
mixtures are used to create pavements or Boulon brut
tightness counter copings. They are generally Materials
manufactured in a plant and delivered ready for A bolt assembled without washer and that is used
use. They can be either cold (-mixed) bituminous only to position temporarily pieces during
mixtures or hot (-mixed) bituminous mixtures assembly.
that are delivered in special trucks. Syn. with
BITUMINOUS COATED MATERIAL BLACK COAL
Houille
BITUMINOUS PRODUCT Geology
Produit bitumineux Syn. with COAL
Materials and Painting
A matter of natural or artificial origin used pure BLACK DIAMOND
or mixed. Carbonado; Diamant
Bituminous products used for rustproof paints Geology and Materials
are natural bitumen or artificial bitumen: coal- Syn. with CARBON; CARBONADO
tar pitch or petroleum pitch. These products are
soluble in oils and hydrocarbons but insoluble BLACK IRON PLATE
into water and alcohols. Bituminous paints dry to Tôle noire
cold by evaporation of the solvents and have an Metallurgy
excellent efficiency to protect steel in humid A rough-laminated product, still covered with
underground atmospheres or in seawater. oxides.
Currently, one combines the coal-tar pitch with
epoxy resins or polyisocyanate. The film thus
obtained has qualities of bitumen and
97
BLACKJACK BLACKENING
Blende Noircissement
Materials Defects (Painting)
Syn. with BLEND The color deterioration of a paintwork
characterized by a reduction in Y luminance
BLACK OILS possibly combined with a displacement of the
Produits noirs color point toward the achromatic point.
Materials Blackening can be the result of:
A range of hydrocarbon materials of a liquid, a degradation of the pigment throughout the
viscous, soft, or solid-looking according to ambient environment (blackening of the paint
temperature, mostly used in civil engineering, films containing plumbiferous pigments in
technical road and sealing. There are several contact with the ambient environment containing
types of black oils: sulfured derivatives); or
tars, a superficial deposit of stains (organic soots);
bitumen, or
pitch, a biological fouling; or
asphalt. a rise of the bituminous bottom layers through
In sealing, black oils are used to protect wood, the trim coat of different natures.
metal surfaces, buried masonries (pollard or
reconstituted coal tars - bituminous paints), BLADE
waterproofing of roofs (tarred impregnated, Lame; Couperet
surfaced or self-protected felts), in hot or cold- Equipment and Tools
laid mixture. 1. The rib equipping a bore bit which carries a
cutting edge enabling it to attack the ground.
BLACK PEBBLE 2. A sledgehammer with a cutting edge at each
Biset end.
Building Materials
A blackish colored pebble. BLAINE FINENESS
Finesse Blaine
BLACK PLATE Hydraulic Binders
Fer noir See FINENESS MODULUS
Metallurgy
A flat product of mild steel not allied of a BLAINE SPECIFIC SURFACE
thickness lower than 0.50 mm, delivered in Surface spécifique Blaine
leaves or in bobbins and whose surface is apt to Hydraulic Binders
support tinning, varnishing, and painting. The value that characterizes the grinding fineness
of a cement. See BLAINE MODULUS
BLACK POWDER
Poudre noire BLANK WALL
Explosives Mur orbe; Mur plein
A mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur and Construction
charcoal making up certain explosives. Syn. with Syn. with BLIND WALL SOLID WALL
BLASTING POWDER
BLASENSCHIEFER
BLACK SPOT Cargneule
Noircissure Geology
Defects - Damage (Building Materials) Syn. with AMYGDALOIDAL ZECHSTEIN
The deterioration of wood, paintwork, etc., DOLOMITE; VACUOLAR DOLOMITE
characterized by black stains. Syn. with LIMESTONE
SMUDGE
98
BLAST BLASTHOLE
Explosion; Coup de mine; Mine; Buquer Trou de mine
Explosives Explosives
1. The result from firing explosives. Two types A drilling into which is placed an explosive
of explosions are available: deflagration and charge. Syn. with SHOT HOLE
detonation. In the two cases, the explosion gives
place at a rise in temperature and a compression BLASTER
of gases, which are afterward rapidly liberated; it Boutefeu
is the literally mechanical effect of the explosion: Explosives
the blast. The detonation takes place in a far Syn. with BLASTING TECHNICIAN
briefer time than the deflagration (1,000 to
10,000 shorter time) and pressures to which it BLAST-FURNACE CEMENT
gives place are considerably higher. Syn. with C.H.F.-CEM (Ciment de Haut Fourneau)
BURSTING; EXPLOSION Hydraulic Binders
2. Detonation of an explosive in a blasthole; the A product that contains 60% to 75% slag, the rest
blasthole itself. Syn. with SHOT being the cinder with possibility of the filler in
3. The explosive charge placed in a hole for the limit of 3% of the totality of constituents.
working. This cement is suitable for humid medium and
4. To fire an explosive. possesses an excellent quality facing to the
aggressive waters.
BLAST BOTTOM
Culot BLAST-FURNACE SLAG FOR CEMENT
Explosives WORKS
The bottom of a blast hole that subsists after the Laitier pour cimenterie
explosion. Materials
A granulated hardened product obtained by
BLAST CHAMBER sudden immersion of scoria into water (scoria are
Chambre ou Fourneau de mine products resulting from the iron ores processing
Explosives in the blast furnace). The slag is afterward mixed
An excavation larger than a blasthole into which with cinder, and cements having a good
one makes blast a great quantity of explosives resistance to the aggressive water such the
with a view of an important effect. C.L.K. are obtained. To be used in cement
works, the slag must have hydraulic properties.
BLAST CLEANING
Grenaillage; Décalaminage BLASTING
Work; Metallurgy Minage; Sautage; Soufflage
1. The scouring of old painting, rust, etc. that Explosives; Earthwork; Defects
consists in throwing abrasive grains of steel, cast 1. All operations permitting explosive
iron, or corundum. The propulsion is done with demolition.
the compressed air, or with turbines. Syn. with 2. The disintegration of a ground or a rock, by an
SHOT-BLASTING explosive. Syn. with SHOOTING; SHOT
2. Syn. with CARBON REMOVAL; FIRING
DECARBONATION; DECARBONIZING; 3. Damage in reinforced concrete structures
DESCALING characterized by a detachment of the concrete by
pieces following the layout of the
BEAD BLASTING reinforcements; blasting is brought about by
Bilier oxidation and expanding of the reinforcements.
Materials
To clean a surface by pressurized throwing of BLASTING BOX
steel or glass balls. Exploseur
Explosives
Syn. with EXPLODER
99
BLASTING BY EXPLOSIVES Building Materials

Abattage à l’explosif To trim or remove the most salient harshness’s of
Building Materials; Earthwork a wooden piece, a metal part, etc.
A controlled destruction process of rocky massifs
in order to extract some broken-up rock and/or to BLEACHING
carry out an excavation according to a given Désoxydation; Blanchiment
geometry. Syn. with MINING BY BLASTING Metallurgy; Materials
1. The suppression of the oxide that covers a
BLASTING BY LONG HORIZONTAL metal part by chemical or mechanical ways. Syn.
HOLES with DEOXIDATION
Abattage par longs trous horizontaux 2. The action of bleaching a piece by clearing it
Building Materials; Earthwork of all its harshness’s. Syn. with BLOOMING
A cutting down process of the rock in a quarry
by the method of the empty chamber or chamber- BLEED
shop in which horizontal slivers are pulled down Ressuer
by long holes drilled from chimneys. Building Materials
To go up on the surface, speaking of the water
BLASTING BY LONG VERTICAL HOLES contained in a mortar, a concrete. To reject
Abattage par longs trous verticaux internal water.
Building Materials; Earthwork
A cutting down of the rock in a quarry by the BLEEDING
method of the empty chamber or chamber-shop Remontée; Ressuage
in which vertical slices are pulled down by long Construction of R.C. and P.C.
holes from a level of head. The appearance of a film of water or laitance on
the surface of a slab or a concrete or mortar
BLASTING CAP screed after troweling or vibration. The vibration,
Amorce; Amorce détonante; Détonateur closing between them the various grains of the
Explosives components of concrete, brings about the
Syn. with DETONATOR; DETONATOR expulsion of a part of water that occupies the
CHARGE; FUSE; PRIMER empties. Water, having lower density than the
other components, goes up on the surface. Syn.
BLASTING PLAN with BLEED-THROUGH; SWEATING;
Plan ou Schéma de tir WATER GAIN
Explosives
All preparations taken to obtain a given flight BLEEDING CANALS
and which is defined by the number, position, Canaux de ressuage
incline, diameter, length, charge, and order of Defects (Construction of R.C. and P.C.)
firing of the blastholes. Syn. with BLEEDING GROOVES
BLASTING POWDER BLEEDING GROOVES

Poudre noire Canaux de ressuage
Explosives Defects (Construction of R.C. and P.C.)
Syn. with BLACK POWDER A defect appearing on the surface of the facing
of concrete works characterized by small open
BLASTING TECHNICIAN furrows, broadly vertical, brought about by
Boutefeu bleeding of the concrete. Syn. with BLEEDING
Explosives CANALS
A person appointed for shooting explosives. Syn.
with BLASTER BLEEDING TEST
Essai d’exsudation
BLEACH Test of Materials (Building Materials)
Blanchir A test for characterizing the stability of the grout
injection using a glass test tube 25 mm in
100
diameter and 25 cm high, filled to a graduation BLIND ARCADE

contains between 95 and 100. This test tube is Arcature
recovered so as to avoid any evaporation. Construction
Current directives specify that, in these The whole of parts of a construction arch-shaped
conditions, the quantity of exuded water from the cut. Syn. with ARCATURE
surface of the grout, kept at rest for 3 hours, will
not have to be higher than 2% of the volume of BLIND CUT
the grout. More water will have to be reabsorbed Fausse-coupe
after 24 hours. Work
A simulated cut concealing a true hidden cut. It
BLEED-THROUGH is used most often for aesthetic purposes.
Remontée; Ressuage; Saignement
Defects (Painting) BLIND HEAD
1. An alteration of the last paint coat by the Fausse-tête
appearance of the subjacent coat. Syn. with Construction
BLEEDING; STRIKE–THROUGH; The head of a tunnel constructed in the open air
SWEATING that may have been embanked.
2. The appearance on the surface of a paint film
of the color of the subjacent layers of different BLIND HOLE
dyes. Trou borgne
Construction
BLEMISH A drilling that does not pass right through the
Défaut thickness of a part. See Figure 25
Defects (Building Materials; Metallurgy)
Syn. with DEFECT; FLAW; VICE; BLIND JOINT
Joint recouvert
BLENDE Construction
Blende Syn. with RECOVERED JOINT
Materials
A natural zinc sufhide which is one of the main BLIND NUT
ores of this metal. After calcining it is used to Bonnet
manufacture zinc oxide and lithopone to be used Nomenclature of Materials
in paints. Syn. with BLACKJACK The head of a nut which is not perforated.
BLENDED CEMENT BLIND SHIELD

Ciment composé Bouclier aveugle
Hydraulic Binders Earthwork
Syn. with COMPOSITE CEMENT; A shield advancing with all its pieces closed (in
COMPOUND CEMENT fluid grounds). Syn. with FULL-FACE
DIAPHRAGM SHIELD
BLENDING
Alliage BLIND WALL
Metallurgy Mur plein; Mur orbe
Syn. with ALLOY; ALLOYING Construction
A construction not comprising any opening
BLIGHT (example: nonaccessible gallery; without means
Carie of access). Syn. with BLANK WALL; SOLID
Defects (Building Materials) WALL
A kind of leprosy that demonstrates on the
surface of the overheated wood and of bad
quality by the presence of vegetable excrescence.
101
welding by some care determined according to

BLIND WINDOW the origin of the defect (drying of the electrodes,
Fenêtre aveugle choice of dead steel, etc.) or during welding by
Construction operative precautions.
An opening simulated by its contours but that is Syn. with AIR CAVITY; GAS CAVITY;
filled with masonry. BLOWHOLE; HONEYCOMB
2. Blisters occur in paint films and plywood
BLINDING surface also.
Colmatage
Geohydrology BLISTERING
An accumulation of fine alluvial material carried Cloquage; Bullage
by running water and deposited by decantation in Defects
zones of calm water. (Not to be confuse with 1. A defect concerning bricks characterized by a
“alluviations” has a more general sense.) localized superficial uprising of the matter
occurred in the process of manufacture.
BLINDING CONCRETE 2. A surface defect affecting especially
Béton de propreté ou de forme renderings and screeds and that occurs most
Building Materials often on the impervious rendering (cement-
Any lean concrete intended for use as a bed to based): the water being unable to evaporate,
receive the concrete of the foundation plates (or accretes as salts, which it carries behind the
rafts) so as to avoid its direct contact with the waterproof skin constituted by the rendering and
foundation ground. It must have a crushing brings about, in a first time, the swelling of this
strength at least equal to that of the foundation one. Blisters thus produced fissure and gradually
ground. Syn. with MATTRESS; MUDMAT; burst.
MUDSILL; OVERSITE CONCRETE; SLOPE 3. A range of alteration of a paintwork
CONCRETE. See Figure 26 characterized by convex deformations of the
film, in the form of blisters, correlative to the
BLISTER detachment of one or several coats of the film.
Soufflure; Cloque According to the external texture and superficial
Defects blister distribution, blistering appears as bulbs,
1. A defect affecting weld beads, characterized blisters, buttons, pustules, etc.
by small round or lengthened cavities whose wall 4. A cone-shaped deformation of sheet metals.
is smooth and bright and which contain or not This defect is often had to a bad distribution of
inclusions. the loads on the metal works with caisson or with
Inclusions in a soldering can have various big solid web girders. At the time of the work
causes: with the blowtorch on sheet metals, such a
imprisonment of gas in the end contraction bending (out of shape) is often due to differential
pipe, at the time of a resumption of soldering heating causing a thermal shock.
badly carried out: isolated blowhole; 5. A defect damaging a paint film that shows
variations of solubility of gases in the bubbles or pores on its surface. Syn. with
deposited metal between the liquid state and BUBBLING
solid state, which, emerging at the time of
solidification, are likely to give rise at the nests BLOCK
of blowhole or at the isolated blowholes; Massif; Carreau; Bloquer; Bloc
chemical reactions inside the molten metal; Masonry; Building Materials
water absorption by the coating of the 1. A large masonry block.
electrodes causing the presence of water vapor 2. A stone that has more width to the facing of a
in the welding arc. wall than the tail in thickness.
Blowholes can start the fatigue cracks by effect 3. To build or fill in rubble work; to erect quarry
of concentration of the stresses. stones or brick walls without aligning them with
Inclusions are detected by radiography or the line.
ultrasonic sounds. They are corrected before
102
4. A concrete element, reinforced or not, used BLOCKING UP

especially to construct abutments, jetties, etc., Calfeutrage; Murage
and work in aquatic site, to places and place of Construction; Work
enrockments. 1. The sealing of holes, cracks, or joints with
various materials. Syn. with JOINT FILLER;
BLOCK PACKING; SEALING; STOPPING UP
Tas; Quartier de pierre 2. The closing up by construction of a wall. Syn.
Equipment and Tools; Nomenclature of of BRICKING UP; WALLING UP
Materials
1. A portable small anvil without heel or beak BLOCKLAYER
iron. Maçon
2. Syn. with QUARTER OF STONE Masonry
Syn. with BRICKLAYER; MASON; WALLING
BLOCK CLUSTER MASON; STONE MASON; WALLER
Amas, champ, chaos de blocs
Geomorphology BLOCKOUT
The local concentration on the surface of the Réservation
ground of many blocks of rocks. Construction of R.C. and P.C.
A cavity accommodated in a concrete wall
BLOCK POLYMER during the pouring and intended being used
Polymère séquencé either for the passage of sheaths for cables, or as
Polymers cavity of sealing (for railings for example on a
A polymer whose molecules are made up of wing or return wall). This former comes true
sequences linearly connected. with a formwork or more mostly using a block of
expanded polystyrene embedded inside the fresh
BLOCK UP concrete during the pouring. Syn. with BOX
Murer OUT; DUCT FORMER
Work
To close any opening with masonry. BLOCKWORK
Aggloméré
BLOCKAGE Building Materials
Embâcle An artificial stone obtained by batching and
Hydrology hardening a mixing of binder (hydraulic or other)
A hindrance produced in a waterway by any with inert matter; the hardening can be done cold
cause (uprooted trees, branches, etc.). Syn. with or by firing. Among the various types of
PACKING blockworks used, we can distinguish:
clay block (l’aggloméré d’argile), a clay-based
BLOCKBOARD building material which includes brick, cobwork,
Latté rammed clay, and cofferdam clay;
Building Materials concrete block (full or hollow) (l’aggloméré
Syn. with BATTENBOARD; COREBOARD; de béton (plein ou creux)), parallelepipedal-
STAVED LUMBER CORE shaped block of agglomerated matter, resulting
from the set and hardening without firing of the
BLOCKING mixing from a hydraulic binder and inert
Blocage hourdé materials (sand, gravel, crushed natural stone,
Masonry blast-furnace slag). They are mostly laid on a
Syn. with HARDCORE; RANDOM; mortar bed. Syn. with ARTIFICIAL STONE;
UNCOURSED RUBBLE BUILDING BLOCK; BREEZE-BLOCK ;
CONGLOMERATE BLOCKWORK;
CONSTRUCTION BLOCK; PERPEND
103
BLONDIN BLOW
Blondin Renard
Handling Foundation
Syn. with CABLEWAY; ELEVATED The bypass by percolation of water under a
CABLEWAY CRANE; FUNICULAR CRANE; sheetpiles curtain, an earthfill dam, or a
OVERHEAD CABLEWAY cofferdam; it emerges more or less violently in
an excavation bottom such as a hydrodynamic
BLONDIN CONCRETING. uprising with more or less important water flow.
Bétonnage au blondin Syn. with PIPING. See Figure 28
Construction of R.C. and P.C..
Syn. with CABLEWAY CONCRETING BLOWHOLE
Soufflure. Bullage
BLOOM Defects
Efflorescence 1. An air space included in the mass of a cast
Defects (Masonry and Construction of R.C. and material.
P.C.) 2. A cavity produced during the solidification of
The crystallization of soluble salt, sometimes metal by evolved gas, which in failing to escape
appears on the surface of masonry. is held in pockets.
These salts are found in solution in the water 3. In concrete construction, formation of bubbles,
that impregnates stones. Water laden with water- surface voids.
soluble salts proceeds from the heart of masonry
to its surfaces where the water evaporates and BLOWING OUT
abandons salts that crystallize in deposits of Soufflage
variable consistency and adhesion (not to be Work
confused with saltpeter which origin is different). Blowing of compressed air into a drilling before
The resulting blooms transform into white or injection in order to evacuate the washing water
light-colored plates. The responsible salts are that could be there.
usually sulfates, chlorides, carbonates, and
nitrates. Syn. with EFFLORESCENCE BLOWING UP
Affouillement
BLOOMING Defects (Foundation)
Blanchiment Syn. with SCOURING; UNDERMINING;
Materials UNDER WASHING; WASHING AWAY
Syn. with BLEACHING
BLOWOUT PREVENTER
BLOOMING COLLAR Obturateur
Collier d’épanouissement Equipment and Tools
Construction Syn. with CLOSING DEVICE; OBTURATOR;
All of parts around cables in a beam or in a ring SHUTTER; STOPPER
which enable their blooming for their individual
anchorage. See Figure 27 BLOW’S CONDITION
Condition de renard
BLOSSOM Foundation
Affleurement The maximum buried length of a screen to avoid
Geology that a localized removal of the ground does not
Syn. with OUTCROP turn into blow. Syn. with PIPING CONDITION
BLOTTING BLUE ALGA

Absorption Algue bleue; Cyanophycée
Test of Materials (Welding) Masonry; Defects (Building Materials)
The aspiration of penetrating fluid by capillary A parasitic plant of the stone from which one
action, due to the effect of a revealing product, distinguishes two categories: one proliferating in
since the discontinuity of surface.
104
a dry and luminous environment evidenced by an application in the presence of a too humid
black or gray colonies often accompanied by atmosphere,
froths or lichens; the second develops in a humid an incompatibility with the substrate or earlier
and dark environment has thick colored coatings, coat.
sometimes gelatinous.
Syn. with CYANOBACTERIA BOARD
Planche; Barder; Panneau
BLUE CRACK TEST Building Materials; Construction
Cassure au bleu 1. A piece provided by the cutting up of the
Metallography wood of an important length compared with the
A macrographic method to put in evidence other definite dimensions:
inclusion lines into steels. It is a visual of oak: it ranges from 41 to 47 mm thickness
examination of the obtained breakage on a steel for 21-cm width;
pancake, heated to about 400°C, taken in the of fir: 27, 34, and 41 mm thickness for 22 and
rolled product to be controlled. 23- cm width;
of poplar: it varies between 23 to 34 mm
BLUE FUNGUS thickness for 24- cm width;
Bleuissement for scaffolding, in fir tree, picea, and larch, the
Defects (Building Materials) boards are 40 mm thick for 20.5 -cm width;
Syn. with BLUE STAIN; SAP STAIN of fir tree, picea, larch, Scottish fir: a
Lorraine board is 26 to 35 mm thick for 30.5-cm
BLUE STAIN width.
Bleuissement Syn. with PLANK
Defects - Damage (Building Materials) 2. To cover a wall with boarding.
A coloring varying from blue to black, of 3. Syn. with PANEL
variable intensity and depth, caused by
mushrooms in the sapwood of some woods; it BOARDING
does not lead to any important change of Palissade de chantier; Garnissage; Couchis
mechanical properties and susceptible to increase Temporary Constructions
the impregnability. Wood attacked by a blue 1. A paling formed by more or less butt-jointed
stain is called bluish. Syn. with BLUE boards intended for limiting access to a building
FUNGUS; SAP STAIN site.
2. In an underground earthwork, set of timber
BLUNT CONE TIMBER pieces that are placed between the supporting
Bonde de charpente and the ground to be hold. The purpose of this
Carpentry arrangement is to ensure a better contact between
A long piece of wood ending in a cone-shaped the ground and the supporting. Syn. with
truncation. SHEATHING
3. In an earthwork support, set of close (or not)
BLUNTED MOLDING timbers, horizontally arranged in order to
Coin émoussé distribute the loads on the props.
Architecture
A molding with canted angles. BOARDING
Bardage; Planchéiage
BLUSHING Construction
Opalescence laiteuse 1. A defense structure of boards arranged around
Defects (Painting) a permanent structure, a bridge pier (one also
A range of deterioration of a paint film that says partition).
presents a milky aspect. This defect is due to: 2. A partial or total coating formed of boards or
an application of the product at a too low plywood of the part in elevation of a
temperature, construction.
105
Syn. with SHEETING; WEATHER Syn. with PLUMB; PLUMMET

BOARDING
3. A floor built with boards. Syn. with BODY
PLANKING; FLOORING Corps
Geomorphology
BOARDING FOOTPATH The central part of a landslide covering the
Banquette breaking surface.
Temporary Constructions
A decking carried out of boards resting on the BOIL
putlogs and constituting a horizontal scaffolding Renard solide
implemented in the excavations when the depth Foundation
of these is significant. Appearence identical to the normal blow, but in
which water is replaced by soil (clay, sand, etc.).
BOARDING SUPPORT
Rideau BOILER PLANT
Construction Générateur de vapeur
A set constituted by suspenders, bars and all Equipment and Tools
other elements in the endorsement of the deck of Syn. with STEAM GENERATOR
a suspension bridge.
BOILING
BOAST Boulance
Ebauche Geology
Masonry A phenomenon of decohesion that intervenes all
The first fashioning given to an ashlar. times one produces a strong enough rising water
stream inside a fine sand mass. For each kind of
BOASTER sand, there exists a pressure drop by unit of
Ebauchoir course above which the sand is emulsioning.
Equipment and Tools
Syn. with ROUGHING CHISEL BOLOMETER
Bolomètre
BOAT BOTTOM Equipment for Measure and Control
Fond de bateau Equipment used to analyse materials; it is a
Civil Engineering thermal detector whose electrical resistance
In embankments, captive sheet of water between changes when it receives incident radiation.
an impermeable bed (clay, etc.) constituting the There are several types of bolometer: the
background and a permeable bed through of thermistor bolometer, the supra bolometer driver,
which waters infiltrate. The boat bottom is the carbon bolometer, and the bolometer to
processed with herringbone drainage, germanium.
subhorizontal drains, or by injection of sand-
laden cement grout. BOLSTER
Ciseau; Echaupre; Corbeau; Racinal
BOATING Equipment and Tools; Construction; Carpentry
Boursouflement 1. A stonecutter’s tool resembling at the burin
Geomorphology but having a single bevel. This bevel can be
The swelling of the ground caused by an straight (fillet bolster) or round [bolster to slot
important slipping that can be transformed into (for lewis)]. Flat chisel (or to pad or to mallet) is
blister with the time, going if the phenomenon used to modify the harshness left by the punch,
lasts. the gradine, or the granulating hammer, by
carvings more or less neared. Syn. with DROVE;
BOB STONE CHISEL
Plomb 2. Broad-faced steel bricklayer’ chisel for cutting
Equipment for Measure and Control bricks.
106
3. Syn. with BRACKET; CORBEL BOLTING

4. A prop or wooden bearing part supporting Boulonnage
other parts. Metal Construction
The joining operation of parts with bolts.
BOLT
Boulon; Cheville; Bluter BOLTING CHEST
Materials; Equipment and Tools Bluterie
1. An organ of joining constituted by a circular Nomenclature of Materials
section part having a prismatic or round head and The set of fines which are passed through the
a smooth shank prolonged by a threaded part (the meshes of the bolter.
shank can also be threaded throughout its
length); parts to be joined are bored by holes into BOLTMAKING
which passes the bolt. A hexagonal nut bored by Boulonnerie
a tapped hole enables tightening. Metal Construction
Two models essentially are available: The set of bolts of a structure. This term is
normal screw bolts (les boulons à filetage sometimes used to point to all of the bolts of a
normal), whose assembly is such that a part of joining or a structure part. Syn. with FASTENER
the thread is inside the hole, what increases the
diametral compression directly below of the part BOND
on the side of the washer and the nut; Appareil; Frette; Lier
Buildings Materials; Work
small screw bolts (les boulons à filetage
1. Specimen of ashlar. Ashlars are classified such
réduit), sometimes called full bodies, whose
as their size into three great families: small,
thread ends in the thickness of the washer.
medium, or large bond. Their visible facing
2. Syn. with PEG; PIN; STUD
range from 0.40 m height to 0.70 m width to 0.15
3. To pass a pulverulent matter to the sieve.
m on 0.25 m. Syn. with HEIGHT
2. In a collared elastomer bearing, a steel plate
BOLT CLIPPER
limiting the plane deformation of the adjacent
Coupe-boulon
elastomer folias.
Equipment and Tools
3. Syn. with BIND; TIE
Syn. with BOLT CROPPERS
BOND
BOLT CROPPERS Appareiller; Limousiner; Enlier; Liaison;
Coupe-boulon Liaisonner
Equipment and Tools Masonry
A tool for cutting bolts which is actually just 1. To execute by advances the drawings that give
large shears. Syn. with BOLT CLIPPER the forms and dimensions of the stones used to
construct the work. Syn. with TO PREPARE
BOLTED RIB 2. To build a rubble wall. Syn. with TO
Nervure boulonnée RUBBLE
Construction 3. To insert quarry stones or bricks of a masonry
A reinforcement in return and peripheral of the of such a nature that join them are placed
butts of a prestressed concrete segment that longways on and others widthways on, so as to
enables the bolted joint of the segments between alternate the pointings in the thickness of the
them, thus strengthening the gluing. wall. Syn. with ENGAGE
4. The mortar of pointing. Syn. with BONDING
BOLTER 5. Syn. with GROUT; JOINT; LINK; POINT
Bluteau
Equipment and Tools BOND JOINT
An instrument used to bolt various ground Refend
matters that one wants to sieve. Masonry
A linear profile of a triangular or square section
carried out on a rendering to feign the courses.
107
BOND LENGTH BONDERIZATION

Longueur d’adhérence Bondérisation
Construction of R.C. and P.C. Metallurgy
The length of the concrete zone solicited by the A process of metal surface protection from the
action of the bonding forces that are opposed to rust which is obtained by the application of a
the slipping of the reinforcements or cables along phosphoric caustic solution, which makes a
their axis compared with the concrete that coats superficial iron phosphate film. By extension: all
them. Syn. with GRIP LENGTH phosphating or pulverization process. Syn. with
BONDERIZING
BOND MARK
Marque d’appareil BONDERIZE
Masonry Bondériser
A number assigned to an ashlar following the Metallurgy
arranged sketching, to locate its site in the To apply the processing of bonderization.
construction.
BONDERIZING
BOND STRENGTH Bondérisation
Force d’adhérence Metallurgy
Adhesives Syn. with BONDERIZATION
The necessary force for breaking the joining of
two surfaces carried out with the help of an BONDING
adhesive. Appareillage; Hourdage; Liaison; Accrochage
Masonry; Painting
BONDED STONE 1. The arrangement of the set of stones (ashlars,
Pierre appareillée quarry stones, etc.) or bricks in masonry work. In
Masonry vault, the main types of bonding that we meet
A stone having his six faces dressed. are:
straight arch bonding (l’appareillage par arcs
BONDER droits), brickwork or stonework used to
Lancis; Boutisse; Pierre parpaigne construct skew vaults and which consists in
Masonry forming the vault by joining right arches forming
1. A header or perpend (stone) bonded in a steps ones on the others. Salient parts can
masonry work to ensure a good bond of the conceivably be carved in order to constitute a
facing with the body of masonry. smooth facing;
2. Syn. with BONDSTONE; PERPEND; helical barrel vault (l’appareillage
THROUGH STONE hélicoïdal), brickwork or stonework used to
construct skew vaults. It is the simplest and most
BONDER LAYING used for small dimension vaults. Beds are shown
Pose en boutisse on the development of the vault by parallel
Masonry straight lines that become helix on the cylinder.
Syn. with BONDER SETTING All courses have similar thickness;
Léveillé bonding (of the vault)
BONDER SETTING (l’appareillage Léveillé), in which quarry stones
Pose en boutisse are bonded horizontally at the base up to 30° of
Masonry the horizontal (as for a straight vault) and then
A stone or brick whose largest dimension lies bonded as in a helical vault;
laid in the thicknessways of the wall. Syn. with orthogonal bonding (of the vault)
BONDER LAYING (l’appareillage orthogonal parallèle), brickwork
or stonework used to construct vaults. In this
system, courses are perpendicular with heads at
the key and bend progressively to become
parallel at the springings;
108
flat roller bonding (of the vault) rendering to facilitate and increase the adhesion
(l’appareillage par rouleau unique), of vault of of it.
brickwork; it consists in building on centering a
forefront of bricks with a step of a half-brick BONDING AGENT
then, on the same centering or after the Produit de reprise
decenters, a second rank of toothered bricks on Materials
the first. This type of construction is notably A matter applied on hardened concrete
used when the thickness of the vault does not improving the adhesion of the fresh concrete
exceed a length equal to two bricks; brought back in the case of a construction joint
multiple roller bonding (of the vault) for instance.
(l’appareillage par rouleaux multiples), for a
brickwork vault made as following way. A first BONDING GROUT
roller which thickness is equal to the thickness of Couche d’accrochage ou Gobetis
one brick is built on centering. Then after the Masonry
decenters it is used as support to the construction Syn. with DASH-BOND COAT; RENDERING
of a second roller, and so on. Successive rollers COAT; ROUGHCAST(ING)
can become interdependent ones to the others by
introducing toothings. This type of construction BONDING INJECTION
is used for vaults of strong thickness; Injection de liaison
archstone bonding (l’appareillage par Work
voussoirs), brickwork that consists in building An operation for ensuring the continuity between
the vault throughout its thickness by parallel a former masonry and a new masonry. It is
courses of arch stones formed by piling up bricks similar in nature to the internal injection.
and whose top beds are cutting normally to the
intrados (system little used in France); BONDING LENGTH
bonding of the vaults with a weak skew Recouvrement
(l’appareillage des voûtes à faible biais), Construction of R.C. and P.C.
brickwork or stonework presenting a bonding A zone delimited by the overlapping of two
arrangement of a straight vault. The process reinforcements of a bar setting thus ensuring the
consists in drawing beds following the mechanical linear continuity, and in which are
generatrixes whose discontinuous joints of head transmitted the strains.
archstones are parallel to the plan of head; the
others discontinuous joints being carved BONDSTONE
according to cross sections. Sometimes, we have Parpaing
adopted a bonding of archstone beds that is Masonry
perpendicular with the plan of head, the other Syn. with PARPEND STONE; PERPEND;
archstones being laid like in the previous THROUGH STONE
bonding.
Syn. with PREPARATION BONDSTONE KEY
2. The linking of materials with mortar; one says Clausoir
to make a bonding. Masonry
3. Syn. with BOND A small tile or header closing a course of
4. The joining of two successive paint films or masonry.
simply of a film on its subjectile.
BONE BLACK
BONDING ADMIXTURE Noir d’ivoire
Produit d’accrochage Painting
Masonry Syn. with IVORY BLACK
A matter mostly thermoplastic emulsions based
(copolymers and terpolymers vinylic, styrene
butadiene, acrylic resins, etc.) whose one
whitewashes a support needed to receive a
109
BONING BORE
Bornoyer Aléser; Forer; Lumière
Topography Metal Construction; Foundation; Work;
To position poles that limit lines of a foundation. Construction
Syn. with MARK OUT THE BOUNDARY; 1. To put a hole at its final diameter. The job is
MARK THE FOUNDATION MARKER done with a hand reamer, or a boring machine.
2. To redrill a well or a drilling to enlarge its
BONING PEG diameter or regularize its walls. Syn. with
Cale REAM
Masonry 3. Syn. with DRILL
Syn. with DOWEL; WOOD BLOCK 4. Syn. with PORT
BOOM BORE BIT

Flèche de grue; Volée ; Elinde; Membrure Trépan
Equipment and Tools; Metal Construction Equipment and Tools
1. The linchpin of a crane, mostly adjustable, Syn. with DRILL(ING) BIT; TREPAN
telescopic or not, at the end of which is fixed one
(or more) pulley(s) on which passes the handling BORE EXTRACTING
cable of the loads. Syn. with CRANE JIB Caracole
2. Syn. with BUCKET ELEVATOR BOOM Equipment and Tools
3. Syn. with CHORD; FLANGE. A hook rod used in instrumentations to attempt
recovery of broken rods in a borehole. Syn. with
BOOMER BIT HOOK
Boumeur; Chariot de foration
Equipment for Measure and Control; Equipment BOREHOLE
and Tools Trou de sonde; Sondage; Forage
1. A transmitter used for seismic trials in aquatic Geology; Work
sites. 1. Syn. with TRIAL BORING
2. Syn. with WAGON-DRILL 2. Syn. with BORING; DRILLING
BOOMLESS DERRICK BOREHOLE DRILLED BY PERCUSSION

Chèvre Sondage foré par percussion
Equipment and Tools Geotechnics
Syn. with HORSE ; LIFTING JACK; SHEAR A drilling carried out in the ground with a tool
LEGS; TRACK LIFTING JACK which acts by fall effect and by its weight. The
disaggregated ground is afterward extracted by
BORAX clearing out.
Borax Among the primary means used, we can
Welding distinguish:
Borate of sodium used during brazing. probing or piercing or sounding (le sondage
à la barre à mine): a rudimentary soil survey that
BORDER consists in driving in a jumper bar into the
Bourrelet ground with a sledge hammer; this process
Geomorphology concerns a slight depth beneath the surface;
Within landslide, the more or less cylindrical miser sounding (le sondage à la sonde de
excrescence of the ground caused by an Palissy): a process of soil survey concerning
underlying compression. only one very low depth of ground (2 to 5 m); it
allows to take more or less disturbed samples;
drill sounding (le sondage à la sondeuse à
tige): a sophisticated process of the method to
miser sounding that allows to reach the depths of
110
about 30 m; this drill allows to take more or less starting the hammer in bottom of hole, raises the
intact samples; sediments at the time of its relaxation.
Hammergrab bucket trial drilling (le
sondage à la benne Hammergrab sur foreuse BOREHOLE DRILLED BY ROTATION
Benoto): allows to collect undisturbed and Sondage foré par rotation
representative samples of the ground in place. Geotechnics
When one needs to extract from gravelly earth to A soil survey drilling in which the tool cuts into
large grading, in particular under the the ground thanks to a fast rotational movement
groundwater table and without breaking the transmitted by a screwed stand of drill pipes. The
subunits in order to carry out representative cooling and the rising of the sediments are
grading, one carries out drilling of large diameter ensured by circulation of a pressurized liquid
(400 to 600 mm) with Hammergrab Benoto skip (mostly water). The tool of attack works with the
of type CP 4 or CP 5. These Hammergrab skips means of:
appear as heavy cylinders of a large diameter, granular metal (exclusively vertical trial
finished at their base by shells of various forms, boring);
tight and very robust, able to dig and appropriate a tungsten carbide bit (teeth); or
the ground in bottom of hole. The apparatus is a diamond bit.
equipped with a device to allow automatic Samples of ground (core samples) are taken
closing of the shells after the taking away in depending on their nature, with a simple or
bottom of hole, and their opening after the double-core drill.
bringing of the bucket on the surface. A tubing There are several types of trial boring:
can be carried out if necessary. complete sampler trial boring (le sondage
This process is particularly useful for precise par carottage intégral): geotechnical means of
survey of the gravelly material borrow area for investigation of the grounds that consists in
backfillings, the study of the realization of taking the various soil beds in a complete way
excavated materials in fillings, the performance throughout the depth of the trial bore, so as to
of pumping well, when one has a refusal of the examine them with one’s own eyes and to submit
mechanical auger with large diameter or when them to the various analyses and useful
one lies in the obligation to tube drilling, in laboratory tests;
particular under the ground watertable; double-tube (core) sampler trial boring (le
Canadian sounding (le sondage canadien): sondage au carottier double): a process in which
carried out by driving, with discontinuous drilling is carried out by cutting out the ground
clearing out; along a cylinder by rotation of a hollow tube
trial boring by percussion with bore bit (le with at its base by a special tool intended for
sondage par percussion au trépan): consists in wearing away the ground and which is called a
carrying out a drilling executing a striking boring bit. Sediments resulting from cutting are
repeated in bottom of hole with a special tool, or pulled up to the surface by a fluid (stream of
bore bit, intended for going back up sediments as water or special muds);
they are disaggregated by striking of the tool; sounding by drilling with a mechanical
trial boring by percussion with punch auger (le sondage par forage à la tarière
sampler (le sondage par percussion au carottier mécanique ou à la chape): carried out when the
poinçonneur): consists in carrying out a drilling grounds to be probed are relatively loose:
sinking in bottom of hole a hollow tube able to sludges, clays, alluvia, marls, etc. The auger used
collect a layer of ground on the height of the is a helical screw of variable diameter from 6 to
tube; 30 cm. It allows to penetrate the ground quickly
trial boring with “doum the hole” hammer and to progressively go back up the modified
drill (le sondage au marteau fond de trou): an samples of ground, therefore allowing very fast
improvement of the trial boring to the bore bit in surveys in fairly loose grounds.
which a drill drives a stand of drill pipe ended by The drilling grab consists of a hollow tube ended
a pneumatic hammer comprising a percussion by a short auger. It can open on its side. By
tool of a medium diameter. The compressed air, screwing the auger into the ground, the ground is
introduced into the tube, with a partial
111
remolding, and can be taken under better possibilities of implementation. These loggings
conditions than with the auger. The mechanical are especially interesting in eruptive site for the
auger or drilling grab allows pratically no study of the variations of alteration and pollution
sampling below 20 to 30 m depth; of the massif;
trial boring with mechanical (core) auger (le sonic logging (or microseismic) [la
sondage à la tarière mécanique creuse): a diagraphie sonique (ou microsismique)]: a
process in which the mainline mechanical auger process of rocky massifs sounding based on the
is replaced by an auger whose core is made up of phenomenon of wave propagation resonant. The
a tube. There is, at the head of the auger, a measured parameter is the propagation speed of
special cutting tool connected at its surface by a the longitudinal waves in the ground to the
stand of drill pipe interdependent of the driving vicinity of a trial boring. Two types of probes
piece of the auger. To a given depth, one thus exist: the usable discontinuous sonic probe in dry
can use the stand of drill pipe to pull the head of holes, the continuous sonic probe usable in holes
cut, which allows the intact sampling with the filled with water or mud. The area of preferential
help of a rotary core drill or stamping core drill application of this log is the structural study of
by leaving the bottom of drilling clear. rocky massifs, the varying sonic speed, for a
trial boring with tricone (le sondage au given rock, following the importance and the
tricône): a process in which the drilling belongs density of the discontinuities that affect the
to the category of fast rotary drillings. The massif;
tricone is a tool formed by three toothed wheels nuclear logging (la diagraphie nucléaire):
laid out on axles of 120°. When rotating, the constitutes a continuous profile of absorption or
block of the tool allows the quick disaggregation emission parameters of some radiations, obtained
of the ground. Sediments are brought went up by by descending some probes in a drilling. These
a stream of water, air, or mud as in the bore bit physical measurements can be connected after
trial boring; standardization, to geotechnical magnitudes as
trial boring by turbo drilling (le sondage par the specific gravity or the moisture content. We
turbo-forage): a process using special mud that can distinguish:
plugs the walls of the trial boring whilst bringing the gamma-gamma log or nuclear interface log
back up sediments. This system, allowing the (la diagraphie gamma-gamma), which is based
removal of the stand of drill pipe and tubing, on the distribution phenomena of the gamma
authorizes the great depths required by special radiations emitted by the matter and which
tasks. enables on to know the specific gravity of the
grounds,
BOREHOLE LOG the neutron-neutron log (la diagraphie
Coupe de sondage neutron-neutron), which is based on the slowing
Geology phenomena by hydrogen of rapid neutrons. The
Syn. with DRILL LOG neutron-neutron log enables one to measure the
moisture content of materials;
BOREHOLE LOGGING instantaneous borehole logging (la
Diagraphie diagraphie instantanée de forage), consists in
Geotechnics executing the capture and the graphic or
A process which consists in recording in a trial numerical recording, of the drilling parameters
boring, generally of a continuous manner, according to depth, such as the drill feed (speed
according to the depth, one or several parameters of penetration of the tool), the reflective
which characterize the ground (resistance, percussion which corresponds in proportion to
radioactivity, etc.). the energy reflected by the tool after each shock),
There are several types of borehole logging: the thrust pressure of the tool, the injection
electrical logging or resistance logging (la pressure of the fluid of circulation, the
diagraphie électrique): a measuring process of measurement of the rotation torque of the drill
the strength of grounds. Probes used are of string, the pressure of hammer feeding, the_speed
various types, but require for most a noncased of rods rotation. The equipment is installed on a
hole full of water (or mud), thus limiting the hydraulic drilling machine working in rotation
112
only or in rotary-percussion and enables, ground which is stored in the bucket which is
following the models, to record from three to then resurfaced and emptied by opening the
eight parameters; hinge-mounted lid. There are articulated buckets,
radioactivity logging (la diagraphie de radio- with automatic opening or valves;
activité naturelle): a sounding process of terrain continuous auger (la tarière continue), used to
based on the natural ground radioactivity. Its make bored piles and cast in the ground and
purpose is to realize a continuous recording, on formed by a single continuous tool which is used
the entire height of a drilling, of the gamma-ray successively for drilling and concreting. The tool
radiation emitted by the different natural is a helical auger whose blades are rolled up
radioactive elements included in the rock; it is around a hollow tube. Its dimensions (diameter
meant to enable by the comparison of the and length) correspond to the pile to be made;
recording curves of several trial borings the the length can be increased during the
correlation of successively crossed levels. perforation by addition of helical elements. See
Syn. with LOGGING Figure 29a.
4. A tool constituted by a metal rod fixed to a
BOREHOLE SAMPLE pneumatic, electrical, hydraulic, or thermal
Carotte engine drill disintegrating the rock by percussion
Civil Engineering Structure; Geotechnics of a cutting edge.
Syn. with CORE ; CORE SAMPLE; DRILL The borer is ended to one of its ends by a drill
CORE steel shank, on which the piston of a hammer
drill knock, and to the other by a cutting edge,
BORER which attacks the terrain by percussion. The
Alésoir; Perce; Tarière; Fleuret impact of the cutting edge is modified before
Equipment and Tools each knock by a light rotation of the tool. The
1. A tool used in steel construction to surface the borer can be solid or hollow. In this last case, it
walls of a hole and to give it its final diameter. has to be bored by a canal along its axis to
Syn. with REAMER enable the air or water injection intended for
2. The generic name of the tools used to make cooling the cutting edge and mostly for
holes. Syn. with DRILL; PUNCH evacuating the cuttings. The borer can be cast in
3. A helical drill used to drill and bore in one piece or with a removable cutting edge
rotation, like an Archimedes’ screw. (added or screwed). Syn. with DRILL STEEL;
There are several types of borers: JUMPER BAR; MASONRY DRILL
head auger (la tarière de tête), used to drill
horizontally or vertically. It is especially BORER BAR
conceived for loose grounds; Chante-perce
lengthening auger (la tarière rallonge), used Equipment and Tools
to lengthen the head drill or twisted auger. A steel bar, sharpened at one end, used by the
During horizontal drillings the cuttings are Norman and Breton quarry workers to drill
simultanuously and continuously evacuated in blocks of granite.
the progress of the drilling and continuous way;
See Figure 29 BORESCOPE
twisted auger with point of drilling (la Endoscope
tarière torsadée avec pointe de forage), used to Equipment for Measure and Control
drill in hard ground or hard layers of gravel; Syn. with ENDOSCOPE; FIBERSCOPE
bucket (la tarière à godet), made up of a
cylindrical bucket with at its base a flat or BORING
bulging lid. This lid, provided or not with a Alésage; Forage
point-shaped pilot tool, presents an opening, Earthwork; Metallurgy; Metal Construction;
according to a variable radius or diameter. The Foundation; Work
opening is provided with cutting blades or 1. A hollow part of revolution (cylindrical or
interchangeable teeth. This tool is used to bore conical).
piles. By pressure and rotation, the teeth cut the
113
2. An operation of machining performed in a 1. A borrow area of materials (earth, sand,

workshop or on a building site. Thanks to the use gravel, etc.) located out of the ascendencies of
of a tool (usually a reamer), it enables one to the site. Since materials cannot be borrowed on
make a hole of a defined diameter, with a tiny the job site due to their bad qualities or their
tolerance, rigorously aligned through thickness’s nonexistence. Borrow areas are used to fulfil
of steel, punched or bored beforehand. Boring is excavations, or to create embankments.
also used to eliminate cold-drawn zones resulting 2. The taking of materials (by excavation or
from punching. Syn. with CYLINDER BORE ; other means) made outside of the premises of the
REAMING site and that is intended for creating an
3. A ground boring process that breaks up into embankment, constructing a road, etc. Syn. with
two categories: BORROW PIT
large section borehole (les forages de grande
section), namely the wells and possibly the BORROW PIT
trenches; Emprunt
small section bore hole (les forages de petite Earthwork
section), which are subdivided two classes. The Syn. with BORROW AREA
first ones are done with the casual means of
earthwork and allow both the direct observation BOSS
of pierced grounds and with the sampling. Bossage; Bosse
Seconds are carried out with special perforation Masonry
machines that bring back up to the surface the 1. The facing of quarry stone or ashlar worked
intact or not disturbed samples of pierced with a more or less salient (compared to edges)
grounds. boss.
4. Syn. with BOREHOLE; DRILLING Bosses differ from sunk drafts because of their
greatest protrusion and especially by more
BORING MACHINE researched (complex) forms. Among the most
Machine foreuse; Perforatrice; Foreuse ordinary bosses are :
Equipment and Tools V-channel stonework or chamfered
1. A machine used to make a hole, therefore to rustication (le bossage à anglets), whose steps
extract the ground to the site of the planned are chamfered in such a way that chamfers of
gallery. The system of ground extraction is two consecutive bosses make a V-channel;
formed by a drilling head which carries tools rounded rustication (le bossage arrondi),
which cut into the ground. The drilling head is which is a way of cutting with rounded edges
carried by the body of the machine, itself related and whose rough surface is sometimes
to the system of propulsion and leaning of the surrounded by a carving;
machine. A progression guide is necessary to cavetto rustication (le bossage à cavet),
make the machine follow a specific path. A whose protrusion is ended by a cavetto contained
service unit ensures the supply of necessary between two fillets; see Figure 30;
energy to the machine. The drilling machines are chamfered rustication (le bossage à
often equipped with a mucking out device and chanfrein), in which edges are chamfered and do
supporting system of the gallery. not join the contiguous boss but are separated by
2. Syn. with DRILLING MACHINE a small canal; see Figure 30a;
diamond shaped work or diamond
BORING WINCH rustication (le bossage en pointe de diamant),
Treuil de forage whose facing is carved in a pyramidal form; see
Equipment and Tools Figure 30b;
A device that allows the trepan to return up. resurfaced and repointed stonework (le
bossage ravalé), with table in hollow and
BORROW AREA profiles;
Chambre d’emprunt; Emprunt rustic work or rustication (le bossage
Earthwork rustique), whose facing is rough but sometimes
surrounded by a carving;
114
vermiculated stonework (le bossage Geomorphology

vermiculé), whose facing is designed to remind In a landslide, the downhill zone of the
galleries dug by the worms. movement of terrain or end of the border. Syn.
2. A small bulge left by builders overhanging on with THUMB
a wall to point to that it is not measured.
BOTTOM FACE
BOSS BLOCK Douelle; Intrados
Carreau de bossage Construction
Building Materials The outside or inside facing of an archstone. All
A stone cut in rustication with sunk draft, internal faces constitutes the intrados of the arch
composing a sidewall or a quoin. or the vault, the whole of outside faces the
extrados. Syn. with INTRADOS; SOFFIT;
BOSS KEYSTONE INNER FACE
Clef à bossage
Construction BOTTOM HOLE CHARGE
A key that forms a uniform overhang on the Charge de fond
main plane of the archivolt or the flat arch. Explosives
The portion of explosives at the bottom of a
BOSSE blasthole.
Bossé
Building Materials BOTTOM OUTLET
A tree of the rain forests which provides a pale Vidange de fond
pink wood. Its density is between 0.55 and 0.65. Construction
Syn. with DEWATERING CONDUIT
BOSTIK TESTER
Bostik tester BOTTOM SCRAPER
Assaying Equipment Gratte-fond
Equipment used to test the fatigue of mastics. Equipment and Tools
A builder’s tool that allows to reach in the
BOTCH hollowed parts of a masonry work in order to
Loup carry out a task there. It is a long rod provided of
Defects a head being able to take on the shape of various
A defect in a construction. Syn. with DEFECT; tools.
FAULT; MISTAKE
BOTTOM-OPENING SKIP
BOTT CHISEL Benne à béton à fond ouvrant
Langue de carpe Equipment and Tools
Equipment and Tools A material shaped like a truncated cone with
A burin whose cutting edge, seen of face, is opening bottom, used on the building sites to
concave. Syn. with HEWING CHISEL carry the concrete from its location of
manufacture or arrival to the building site until
BOTTOM its site of implementation. The drop-bottom
Assiette bucket is usually handled with a crane, a
Construction cableway, etc. Syn. with DROP-BOTTOM
The surface which occupies a pavement BUCKET
(roadway) or a railway track including additional
parts (shoulders, ditches, embankment and BOTTOM STEP
cutting slopes). Syn. with LAYING OUT (OF Marche de départ
RAILWAY LINE); ROADBED Construction
The first stair of a staircase. Syn. with
BOTTOM END STARTING STEP
Extrémité inférieure; Pouce
115
BOUCHERIE PROCESS BOWING

Procédé Boucherie Cambrure; Cambre
Building Materials Nomenclature of Materials
A preservation method of the round woods Syn. with CAMBER
freshly cut down and not barked. The method
consist in applying a water-soluble preservative BOWSTRING
under simple hydrostatic pressure by their lower Arc sous-tendu; Bow-string
end, in order to move their sap. Construction; Civil Engineering Structure
1. An arch provided with a continuous part,
BOULDER CLAY called tensional member (or tie beam), joining
Argile à blocaux the springings. See Figure 31
Geology 2. A bridge usually composed of two beams (also
A clay mixed with sand, gravels? and blocks of called bowstrings) with a bottom deck. Each
glacial origin. beam is made of an arch-shaped top boom and a
bottom tensional member (generally incorporated
BOULTON PROCESS in the deck) joined at their ends and united by
Procédé Boulton suspenders (called needles under certain
Building Materials circumstances).
A preliminary treatment for an undried wood (or Top booms of bowstring bridges work such as
partially dried), in a bid to its pressurized arches; but horizontal stresses that these arches
processing, which consists in heating it under would exert on their bearings are absorbed only
vacuum into a tar-oil-based preservative. by the tensional members if they are not
incorporated in the deck, or by the tensional
BOUNDARY LAYER members and the rest of the deck in the contrary
Surface de discontinuité case. Following the chosen transverse
Geology; Materials morphology, tensional members are more or less
The plan separating two layers by intermediary differentiated from the rest of the lower frame of
from a foreign matter or of which the intimate the bridge. The bowstring bridge only exerts
connection is not ensured. vertical actions on these bearings. The bowstring
structure gives the opportunity to build
BOUNDARY MARK structures that do not push on their bearings and
Borne that leave clearer the clearance of the underway
Topography with a thin thickness between the bolster and the
An element of stone, metal, or concrete that way that is supported. See Figures 31 and 31a
delimits a property. Syn. with BOUNDARY
STONE BOWSTRING GIRDER
Poutre bow-string
BOUNDARY STONE Construction
Borne A set constituted by two beams joined with their
Topography ends, made jointly liable by suspenders
Syn. with BOUNDARY MARK (needles), and resting on the abutments through
the channel of two intermediary simple bearings.
BOVIDUCT One of the beams, compressed, is the arch of the
Boviduc bowstring; the other, taut (mostly slightly
Civil Engineering Structure curved), is the tensional member of the
An underpass generally built under a bowstring.
thoroughfare (motorway, railway) allowing cattle
to go from one side to the other without mishap
(it would be especially the situation of pasture
lands cut in two parcels by a motorway crossing
it).
116
BOX ABUTMENT receiving, in immersed site, the base of the

Culée boîte construction;
Construction floating bottomless caisson or open caisson
A box-shaped construction applying on the (le caisson sans fond), which in excavations in
subgrade the same load as the adjacent an aquatic site, is made up of a wooden or metal
embankment. impervious enclosure, prepared in advance, that
one comes to fail on the anticipated site;
BOX BEAM pneumatic caisson or compressed-air caisson
Poutre à caisson (le caisson à air comprimé), used for foundations
Construction in aquatic site and whose principle is the
Syn. with BOX GIRDER; DOUBLE-WEBBED following: a metal box caisson or working
BEAM; HOLLOW-WEB GIRDER chamber open at the bottom was ran onto on the
bed of the river. The water was driven out of the
BOX CAISSON box caisson by the compressed air. The box
Caisson caisson is gone down up to the sought-after
Foundation terrain by extraction of the excavated materials.
A metal or reinforced concrete structure The masonry rises as and when and one ends by
comprising one or several internal cells, used to filling in the caisson itself;
create foundations in little coherent or immersed waterproofing caisson (le caisson étanche),
grounds. which is used to create foundations in an aquatic
The box caisson is notably used to found site; it is made up of a wooden frame-forming an
engineering works underwater; it is made up of a enclosure, covered with butt-jointed boards
rigid cylinder or parallelepiped, formerly of protected by a tight coating (clay, etc.). The base
wood, but currently of steel or reinforced is protected by enrockments. See Figure 32a
concrete, that one fails on its final site or that one Syn. with AMERICAN CAISSON; STRANDED
sinks vertically by mechanical cutting in an CAISSON
aquiferous or little coherent terrain. The caisson
going down by its peculiar weight, increased, if BOX CULVERT
necessary, of a ballasting. Dalot
The box caisson can be opened on its top part Civil Engineering Structure
(slight infiltrations of water) or closed (aquatic Aqueduct of a rectangular cross section
site). In the latter case, the air is compressed in constituted by two vertical dwarf walls or
the working chamber. The access to the working sidewalls on which rest a slab or a serie of slabs
chamber takes by the passage in a chimney then placed side by side. It can be simple or double.
in an air lock. Former box culverts are often recovered by small
The caisson can constitute the foundation after slabs (or slabs) of stone. Syn. with WATER
filling in of concrete but it is most often built on CHANNEL; WATER DUCT; SCUPPER. See
the bank, then floated and failed directly on the Figure 33
bottom or into an artificial berth.
There are several types of box caisson: BOX GIRDER
cylinder open box (le caisson à alvéoles en Poutre à caisson
béton armé), made up of a structure comprising Construction
several circular wells. The extraction of A tubular element, formed by four walls, of an
excavated materials inside each cell is achieved assembly of webs and top slabs (webs and top
with the grab. When the box caisson has arrived and bottom flanges), walls being plane and
at its definitive position, cells are filled in with joined at the angles.
concrete and a connection footing of reinforced Two models essentially are available:
concrete is poured on the entire box caisson; See monocaisson beam (la poutre monocaisson ou
Figure 32 à caisson simple);
floating caisson with bottom (le caisson avec multicellular box girder (la poutre à caisson
fond), made up of a tight wooden or metal multicellulaire).
structure, resting on piles and intended for
117
Syn. with BOX BEAM; DOUBLE-WEBBED BRACE

BEAM; HOLLOW-WEB GIRDER Lien; Bracon; Ancrer; Croisillon
Carpentry; Civil Engineering Structure; Metal
BOX GIRDER DECK Construction
Tablier à poutres caissons 1. A small corner brace obliquely connecting the
Construction king post and the ridge with intent to relieve the
A structure constituted by a deck strengthened at strain on the latter. Syn. with TIE
its intrados by one or several boxes. Three 2. Syn. with RAKER; STAY.
models are essentially available: 3. To carry out an anchorage. Syn. with
box girder deck of prestressed concrete (le ANCHOR; STAY; TIE
tablier à poutre caisson en béton précontraint); 4. Syn. with CROSS-PIN; SPIDER
metal box-girder deck (orthotropic plate) (le
tablier à poutre caisson en métal (dalle BRACING
orthotrope)); Entretoisement; Ancrage
deck with box-girder of a mixed framework Construction; Construction of R.C. and P.C.
(top concrete slab of reinforced concrete) [le 1. The consolidation, strengthening,
tablier à poutre caisson en ossature mixte rigidification, with distance pieces.
(hourdis supérieur en béton armé)]. See Figures 2. All connection elements (distance pieces,
34 to 34d cross braces) connecting the main elements of a
structure.
BOX OUT 3. Syn. with ANCHORAGE
Réservation
Construction of R.C. and P.C. BRACING
Syn. with BLOCKOUT; DUCT FORMER Cadrage; Barre; Raidisseur; Haubanage
Temporary Constructions; Metal Construction;
BRACE Work
Moise; Moiser; Etrésillon; Bretelle; 1. Syn. with TIMBER SET
Etrésillonner 2. Syn. with TRUSS MEMBER; WEB
Temporary Constructions MEMBER
1. In a sheeting of excavation in trench, timber 3. Syn. with STIFFENER
piece forming connection between the trench 4. Syn. with GUYING; STAYING
braces or stays to stiffen them and to keep up
their spacing. Syn. with STRING PIECE BRACING HANGER
2. To erect braces in a sheeting, well, or Suspente auxiliaire
scaffolding. Construction
3. Syn. with (CROSS) SHORE; STRUT. The cross bracing formed by cables arranged
4. To keep up with braces; to put in place braces. crosswise between the suspenders whose the
Syn. with SHORE (ACROSS); STRUT purpose is to stiffen the cables of some
suspension bridges. See Figure 122 under
BRACE SUSPENDER.
Contre-fiche; Ente
Construction BRACKET
1. The diagonal of a truss girder (very little Potence; Equerre; Gousset
common speaking about of a bridge beam). Carpentry; Building Materials; Metal
2. A slanted element intended for transmitting Construction
the stresses from a piece or part of a piece often 1. An assembly of framework intended for
in cantilever to a piece of greater importance. relieving a beam of a great span and which is
3. A strut overhanging the main plane of a wall. made up of a post on that are obliquely joined the
Syn. with STRUT braces connected with a corbel course. Syn. with
4. To erect wind-braces. POST BRACKET
5. Syn. with CORNER BRACE; PROP; STAY; 2. Syn. with SQUARE
STRUT
118
3. Syn. with ANGLE TIE; CORNER PLATE; 2. The secondary branch of a drainage system
GUSSET PLATE being connected to the main drain. The branch
constitutes one of the ramifications of a
BRACKET herringbone drainage.
Fourchette
Metrology BRANCH OF ARCHSTONE
Defined limits between which lies a chemical, Branche de voussoir
physical, mathematical measurement (example: Construction
the extreme values of the proportions of the The fork of an archstone of two adjacent vaults.
different concrete ingredients; lower and higher
values of the breaking stresses of a determined BRANCH OF A RIVER
material; etc.). Défluent
Hydrology
BRACKET The new branch of a waterway, resulting from
Mouchoir; Bielle; Console; Corbeau; Collier the division of the main course.
d’attache
Construction BRANCHING CRACK
1. A small flat fixed on three or four sides. In Fissure ramifiée
certain works with an orthotropic slab, a bracket Defects (Welding)
is brought back between the longitudinal ribs, the All cracks affecting a weld bead or its immediate
sheet metal of decking and the top boom of the surroundings, connected between them, and
transverse girders when these two last are appearing in the form of branching.
distinct.
2. A slender piece articulated at its two ends, BRASHNESS
likely to transmit normal forces, so compression Fragilité
that tension (example: rod of bearing machine, Strength of Materials
rod of drawbridge). Syn. with BRITTLENESS; FRAGILITY;
3. In a drawbridge, element connecting the flight FRAILTY; SHORTNESS
with the cantilever voussoir.
4. An organ overhanging a wall, intended for BRASS
carrying a load. See Figure 35 Laiton
5. Syn. with BOLSTER; CORBEL Metallurgy
6. Syn. with CABLE COLLAR An alloy of copper and zinc.
BRAD PUNCH BRASS PLATING

Chasse-pointe Laitonnage
Equipment and Tools Metallurgy
Syn. with NAIL PUNCH; NAIL SET; SHARP A deposit by electrolysis of a thin coat of brass
POINTED BIT on a metal.
BRAIN BRAZILIAN TEST

Cerveau Essai brésilien; Essai par fendage
Construction Test of Materials (Construction of R.C. and P.C.)
The region of the vault of a work adjoining the A concrete test, also called splitting test, that is
key. made by diametral compression on a cylinder
test. Syn. with POINT-LOAD STRENGTH
BRANCH TEST; SPLITTING TEST
Piquer; Rameau
Work; Sanitary Engineering and Drainage BREACH
1. To connect a pipe or a conduit to another pipe Brèche
or conduit. Civil Engineering Structure.
Syn. with BREAK; GAP
119
BREAK indentured break (la cassure dentelée), which

Brèche is a rocky break that presents many small teeth
Civil Engineering Structure spaced regularly;
1. An artificial or natural opening in a wall. scaly break (la cassure écailleuse), which
2. An opening or breakage made by fragments of presents smaller scales than in the comminuted
matter removed. break, but always translucent or clearer than the
Syn. with BREACH; GAP bottom of the rock (often found with splinters in
the same stone);
BREAK eczemateous break (la cassure eczémateuse),
Brisure; Décrochement; Se fracturer which presents small round grains more or less
Construction; Defects irregular and to half drowned and forming that
1. The change of direction concerning a bar in and there small concentrations of all forms;
any system of construction. Syn. with comminuted break (la cassure esquilleuse),
CHANGING DIRECTION which presents kinds of splinters in set back
2. The break of level of a course made by uneven them on others and that detach with more or less
ground, a join of construction or a decorative facility such as small slivers of wood or bone;
part. fanned break (la cassure éventaillée), whose
3. Damage characterized by a severe break resembles a fan such as in Comblanchian
discontinuity of an edge, a surface, etc. stone, for instance;
4. Syn. with FRACTURE foliated break (la cassure feuilletée), a
schistose break in which the fragments are very
BREAK thin; it is a real fissile break, but of more
Cassure consequent dimensions;
Petrography
glandular break (la cassure glandulaire),
A break of rock or stone that can affect various
which presents the harshnesses resembling an
facies following the nature of the rock.
acorn;
For building stones we can categorize as follows:
globular break (la cassure globuleuse), which
angular break (la cassure anguleuse), which
presents small regular globules, often isolated
shows sharp angles due to the presence of small
and almost drowned in the mass, a lot less large
internal strands;
than the noduly break where, on the other hand,
clayed break (la cassure argiloïde), they are spherical only accidentally;
resembling fine clay;
step break (la cassure en gradins), which
vaulted break (la cassure arrondie), which without being truly schistose, presents many
resembles at plane break but is vaulted and,
false beds that accuse by breaking the rock and
sometimes shell-bulged; by forming degrees such as steps of a staircase;
convex break (la cassure bombée en coquille), granulous break (la cassure granuleuse),
a round break having the form of a valve of false which presents irregular grains larger than in the
clam; gritty break and that, well-embedded, do not
battered break (la cassure bossuée), which grate;
presents small softened harshness, without well granular break (la cassure grenue), which
net angles; presents very distinct grains, sensitive to the
waxy break (la cassure cireuse), which touch, thin or thin enough;
resembles the break of bees wax; gritty break (la cassure gréseuse), identical to
conchoidal break (la cassure conchoïdale), the granular break, but giving the sensation of a
whichpresents curved surfaces resembling the grater;
outside forms of shells; lamellar break (la cassure lamellaire), which
conoid break (la cassure conoïde), which presents a break in small folias;
presents a break in small cone whose summit is fissile break (la cassure lamelleuse), which
directed to the inside; it is the case of flints, for presents a break in folias of a certain thickness
instance; such as the slate, for instance;
crystalline break (la cassure cristalline),
which presents a series of shining grains;
120
laminar break (la cassure laminaire), an angular, and tectiform, but under a small
expression used for crystallizations that one there modulates and with abrupt changes;
meets if the crystals cleave under the shock of rugged (or rough) break (la cassure
the hammer on a relatively large surface and in rugueuse), which presents ruggednesss in ridge
number as on mica, for instance; in all directions and in irregular lines;
woody break (la cassure ligneuse), which downfall form break (la cassure ruiniforme),
resembles wooden grains; which is a very rare facies and that appears in the
smooth break (la cassure lisse), which form of ruins, diversion of the rocky break,
presents an almost smooth and polished surface, showing the courses, moldings in springing,
not shining such as Souppes’s stone, for instance; fragments of capital; found most often in the
glazed break (la cassure lustrée), which conchiferous stones;
presents the sparkle, polishe, and beautiful saccharoidal break (la cassure saccharoïde),
shining such as Normandy’s sandstone, for which resembles breakage of lump sugar;
instance; schistose break (la cassure schisteuse), where
mamillated break (la cassure mamelonnée), we can distinguish a well net stratification where
which resembles the hilly break, but with small one observes stepped fragments of parallel and
summits instead of round roofs; regular thicknesses;
hilly break (la cassure montueuse), a type of sparry break (la cassure spathique), whose
tectiform break, but with round and irregular break shows grains with plane geometrical faces
summits; of spath;
noduly break (la cassure noduleuse), which stalactiform break (la cassure stalactiforme),
presents grains more or less round, larger than in said of sutures and splits carpeted by tiny
the granulous break, well-embedded, but with a stalactites;
large base and without many protrusions; striated break (la cassure striée), which
undulating break (la cassure onduleuse), presents running lengthways and parallel small
which is identical to the hilly break, under a furrows that one meets notably in basalts;
small nodule; tabular break (la cassure tabulaire), a
plane break ( la cassure plane), which schistose break in which meet real tablets
constitutes a geometrical plan regular enough projecting alternating with thin folias;
such as, for instance, the Raon-1'Étape trap; tectiform break (la cassure tectiforme), a roof-
flat (or plane) break (la cassure plate), which shaped break, such as the Château-Landon stone;
is identical to the plane break but contains plain break (la cassure unie), which is dull
several successive planes that are not aligned in a and not granular;
general arrangement drawing and tend to form a hilly (or undulating) break (la cassure
round surface; vallonnée), which resembles the hilly break but
pleated break (la cassure plissée), which one that presents in more of thalweg lines having a
meets (rarely) practically only in lava; precise direction;
uneven break (la cassure raboteuse), which vermiculated break (la cassure vermiculée),
presents small irregular harshnesses, hard and which presents a surface pierced by vermicules.
sensitive to the touch; Syn. with CRACK
gullyed break (la cassure ravinée), which is
always hilly, but with furrows at the bottom of BREAK
the roundnesses; Jarret
resinous break (la cassure résineuse), which, Defects
as its name indicates, has the aspect of resin; A defect affecting the curve-shaped part of a
wrinkled break (la cassure ridée), which is construction that brings about an irregularity in
identical to the undulating break but under a the outline.
smaller modulus (the conchoid break is often
wrinkled); BREAK JOINT
rocky (or stony) break (la cassure Joint de rupture
rocailleuse), which is at once wrinkled, hilly, Construction
Syn. with MOVEMENT JOINT
121
BREAKAWAY FORM (underform, etc.) BREAKING

Couche de désolidarisation Amortissement; Jarreté; Fracture
Construction Work and Materials; Architecture; Defects
The intermediate layer arranged between the 1. The dissipation of energy of a vibratory
work and the support and intended to dissociate system This energy is either lost by transmission
the bed, the screed, or the slab (from transition) beyond the system through certain mechanisms
from the support, so as to minimize the effects of of radiation or dissipated by friction inside the
differential dimensional variations and system. Syn. with DISPERSION
deformations. Syn. with DAMPCOURSE 2. Syn. with AMORTIZEMENT
3. The defect of a stone or brick facing which
BREAKAWAY SEDIMENTARY COVER brings about sinuosities (outline presenting an
Couverture alternation of convexity and concavity).
Tectonics 4. Syn. with FRACTURE
One of the two types of tectonics that
characterizes a sedimentary cover loosened at the BREAKING AWAY
base and thus capable of autonomous fold. Abattage en carrière
Building Materials and Earthwork
BREAKDOWN Syn. with QUARRYING
Claquage
Work BREAKING CURVE
An incident which can occur at the time of Courbe de rupture
artificial cementing work. Geotechnics
Sudden bending of dips curve at the moment
BREAKER when the ground yields during a ground test with
Tombeur table. This curve is diagrammatic on the graphic
Work representation of the sinkings that are noted as
A semiskilled worker specializing in the they progressed with the loading of the table. At
demolition of concrete or masonry. Syn. with the beginning of the test, the sinkings are
DEMOLISHER; DEMOLITION WORKER appreciably proportional to the loads; then, at a
certain moment, the ground yields, the curve
BREAKING curves downward: this point is called the failure
Rupture; Recoupement point.
Strength of Materials; Civil Engineering
Structure; Masonry BREAKING DOWN
1. The moment in which a homogeneous part Débit
splits up into several elements due to stresses. Geomorphology
The rupture corresponds to the absolute limit of A way a rock is fragmented due to climatic
resistance. Syn. with FAILURE; RUPTURE conditions.
2. An anomaly of the structure which can lead to
the ruin of a work, it can initially results from BREAKING LOAD
misalignments followed by appearances of Force de rupture
cracks, fractures, dislocations and even partial or Test of Materials
total collapses when the disorder evolves. The maximal strength that can bear a test
Breaking is characterized, at least locally, by the specimen in a tensile test behaved up to the
irreversible separation of a continuous medium breaking. It is expressed in newtons or in its
in two parts, on both sides from a geometrical multiples and submultiples.
surface S. In metal we can distinguish the brittle
fractures (no appreciable plastic deformations BREAKING MECHANICS
during the phase of propagation) and ductile Mécanique de la rupture
ruptures (with important plastic deformations of Strength of Materials
the structure). See Figure 36 The part of the science of materials mainly
3. The cut of a rendering in order to limit an relating to problems posed by the behavior metal
existing rendering which is contiguous to it.
122
known as fragile, such as structural steels. It BREAKING STRAIN

aims quantifying the risk of sudden rupture Tension de rupture
incurred in steel construction, by calculating a Strength of Materials
critical defect dimension likely to start the Syn. with BREAKING STRESS
rupture under a certain stress, or critical stress
likely to give rise to a rupture in front of a defect BREAKING STRESS
of one size. Tension de rupture
Strength of Materials
BREAKING OF SEAL OF THE BEARING The load likely to determine the breaking of an
DEVICE elementary fiber. The coefficient of breaking
Descellement de dispositif d’appui stress is determined on a test specimen. Syn. with
Defects (Masonry) BREAKING STRAIN
The failure of the sealing of the bearing piece
interdependent of the masonry under the effect of BREAKING SYSTEM
the banging of the bearing system. Dispositif de rupture
Metal Construction
BREAKING OPEN In a metal bridge, box fitted in the structure of
Coup de sabre the work in which to place explosives (generally
Defects - Damage (Masonry) between two bearings), and that is intended in
1. A defect in a brickwork or stonework case of need, to destroy a span of the work.
characterized by a fracture produced when
several pointings superpose or do not superpose BREAKING TEST BY COMPRESSION
sufficiently. This damage can occur in the facing Essai de rupture par compression
as well as in the thickness of the masonry itself. Tests of Materials (Hydraulic Binders)
2. A wide skew crack occurring in masonry. A test that allows to know the compressive
strength of hydraulic binders and grouts and that
BREAKING POINT consists in trying in compression the two half-
Point de rupture cylinder tests resulting from the breaking
Geotechnics bending test.
In the soil surveys with the table and on the
graph of dip reading, point from which the curve BREAKING-DOWN DISK
abruptly curves downward. Disque de rupture
Equipment and Tools
BREAKING ROCK In hydraulics-pneumatics, equipment for limiting
Roche avec joints the pressure of a fluid at a predetermined value
Earthwork and functioning by the tearing of a standardized
Speaking about tunnel heading with explosives element under the action of the excess of
and following shooting, rock which contains pressure.
joints and faults. Its blocks and joints are so
tightened and mixed up that the vertical walls do BREAKING-DOWN FACIES
not require any side supporting; on the other Faciès de rupture
hand, spalling can still occur. Metallography
All morphological characteristics of a crushed
BREAKING or SLIP SURFACE specimen that have to do with its metal
Surface de rupture ou de glissement properties and the conditions of its stress.
Geomorphology
In a landslide, surface separating the slipped BREAKNESS
mass from the ground in place. Brisance
Explosives
A more or less important ability of an explosive
to break resistant materials.
123
BREAKOFF TESTER™ BREASTING OF THE FACE

Break-off Bouclier
Assaying Equipment Temporary Construction
A monitoring portable plan of the concrete Syn. with SHIELD
compressive strength on the site.
For recently poured concrete, the measuring BREASTSUMMER
implies that a small plastic cylinder has been set Poitrail
at the surface of the structure. This small Temporary Construction
cylinder is filled with concrete during filling the Syn. with BRESSUMER
formworks and it can be easily removed. A core
whose basis is always locked to the structure is BRECCIA
thus provided. This core can be broken by Brèche
applying a side pressure at its top with a Geology
hydraulic device. This force applied laterally A sedimentary rock of detrital origin, formed by
creates a tensile/bending stress. The breaking large irregular stone fragments embedded in a
strength is recorded with a manometer and the gritty or chalky cement.
strength of the concrete can be read straight on
site with a curve. This equipment is notably BRECCIA ACCUMULATION
useful to determine when releasing formworks or Brèche
to monitor the performance of some former Geomorphology
concrete. A crumbled or angular stone heap.
BREAK-PRESSURE TANK BREEZE BLOCK

Caisse dissipatrice d’énergie Aggloméré
Hydrology Building Materials
A parallelepiped work located at the base of a Syn. with ARTIFICIAL STONE;
water slope down of a filling or a slope, at the BLOCKWORK; BUILDING BLOCK;
bottom whose are laid enrockments. The aim of CONGLOMERATE BLOCKWORK;
this work is to brake the speed of waters on their CONSTRUCTION BLOCK; PERPEND
arrival at the base of the slope or embankment.
BRESSUMER
BREAKWATER Poitrail
Digue fluviale Temporary Constructions
Hydraulic Work A metal beam often made up of two or more
A barrage that guides water in order to protect stayed sections and used to support or relieve a
the banks of a river from the action of water. part of a construction during the execution of
Syn. with EMBANKMENT; FLOOD BANK underpinning work. Syn with
BREASTSUMMER
BREAST
Front d’abattage BRESSUMER OF RAILS or OF JOISTS
Earthwork Poitrail en rails ou en poutrelles
The vertical face of a trench into which is Temporary Construction
performed a cutting building pit. Syn. with A temporary railway bridge on which the track is
WORKING; WORKING FACE supported under the sleepers by a variable
number of rails or universal beams interlocked
BREAST WALL by ties or distance pieces and wooden shims. The
Parapet sleepers are also interlocked with the bressumer
Construction to avoid the movement of the track on the
Syn. with PARAPET; RAILING horizontal, transverse and vertical plan. This
device is mostly used to cross breaches of slight
opening or under points and crossing switch
124
gear; it rests on temporary bearings. Syn. with different bonding from the rest of the masonry.
RAILS (or UNIVERSAL BEAM) Syn. with CORDON
BRESSUMER. See Figure 37
BRICK FACING
BRICK Parement de briques
Brique; Briqueter Construction
Building Materials; Masonry A pointed and left visibly surface of brickwork,
1. A manufactured building material in the shape well planes, showing horizontal and vertical
of a right-angled parallelepiped with currently pointings perfectly even and symmetrical.
standardized dimensions.
It is a clay-based material. Bricks are BRICK LINING
manufactured, either by straight packing of earth Maçonnage
excavated_by hand or power press, or by mixing Masonry
and stretching with a drawing plate. After drying Syn. with BRICKLAYING
in tunnel furnaces, the product piled in recrossed
beds is fired at a more or less high temperature. BRICK PARTITION
The bricks obtained are porous or not according Galandage
to whether they were fired at a relatively Masonry
moderated temperature or began vitrify. Any masonry in which bricks are laid edgewise
The different types of bricks are: the ones beside the others. Syn. with BRICK-
squint brick (la brique d’argile) is ON-EDGE WALL
manufactured with mixed clay, hand-cast or cast
BRICK PAVING
in a machine and fired in a brick kiln;
Echelle de briques
slag brick (la brique de laitier) is made up of Construction
fat lime (or cement) and lightly-moistened A pavement of flat or edgewise laid mortared
granulated slag processed together through a bricks.
grinding mixer. The product is afterward molded
by a press where it undergoes a compression BRICK SLIP
from 2.5 to 3 MPa. This brick is gray-white and Briquette
has a quite_coarse grain to distinguish it from Building Materials
common brick; A small brick whose sizes are not standardized.
silica-calcareous brick or calcium-silicate
brick or sand-lime brick (la brique silico- BRICK or STONE WALLING
calcaire) is manufactured in a mixer in which Muraillement
siliceous sand is mixed with hydrated fat lime; Construction
the mixing is then compressed in a press and A masonry intended to support or cover a wall.
processed through an autoclave. (Generally, the stone (or brick) walling is only a
2. To erect a structure with bricks. superficial protection of a slope intended to
protect it from bad weather; this covering mostly
BRICK AXE consists of a quarry stone mask, pointed or not.)
Martelet
Equipment and Tools BRICK TROWEL
A bricklayer’s hammer provided with a squared Briqueteuse
head at one end, widened or not, and with a Equipment and Tools
cutting edge at the other. Syn. with A tool used by masons for picking up and
BRICKLAYER’S HAMMER. See Figure 38 spreading mortar. Its blade is triangular and flat,
and its handle is offset.
BRICK COPING
Cordon de briques BRICK UP
Construction Maçonner une construction
A course of bricks standing out on the main Masonry
plane of a wall or to the same main plane but of a Syn. with WALL UP
125
BRICKBAT BRICKWORK ARCH

Briqueton; Demi-brique Voûte en briques
Building Materials Construction
Syn. with BAT A construction carried out by successive courses
and whose most commonly used bondings are
BRICKFIELD those by sole roll, by multiple rolls, by
Briqueterie archstones. (The construction of brickwork
Building Materials vaults was used to achieve vaults of small and
A plant where bricks are manufactured. Syn. medium chord).
with BRICKYARD
BRICKYARD
BRICKLAYER Briqueterie
Briqueteur; Maçon Building Materials
Masonry Syn. with BRICKFIELD
A worker specializing in erecting brickworks.
Syn. with BLOCKLAYER; MASON; STONE BRIDGE
MASON; WALLING MASON; WALLER Pont
Civil Engineering Structure
BRICKLAYER’S HAMMER A crossing work built over a communication
Martelet; Pointerolle route (road, railway, river) or a natural obstacle
Equipment and Tools (watercourse, sound, valley, etc.) and allowing
1. Syn. with BRICK AXE people, vehicles, animals, etc., to go easily from
2. A relatively light hammer endowed with a a point to another.
squared head and a point, used by stonecutters. It According to the nature of the way carried, the
is mostly used for splitting stone blocks. (When bridge is called road bridge, railway bridge, or
it is not equipped with a handle, the bricklayer’s canal bridge. When the work gets over a breach
hammer is used to refine what is done with the at a great height and is made up of many spans, it
axhammer.) is called a viaduct. When the work is only used
by pedestrians (in the case of an overpass), it is
BRICKLAYING called a footbridge. There are two main
Briquetage; Maçonnage categories of bridges: definitive bridges and
Masonry temporary bridges.
1. Any masonry of bricks. Syn. with Main types of bridges:
BRICKWORK wooden bridge (le pont en bois), though much
2. Syn. with BRICK LINING; BUILDING; used in the past, almost does not exist anymore
MASON’S WORK today, apart from some Third World countries.
Their morphology was almost identical to that of
BRICK-ON-EDGE WALL the old metal bridges with straight beams or
Galandage arches. They are sometimes built for temporary
Masonry use; See Figure 39
Syn. with BRICK PARTITION cast iron bridge (le pont en fonte), a fastly
disappearing work nowadays which was usually
BRICKWORK made up of two lateral cast iron beams stayed
Briquetage with the help of tubes crossed by a dowel screw.
Masonry It was used to cross slightly opened breaches as a
1. Syn. with BRICKLAYING road bridge as well as a railway bridge; See
2. Facing in imitation brickwork. Syn. with Figure 39a
IMITATION BRICKWORK stone or brick masonry bridge (le pont en
maçonnerie de pierres ou en briques), whose
morphology in vault or arch induces in the stones
(or bricks), or in their pointings, compressions
enabling them to resist. There are still many
126
operational, particularly, in railroads, but due to Bridge bents are of wood, metal, or reinforced
their high cost no more are being built. The work concrete. See Figure 40
is made up of one or more arches or vaults
resting on sidewalls, abutments, and/or piers or BRIDGE CENTER LINE
piles; See Figure 39b; 39c and 39d Axe d’un pont
metal bridge (le pont métallique), formerly Construction
built of iron or cast iron and, for about one The fictitious line that corresponds to the axis of
century, of steel. (Some recent works were made the way supported by the work. When this axis
of aluminum alloy). In this large family of metal made with that of the crossed way an angle
bridges, we can distinguish: bridges with beams, different from 90°, one has an oblique or skew
bridges with caissons, great portal bridges, arch bridge. Conversely there is a straight bridge.
bridges of steel, suspension bridges, cable-stayed
bridges, movable bridges; BRIDGE COVERING
reinforced concrete bridge (le pont en béton Platelage
armé), which appeared at the end of the Construction
nineteenth century and was built by association A cover element of small thickness of a roadway
of concrete and steel bars. We can distinguish: bridge that receives the service loads
girder bridges with continuous spans (statically perpendicularly from its plane and transmits
indeterminate) or independent (isostatic) spans, them to the girderage. The bridge covering
with cantilever (bowstring), slab bridges, arch locution is used to express an idea of lightness
bridges; and sometimes of discontinuity. Syn. with
prestressed concrete bridge (le pont en béton DECKING
précontraint), which appeared in the middle of
the twenthieth century and is made of an BRIDGE CRANE
Pont-grue
association of taut cables or wires and concrete.
We can distinguish: girder bridges, arch bridges, Civil Engineering Structure
with portal, segments, slabs, cable-stayed; Syn. with GANTRY CRANE
steel and concrete composite bridge (le pont BRIDGE DECK
mixte acier-béton), formed by a metal frame Tablier
supporting a reinforced concrete slab. Construction
Syn. with BRIDGE PLATFORM; DECK;
BRIDGE AQUEDUCT PLATFORM
Pont-aqueduc
Civil Engineering Structure BRIDGE EQUIPMENT
A bridge which gets over a natural or artificial Equipement de pont
obstacle and which is intended for supplying in Construction
water (of feeding or irrigation) a city or an A device for ensuring the life duration of a work
agricultural region. Syn. with AQUEDUCT and the security of the users (guard rail, roadway
joint, etc.).
BRIDGE BEARING
Appui de pont BRIDGE LAUNCHING
Construction Lancement d’un pont
Syn. with BRIDGE SUPPORT Handling
The putting into place by launching of the whole
BRIDGE BENT or part of a bridge deck.
Palée
Construction BRIDGE LAYOUT IN PLANE
The intermediate support of a deck constituted Disposition en plan
by posts generally joined on the head by a pier Civil Engineering Structure
cap and/or cross member. Dimensions of these The plane orientation of the bridge center line
posts are relatively weak (generally 60 x 80 cm). compared with the axis of the obstacle gotten
over. Following this orientation, bridges are
127
classified as straight bridges, skew bridges, and reinforced concrete deck with a ribbed slab or
curve bridges. with multiple girders (le tablier en B.A. à hourdis
nervuré ou à poutres multiples), formed by
BRIDGE PIER CAP reinforced concrete slab reinforced at its intrados
Sommier by several running lengthways beams
Construction interdependent of the concrete slab. We can
In the encased girder decks, of reinforced distinguish the decks with straight beams and
concrete, etc., transverse beam made of decks with heel beams, See Figures 41b; 41d
reinforced concrete or elements of ashlar set on and 41e
the top of an abutment, on which pick up deck with reinforced or prestressed concrete
bearings of the deck. Bridge pier caps ensure the caisson (le tablier à caisson en B.A. ou en B.P.),
transmission and distribution of the loads of the made up by a top concrete slab connected to a
deck to the foundations through the channel of bottom concrete slab by straight or inclined
abutments. Syn. with PIER CAP; BRIDGE CAP webs, also of concrete; See Figures 41f to 41j
metal floorings supporting a slab of
BRIDGE PLATFORM reinforced concrete (les tabliers métalliques
Tablier supportant une dalle en B.A.), and among them
Construction See Figures 41k to 41m
The part of a bridge formed by an appreciably deck with beams under roadway (le tablier à
horizontal (or with a slight slope) structure which poutres sous chaussée), which comprises two or
endures traffic (road, railway, and sometimes more stayed metal universal beams. Distance
river). The deck rests on the abutments and/or pieces are connected between them by jack
piers through the channel of pier caps of ashlar, arches or by a concrete slab resting on an
granite, or reinforced concrete, supporting fixed embossed sheet metal, or also by a reinforced
or movable bridge-support apparatus, elastomer concrete slab,
or steel bearing plates. the deck with beams by under (railway bridge)
A deck is cast solid or basically constituted by [le tablier à poutres par dessous (Pra)], mixed
beams, (central) girders, and distance pieces. It structure iron-concrete with participating slab or
appears: not, made up of:
assembled with rivets, high-strength friction a metal framework of two or more beams (with
grip bolts, or by welding in the case of bridges solid web or lattice) generally stayed and braced,
with steel decks; a slab of reinforced concrete covering the metal
as the result of a pouring and forming a set, in frame,
the case of bridges made of reinforced concrete; deck with lateral beams with reduced space [le
or tablier à poutres latérales avec écartement réduit
assembled by special steel wire ropes, taut (P.Ra)], mixed structure iron-concrete with a
inside cable ducts in the case of prestressed nonparticipating slab. There are two primary
concrete bridges. types. (1) constituted by a metal framework
Decks are differentiated according to their formed by two lateral beams connected by
structure; we can distinguish: transverse girders (universal beams mostly) more
reinforced and prestressed concrete decks or less brought closer according to whether they
(les tabliers en B.A. et les tabliers en B.P.) and are entirely encased or whether they support the
among them: reinforced concrete slab, and a reinforced
reinforced concrete deck with solid slab (le concrete slab, encasing or covering the
tablier en B.A. à dalle pleine), structure with transverse girders. (2) essentially constituted by a
solid reinforced concrete slab (without metal framework in the shape of a small trough
openings), See Figure 41 with inclined webs, stiffened transversely by
hollow or elegy reinforced concrete slab (le stiffeners used as transverse girders. The interior
tablier à dalle B.A., élégie ou évidée), structure of this small trough is protected from oxidation
with reinforced concrete slab including elegies. by a concrete shaft lining,
This type of slab is also frequent in the deck with lateral beams with space and lower
prestressed concrete bridges, See Figure 41a track [le tablier à poutres latérales avec
128
écartement normal et voie inférieure (P.Ra)], by metal bearing plates (poses of direct laying).
mixed structure iron-concrete with Beams are either universal beams or constituted
nonparticipating slab from which two primary by sheet metal, universals or sections assembled
types essentially are available: first consists of a by welding or riveting. The two internal beams
metal framework constituted by two lateral are strongly braced to resist horizontal stresses,
beams, lower transverse girders, and frequently metal deck with jack arches (le tablier
of (central) girders. Lateral beams can have solid métallique à voûtains), bridge with beams whose
webs or lattice, constant height or camelback; the space between distance pieces is filled by facing
slab of reinforced concrete caps the transverse arches made of brickwork (or concrete) resting
girders and possibly the (central) girders when on the bottom flange of the distance pieces. A
the latter exist. The second is constituted by a running lengthways tie rod connects the distance
metal framework made up of two lateral beams pieces sometimes in order to better stiffen them
with solid web provided with transverse girders and perfect their strength to the thorough facing
coated with a reinforced concrete slab, arches,
compound deck for road bridge (le tablier metal deck with sheet metals (le tablier
mixte pour pont-route), practice of construction métallique à tôle), bridge with beams from which
in which only is used the type of deck with empty space between the various elements is
beams by under with a top slab of reinforced filled using folded, embossed, bent, or curved
concrete participating to the resistance; plane sheet metal, generally covered by a
metal floorings or decks (les tabliers concrete filling;
métalliques) and among them: encased girders deck (le tablier à poutrelles
grill-shaped metal floor (railway bridge only) enrobées), constituted by metal universal beams
[le tablier métallique en forme de grille (Pra encased in concrete. An upper bar setting (set
uniquement)], whose load-bearing elements are above the universal beams) and low (coming
connected by a system of orthogonal beams through the web of the universal beams in their
forming a kind of grid, some of whose elements low part) ensure the connection between concrete
support the rail directly, or through the channel and universal beams and distribute loads on
of sleepers or running lengthways sleepers. It is them. Bracing the sections is done by round irons
the mainline type of the works with high beams, passing from places through the web of these
transverse girders, and (central) girders (case of sections in its high part and keeping the spacing
the majority of the metal bridges with beams), of these. In the former decks the universal beams
metal deck with lateral beams (Railway were either fully encased or in contact with the
bridge) [Le tablier métallique à poutres latérales concrete at the face level of their bottom flange.
(P.Ra)], basically constituted by two beams Currently, the bottom flange of the universal
made interdependent by transverse girders. The beams is apparent: the concrete of encasing is
beams can be with solid web or lattice and the poured on a formwork constituted by asbestos
decks to installation with direct track laying or cement plates setting on the top of bottom flange
on ballast, (See Figure 41o) of the universal beams;
metal deck with beam under rail (le tablier encased rails deck (le tablier à rails enrobés),
métallique à poutre sous rail), for which the formed by rails encased in concrete and carried
framework consists of a main beam under each out according to the same principle as the
stretch of rail, beams connected by distance encased girders deck. The rails are either fully
pieces. The running lengthways sleepers or encased or in contact with the concrete on the
sleepers rest on the top flange of the beams, level of the underside flanges of the rails. (These
metal deck with twin girders (railway bridge) decks were used for very weak spans and are not
[le tablier métallique à poutres jumelles (PRa)], currently built, although many remain
called formerly standard with small troughs, operational.)
which is formed by metal beams with solid web Syn. with BRIDGE DECK; DECK;
on either side of each rail, made interdependent PLATFORM
two by two by short distance pieces that supports
the rails by the agency:
by transverse small blocks, or
129
BRIDGE SPAN BRIDGE UNDER RAILS

Portée; Ouverture Pont sous rails
Construction Civil Engineering Structure
1. Syn. with BEARING DISTANCE; SPAN; A bridge that allows at the tracks of two different
SPAN WIDTH lines to cross in different plans.
2. Syn. with CLEAR SPAN; OPENING
BRIDGE-SUPPORT APPARATUS
BRIDGE SUPPORT Appareil d’appui
Appui de pont Construction
Construction A device to connect the load-bearing structure of
An element of a structure which allows to a work (main beams, arches, etc.) and elements
transfer on the subgrade the actions coming from of bearing (abutments, piers, etc.) allowing also
the deck: pier, abutment, or abutment pier. linear deformations of the structure. Its
The supports can be: constitution depends on the nature, either vertical
fixed (encastrés), namely linked in an or horizontal, and magnitude of the stresses
invariable way with the foundation; See Figure transmitted to the bearing by the load-bearing
42 structure. Bearings are laid on abutments in
movable (mobiles) following a direction of the bridges with independent span. They are laid on
plan. The reaction is then perpendicular to this abutments and on the intermediate piers in
direction; bridges with interdependent, continuous or
articulated (articulés) around a normal discontinuous spans.
component with the plan of figure. The reaction Among the bridge-support apparatus we can
passes then by axis of the articulation; See distinguish:
Figure 43 fixed bridge-support apparatus (les
movable and articulated (mobiles et appareils d’appui fixes), whose role is to fix on a
articulés) the position and direction of the force bearing a point of the load-bearing structure in
are established; it is the case of a body that leans order to avoid its traversing as the effect of
in a point of a plane without friction. horizontal strains. They do not allow transfer but
Syn. with BRIDGE BEARING they allow rotations; See Figures 44, 45 and 46.
moving bridge-support apparatus (les
BRIDGE TEST appareils d’appui mobiles), whose role is to
Epreuve des ouvrages allow length variations of the deck due to the
Civil Engineering Structure temperature and possibly due to the creep for
Syn. with BUILDING TEST bridges of reinforced concrete and of prestressed
concrete. They can be unidirectional or
BRIDGE TRACING multidirectional; See Figures 47 and 48.
Tracé d’un pont composite bridge-support apparatus (les
Construction appuis mixtes), which allows rotational motion
The geometrical morphology of a bridge: it can and transfer and that are made up of elements of
be straight, oblique, or curved. elastomer (laminate or not);
hinges (les articulations), whose role is to turn
BRIDGE TROUGH a variable direction strain brought by the load-
Caisson de pont bearing element on the bearing into two strains in
Construction which one is normal and the other parallel with
A metal, R.C., or P.C. tubular structure, made up the surface of the bearing.
by sloped or vertical outside webs connected by Syn. with BEARING; SUPPORTING DEVICE
a bottom slab deck and a top slab deck. Usually,
these beams form the bridge deck. BRIDGING
Pontage
Tightness; Handling
1. An operation that consists in posing a
reinforced device, adherent or not, of fitting
130
width, at the right of cracks and which is drilling to be performed. The principle is as
intended for distributing the stresses in watertight follows: a bell suspended at a cable is placed in
coatings. balance of flotation into a drilling; then it is
2. Syn. with TEMPORARY BRIDGE brutally drawn upward by a fall from a
BUILDING counterbalance, thus lowering the water level in
the drilling. The bell -- again in flotation – going
BRIDGING PIECE back up to the static level and its speed of rise is
Entretoise; Pièce de pont recorded on a paper tape, allowing the
Construction immediate calculation of the local permeability
Syn. with CROSS BEAM; DISTANCE PIECE; at the test pocket level. See Figure 49
TRANSVERSE GIRDER; JOIST
BRINE
BRIGHT Saumure
Laver Materials
Works A freezing liquid formed by a mixing of water
Syn. with MAKE FLUSH and calcium chloride, used for freezing soils.
BRIGHT PICKLING BRINELL APPARATUS

Ravivage Brinell
Metallurgy Equipment for Measure and Control
The scouring of a metal surface before An apparatus for metal hardness test.
electrodeposition.
BRINELL HARDNESS NUMBER
BRIGHT WIRE Brinell
Fil clair Metallography
Metallurgy A figure characterizing the hardness of metals
An ungalvanized wire. Wire drawing gives it a according to the depth of the track left by a
smooth aspect, hence its name. marble in the metal under test.
BRIGHTEN BRINELL HARDNESS TEST

Aviver; Blanchir Essai Brinell
Building Materials Metallography
Syn. with REVIVE A common standard method of measuring the
hardness of (cast) iron and structural steel
BRIGHTENING UP materials not having undergone heat treatment
Epanouissement yet as well as soft metal materials. This test
Construction consists in imprinting a hard marble of diameter
A construction built in slope, erected on the D in the metal without any shock with a
banks of a waterway at the surroundings of a determined load F. Then, the diameter d of the
bridge, and whose base is covered by track left on the surface after removal of the load
enrockments. Brightening up directs the flow of is measured by a special microscope, and the
the water while protecting abutments. Brinell hardness value is read from a chart or
calculated.
BRILLANT PERMEAMETER
Perméamètre Brillant BRITTLE FRACTURE
Equipment for Measure and Control Rupture fragile
An apparatus for measuring quickly the specific Metal Construction
permeability of alluvial soil; it brings about the A relatively rare phenomenon of sudden
sudden lowering of the water level in a drilling, breakage, catastrophic, being propagated in the
then records its rise automatically. metal at about one tenth speed of sound. So that
This apparatus allows, in an autonomous way, a a brittle fracture occurs, it is necessary that
quick Lefranc test into a cased exploratory simultaneously the following occur:
131
the presence of a sharp reentrant angle or the holes after drilling and making fall the block
severe notch, due to a bad design of form or using wedges. This method is used when the
mostly to a defect of welding; distance separating drillings is lower than 10 cm.
the existence of a uniaxial real stress of When the distance separating drillings is higher
minimal tension; than 10 cm, the second alternative is used. The
the use of steel with a slight resistance to the process consists in carrying out cutting and
notch at the temperature of service, strength placing into the drillings light explosive charges
represented by an insufficient impact strength which will be fired according to an established
KCV at a more or less low temperature. shot-firing pattern. Syn. with BROACH
CHANNELING; LINE DRILLING
BRITTLE IRON
Fer aigre BROADSCOOP
Metallurgy Marre
A metal breaking when cold, hard to file off, but Equipment and Tools
welding well. Syn. with HARD IRON A broad curved spade.
BRITTLENESS BROADSIDE
Chauffure; Friabilité; Fragilité Bordée
Defects; Strength of Materials Building Materials
1. A defect of steel having undergone an excess The part of a rockbank pulled down by mines.
of heat.
2. The loss of suppleness, tackiness, and BROADSTONE
cohesion of a paint film. Pierre de taille
3. Syn. with FRAGILITY; FRAILTY; Building Materials
SHORTNESS; BRASHNESS Syn. with ASHLAR
BROACH BROKEN ASHLAR

Poinçon; Broche Mosaïque moderne
Equipment and Tools; Materials Masonry
1. A chisel whose cutting edge is replaced by a Syn. with RANDOM (RANGE) ASHLAR;
point, used by stonecutters to shape the facing of RANDOM (RANGE) WORK
the stones. Syn. with AWL; PUNCH
2. A wooden or steel peg. Syn. with DRIFT BROKEN BOND
Déharpe
BROACH CHANNELING Masonry
Terrassement à la broche ou Brochage Syn. with IRREGULAR BOND; RAKE BACK
Earthwork
Syn. with BROACHING; LINE DRILLING BROKEN BRICK
Briquaillon; Cassons
BROACHING Building Materials
Terrassement à la broche ou Brochage 1. Off-cut of brick mixed with mortar used in
Earthwork masonry to fill a gap.
A cutting process in rocky ground in which it is 2. Remains of bricks coming from their cut.
possible to use explosives provided that the rock
surrounding the excavation, as well as the block BROKEN STONE
to be pulled, are not affected by the explosions. Pierre cassée; Caillasse; Pierraille
The process consists in drilling a line of tangent Building Materials
holes according to the profile to be cut out. 1. All rock fragments resulting from crushing.
According to the spacing of drillings, two 2. Syn. with GRAVELLY MARL; HARD
alternatives are available. The first consists in SILICEOUS BED; HARDCORE; LOOSE
creating the excavation carving with a chisel STONES
called broach the rock which remains between
132
BROKEN STONES A color deterioration of a paint film due to

Pierraille dusting and caused by light distribution. Syn.
Building Materials with BRONZING
In a sand quarry, all elements higher than the
particle size norms fixed for sands. BROWNSTONE PIT
Grésière; Gresserie
BROKEN-STONE PAVING Building Materials
Rudération Syn. with FREESTONE PIT; SANDSTONE PIT
Civil Engineering
A paving in pebbles or in small stones. BRUISE
Egruger
BRONZE FINISH Building Materials
Mordorage To reduce a rock into small gravels or powder.
Defects (Painting)
Syn. with POLYCHROMATIC LECONGING BRUSH
Goupillon; Brosse
BRONZING Equipment and Tools
Bronzage 1. A round painter’s brush, equipped with a
Defects (Painting) cylindrical handle, used to clean old paintworks.
Syn. with BROWNING Syn. with KNOT BRUSH
2. A tool used for painting. The most usual
BROTHERS brushes are the ¼-inch brush, the ½-inch brush,
Elingue the 1-inch brush, and the flat brush.
Equipment and Tools
Syn. with SLING BRUSH MARKS
Traînées
BROWN COAL Defects (Painting)
Lignite Ranges of initial defects characterized by
Geology anomalies of the color and/or aspect of the film,
A carbonaceous sedimentary rock which often which appear in the wake of the brush.
contains fossilized wood remains. Syn. with
LIGNITE BRUSHABILITY
Brossabilité
BROWN STAIN Painting
Tache brune The ability of a paint to be applied with a paint
Defects (Masonry) brush onto a substrate and that is evaluated by its
A superficial defect affecting the stones which is easiness of application as well as by the more or
shown by appearance of brownish zones on the less noticeable forming of grooves and runnings.
facings. These stains occur under the double
influence of a humid medium and organic matter BRUSHING
(humic) preexists in the stone or some cements. Brossage
Painting
BROWNED The removal of oxides (rust, smithsonite) or dirty
Rissolé marks before painting and that is made with
Defects pneumatic or hand-driven tools (rotary brushes,
Of an object, a piece yellowed by heat of a etc.). Syn. with POWER BRUSHING
certain intensity.
BUBBLING
BROWNING Bullage
Bronzage Defects (Painting)
Defects (Painting) Syn. with BLISTERING
133
BUCKET BUCKET LOADER

Godet; Baquet; Auge Chargeuse-pelleteuse
Equipment and Tools; Construction Equipment and Tools
1. A scoop of various shapes and sizes equipping Syn. with BACKHOE LOADER; LOADING
a number of handling and earthmoving plants SHOVEL
such as dragline excavators, dredgers,
mechanical shovels, mechanical diggers, shovels, BUCKET WHEEL
etc. Syn. with DIPPER; DREDGE BUCKET; Fraise à tranchée; Roue-pelle; Excavateur
SCOOP rotatif
2. A wooden receptacle used for carrying mortar. Equipment and Tools
3. The curved surface located at the foot of a Syn. with EXCAVATOR; TRENCH
spillway dam conceived to deviate water EXCAVATOR; TRENCHER
horizontally.
4. A curve of transition between the overflow BUCKLE
side and the foundation raft of a barrage. Flamber
Defects
BUCKET CHAIN To be bent (out of shape) or to bend laterally in
Noria contour of flame, as the effect of a compression
Equipment and Tools exerted longways on (a beam buckles when its
Syn. with BUCKET CONVEYOR; critical buckling force is reached). This verb is
CHAINPUMP used when this defect concerns a mechanical part
or vertical architectural element, long and
BUCKET CONCRETING relatively thin.
Bétonnage à la benne
Construction of R.C. and P.C. BUCKLED
A working process of the concrete in aquatic site Caussiné; Gauche; Gauchi; Déjeté
when the height of the water is higher than 0.80 Defects (Building Materials)
m. The process consists in going up the concrete 1. Warped after work, speaking about of a wood
onto the bottom of the waterway by means of a (of frame notably).
tight bucket hanging on a winch or at the jib of a 2. Of an element, a piece, imperfectly plane, of a
crane. Buckets are then opened by a diver, twisted-looking, that underwent a twist strain
emptied of their contents smoothly (in order to around its longitudinal axis due to internal
avoid washing out), then came back up on the stresses (natural) or external (accidental or
surface. voluntary).
Is also said of a surface deviated compared with
BUCKET CONVEYOR an axis or to its generatrix (sheet metal, plywood,
Noria etc.).
Equipment and Tools 3. Syn. with CROOKED; OUT OF TRUE;
Syn. with BUCKET CHAIN; CHAIN PUMP WARPED.
(Of a timber having been worked before its
BUCKET ELEVATOR BOOM complete drying and that is warped afterward).
Elinde
Equipment and Tools BUCKLED SHEETING
The articulated arm used as guide for the passage Tôle emboutie
of the bucket chain of a mechanical digger or a Metal Construction
dredger. Syn. with (DIGGING) BOOM In the former metal works, element of cover
made of a concave sheet jointed by its edges with
BUCKET FOR DRILLING WORK central girders and transverse girders and which
Benne de carottage carries the roadway by a concrete filling. Syn.
Equipment and Tools with PRESSED PLATE. See Figure 50
Large core drills used for boring piles.
134
BUCKLING Syn. with DEFORMATION; DISTORTION;

Flambement; Flambage; Déformation; STRAIN
Gauchissement 3. Syn. with SPRINGING; TWISTING;
Strength of Material; Defects WARPING
1. A phenomenon affecting the long and thin
parts is characterized by a deformation with BUCKLING INSTABILITY
simple or double curvature. This defect results Instabilité par flambement
from combined strain of compression and Strength of Materials
bending. A sudden deformation in curve form which can
The buckling of a construction is characterized undergo certain elements, like the slender
by the sudden appearance of a change in form in straight columns loaded in compression, when a
a different direction from that of the stress critical value of the load is reached.
forces. The phenomenon of buckling is often
associated with the compressive strain and it BUGGY
constitutes one of the criteria of dimensioning of Motobrouette; Brouette motorisée
the posts, columns, and compressed bars. Other Equipment and Tools
types of structure associated with other stress Syn. with MOTORIZED BARROW;
types are subject to instability by buckling: side PEDESTRIAN-CONTROLLED DUMPER;
buckling or long beam slopin; high and thin POWER BARROW; SELF-PROPELLING
beams solicited by a bending force; buckling or WHEEL-BARROW
blistering of the plates solicited by strains in
their plane; buckling of shells or thin cylinders in BUILD
compression or torsion; buckling of struts. Syn. Dresser une construction
with LATERAL FLEXION; WRINKLING;. See Civil Engineering Structure
Figure 51 To construct a work. Syn. with LEVEL UP
2. All dimensional variations and distortions due
to stresses that concern a solid around a point. BUILD IN HURDLE
There are several types of buckling: Enhayer
elastic deformation or elastic strain (la Masonry
déformation élastique), in order that the piece To build bricks or quarry stones in hurdle.
resumes its initial dimensions immediately
ceases the stress(es); BUILD TO THE UPSTREAM CURTAIN
flexural deformation or elastic-plastic WALL
deformation (la déformation élasto-plastique), Vantiler ou Vantiller
noticing especially the bending in which the Hydraulic Work
neighbour zone of the neutral axis does not reach To build the partition forming barrier with balks,
the plastic state, with the result that, after battens, planking, and/or concrete slabs on the
cessation of the strain, the residual stresses upstream water side of a cofferdam.
remain;
instantaneous deformation (la déformation BUILD UP
instantanée), in which the deformation reaches Rapporter
its maximal value in a shorter time following the Work
application of an instantaneous load or rapidly To complete a construction afterthought by
variable; supply of an element. Syn. with TO ADD.
plastic deformation or plastic flow or plastic
yield (la déformation plastique), which is a BUILD WITH A LINE
permanent deformation; Dresser d’alignement
deformation under stresses or stress Masonry
deformation (la déformation sous sollicitations), To erect a wall making use of a builder’s line.
in order that is observed a dimensional variation
of the piece subjected to the application of a
load.
135
BUILDER’S JACK BUILDING LINE

Potence Alignement d’une construction
Equipment and Tools Topography
Syn. with CRANE HOIST Establishment of the elements of a construction
in relation to a reference axis.
BUILDER’S LEVEL
Niveau à bulle d’air BUILDING MARK
Equipment for Measure and Control Marque de pose
Syn. with SPIRIT LEVEL; AIR LEVEL Work
A mark on a structural element to facilitate its
BUILDER’S LINE setting.
Cordeau
Equipment and Tools BUILDING PIT
Syn. with LINE; STRING LINE Fouille
Earthwork
BUILDER’S RUBBISH Syn. with EXCAVATION
Gravois; Gravats
Work BUILDING PLATFORM (ON PILES)
Syn. with RUBBISH; WASTE Estacade
Temporary Construction
BUILDING A heightened platform, supported by a wooden
Maçonnage or metal framework, intended for supporting the
Masonry construction of a slab (R.C.; E.G., etc.),
Constructing a masonry work. manufactured nearby its final site and that will be
mostly setting by lateral sliding along on its
BUILDING BLOCK bearings. This method is notably used when one
Aggloméré wants to replace an operational deck by another
Buildings Materials without (too) disturbing the traffic.
Syn. with ARTIFICIAL STONE;
BLOCKWORK; BREEZE BLOCK; BUILDING PLOT
CONGLOMERATE BLOCKWORK; Lot d’ouvrages
CONSTRUCTION BLOCK; PERPEND Civil Engineering Structure
Syn. with CONTRACT SECTION
BUILDING BRICK
Brique ordinaire BUILDING REPOINTING
Building Materials Rejointoiement de construction
A material whose manufacturer does not Masonry
guarantee crushing strength but which must show The extraction of the pointing mortar from a few
a strength between 1 and 1.25 MPa. Syn. with centimeters of depth before its set. This mortar is
COMMON BRICK replaced by a mortar richer in cement with the
purpose to protect the body of the pointing.
BUILDING CASE
Coffret de chantier BUILDING SAND
Equipment and Tools Sable de construction
A small coffer containing all controls of job site Building Materials
electrical equipment. A natural or artificial granular material put into
concrete and mortar. The standard classifies
BUILDING JOINT sands as coarse sand (1.6 to 6.3 mm), medium
Joint de reprise de bétonnage sand (0.4 to 1.6 mm), fine sand (0.1 to 0.4 mm).
Construction of R.C. and P.C. Natural sands are round or crushed:
Syn. with CONSTRUCTION JOINT
136
round sands (les sables roulés) of alluvial standardized classification, which accounts for
origin which are extracted from river (dredging) the following physical characteristics: speed of
or sand quarry; sound, apparent bulk density, and superficial
crushed sands (les sables concassés) are hardness,
obtained by crushing of certain rocks, followed bread-and-butter classification, in which the
by a sifting. categories of limestones usually recognized are:
Generally, building sands are silicocalcareous oolitic limestones (les calcaires oolithiques),
and characterized by their grading curve, shape, whose breakage shows rounded particles of a
porosity, cleanliness, density, and wear slight diameter (< 1 mm),
resistance. If one adds water to dry sand, its entrochal limestones (les calcaires à
apparent bulk density decreases. Wet sand entroques), formed by fossil remains (encrines)
inflates: it is the phenomenon of swelling, which of crystallized calcite giving bright particles of
is maximum for a certain moisture content. few millimeters,
travertines (les calcaires lacustres ou
BUILDING SITE travertins), formed by lacustrian deposits which
Chantier have a compact texture with vermicular
Work channels,
The location of a construction. Syn. with JOB freshwater limestones (les calcaires grossiers
SITE; SITE à grains plus ou moins gros), often containing
remains of shells,
BUILDING SITE JOINT calcareous tufas (les tufs calcaires), relatively
Joint de chantier porous stones, light and soft, badly definite are
Construction actually travertines of poorer quality,
A provisional space reserved in a work or a part dolomitic limestones (les calcaires
of concrete work, intended for absorbing dolomitiques), whose breakage shows small
possible movements during construction. This bright dolomite crystals (carbonate of Mg and
joint is removed at the time the work is finished. Ca);
siliceous stones (les pierres siliceuses) are
BUILDING STONE natural materials extracted from quarries, from
Pierre; Pierre à bâtir which we can distinguish granites, porphyries,
Building Materials trachytes, basalts, andesites, schists, sandstone,
1. An element of natural rock used to construct gneiss, flint, and grit stone.
various works, which must:
be homogeneous and compact, of sufficient BUILDING SYSTEM
resistance for its use and presenting a good Système de construction
adhesion to mortar, Construction
be able to resist to bad weather, namely neither The construction of a work with materials
frost riven, friable, nor too porous; determined at the time of the study.
be exempt from the following defects: sand
crust, earthy insertion, strand, hair, crack or BUILDING TEST
breakage, ash, soft vein, or pouffe. Epreuve des ouvrages
2. Every rock which, after have been dressed, Civil Engineering Structure
can constitute an element of masonry and which All tests allowing control of the good design and
is generally classified as chalky stones or good carrying out of works by examination of
siliceous, depending on its reaction to their behavior under normal loads.
hydrochloric acid: To avoid the exceeding design overloads, the
limestones (les pierres calcaires) are natural work will not be exposed to permanent
products extracted from quarries, which are the deformations or crackings that could have be
materials the most used in masonry. Stones offer detrimental for its aspect or its conservation.
a large range of texture and quality and can be Tests can be:
classified by two methods: dynamic test (l’épreuve dynamique): operation
that consists in making passing on the work
137
several times and at the different speeds of BUILT OUT

loaded convoys of a determined weight. One Hors-d’oeuvre ou Hors oeuvre
measures then sags with recording instruments Construction
(deflectometers, etc.); A work independent from another; that is
static test (l’épreuve statique): operation that outside. Syn. with OUTWORK; PROJECTING
consists to place on the work convoys loaded of
a determined weight in most unfavorable places BUILT STONE
(bearings and middle of span). One measures, Morceau taillé
with deflectometers, for example, the bearing Building Materials
settlements together with the sag of the work in A stone ready for being implemented. Syn. with
the middle of span. DRESSED STONE
Syn. with BRIDGE TEST
BUILT-UP COLUMN
BUILDING TIMBER Poteau composé
Bois de charpente Construction
Building Materials A metal element of several joined sections or a
A wood adapted to constructions. Syn. with web and corner irons strengthened if necessary
LUMBER; STRUCTURAL TIMBER by flanges. This type of stanchion can be joined
by riveting or welding.
BUILDING-IN
Encastrement BUILT-UP GIRDER
Carpentry Poutre composée
1. A jointing in which a wooden piece without Construction
tenon fits into the notch carried out in a larger Syn. with COMPOUND GIRDER
piece.
2. A notch carried out in a wooden piece so as to BUILT-UP ROOFING
lodge there the head of a bolt or a nut so as to Complexe d’étanchéité; Etanchéité
surface the wooden face. multicouche
Syn. with ENCASED; SCARFING Tightness
Syn. with WATERTIGHTNESS COMPLEX.
BUILDING-SITE ELEVATOR See MULTIFILM COPING.
Ascenseur de chantier
Handling BUILT-UP WELD
A cable or toothed-rack apparatus to carry Beurrage
equipment, materials, and personnel when the Welding
building site is higher or deeper. Treatment for a metal part that consists in laying
down on its surface several coats of weld metal
BUILDING-UP WELD by welding before being united by welding with
Rechargement; Building-up another piece.
Welding
Syn. with RECHARGING; SURFACING BULB
WELD Bulbe
Foundation
BUILT DURABILITY The bulge at the bottom of a bored pile.
Durabilité d’un ouvrage
Civil Engineering Structure BULB FLAT BAR
The expected or estimated life of a work that is a Plat à boudin
function of many factors, including conditions of Metallurgy
execution at the time of the construction, nature A flat bar of great width (between 80 and 430
of materials used, exposure to the inclemencies, mm) whose transverse section comprises a bulb.
conditions of service, etc. This product is sometimes called flat with bulb or
Dutch profile.
138
BULB OF EQUAL PRESSURE BULGING WALL

Bulbe de pression égale Mur soufflé
Foundation Defects (Construction)
The stress variation in the ground in-depth A work whose facing is separated compared with
caused by a load such as a footing. These bulbs the body of masonry and that presents a certain
are all more significant as the foundation is convexity.
larger. Syn. with PRESSURE BULB
BULK
BULGE Foisonner
Bombement; Bouffer; Ventre Metal Construction; Earthwork
Civil Engineering Structure; Defects To increase in volume.
1. A geometrical anomaly of a work
characterized by a convex surface deformation. BULK DENSITY
The bulge can result from thrust or unstable form Masse volumique apparente
phenomena. It can exist originally or result from Building Materials
an evolution, and it may have an effect on walls The compact set of a body per unit of volume
or on the vault (in the case of an arched (including voids between elements) expressed in
structure). Syn. with SWELL
2. Syn. with SWELL when one speaks of a
rendering or a wall that is bulging. BULK DENSITY OF A DRY SOIL
3. The more or less important deformation of Poids volumique du sol sec
masonry - concave or convex - in the facing or Geotechnics
sidewall of a construction. The weight corresponding to the quotient of the
4. The convex deformation resulting from the weight of solid particles by the total bulk of soil.
thrust or bulging of materials in construction.
See Figure 52 BULK DENSITY OF A SOIL
Poids volumique d’un sol
BULGE FORWARD Geotechnics
Forjeter The weight corresponding to the quotient of the
Construction full weight of the soil by its volume.
To erect projecting out of the alignment of the
neighboring constructions. Syn. with JET OUT; BULK DENSITY OF SOLID PARTICLES
PROJECT OF A SOIL
Poids volumique des particules solides d’un
BULGED WOOD sol
Bois tors Geotechnics
Building Materials The weight corresponding to the quotient of the
Syn. with WOOD WITH CROOKED FIBERS weight of solid particles by their bulk.
BULGES BULKING
Surépaisseur Foisonnement
Work Earthwork
Syn. with ALLOWANCE The increase of the apparent bulk of earth after
extraction by digging up, excavation with the
BULGING spade, etc.
Soufflure Materials constituting the undisturbed soil are
Defects (Masonry) indeed compressed on the spot as the effect of
A localized bulge of a rendering on a wall due to their peculiar weight and the intervention of
a defect of adhesion. atmospheric agents, notably rain. The
performance of the earthworks has for effect to
split them and to increase their volume. Syn.
with INCREASE IN VOLUME; SWELLING
139
BULKMETER The vault of an underground exploitation

Volucompteur (quarry) located at a slight depth but of big
Equipment for Measure and Control dimensions. Syn. with ROOF
A volumetric measuring device of flow, batching
of liquid, equipping some injection plants. BURDEN STONE BLOCK
Forme
BULLDOG SPEAR Building Materials
Arrache-tube A large stone block stemming from quarry roofs.
Equipment and Tools
Syn. with DRAWER PIPE; PIPE CATCH BURIED ABUTMENT
Culée perdue
BULLDOZER Construction
Bulldozer; Bouteur Any masonry or concrete abutment sunk in the
Equipment and Tools ground. This type of construction mostly equips
Syn. with EARTHMOVER vaulted works (surbased vault or basket vault)
and never comprises wing walls. Syn. with
BULL’S EVE DEAD ABUTMENT
Oeil-de-boeuf
Metallography BURIED BENT
The structure of certain malleable (cast) irons Pile-culée
characterized by graphite nodules surrounded by Construction
ferrite crystals and separated by areas of perlite. The end piling constituted by a gravel guard and
a bridge pier cap forming a transverse head beam
BUMP on buried posts which replace the front wall.
Cassis
Sanitary Engineering and Drainage BURIED LENGTH
Syn. with OPEN GUTTER (ACROSS ROAD) Fiche d’un poteau de blindage
Temporary Construction
BUMPER The part of a post restrained in strong ground.
Heurtoir The length of set is calculated to guarantee the
Construction stability of the sheeting resting on the post as the
1. The stop of a lock gate. effect of earth pressure. Syn. with EMBEDDED
2. A framework or pedestal bearing a shock LENGTH
absorber buffer and that serves to stop in the
limit switch a traveling crane, a mobile tower BURIED PILING
crane on rails, a gantry crane, etc. Palée enterrée
Construction
BUND A construction embedded in the ground
Merlon throughout its height and constituted in the most
Civil Engineering bread-and-butter of:
The earth half-cone ending or beginning the end a bearing breastsummer of the deck forming
of an embankment at the surroundings of a the top transverse head beam of the piling;
bridge. posts (or columns) restrained at the base inside
the footing and in head inside the breastsummer;
(Anchor) BUOY a footing.
Corps mort
BURIED TILTING PIER
Construction
Syn. with FIXED MOORING Contre-béquille
Construction
A buried oblique bearing of a typical work PSBQ
BURDEN
(presstressed or reinforced concrete bridge with
Ciel
Quarry leg-frame support). See Figure 53
140
BURIED WORKS WITH METAL COVER •• soft irons (les fers tendres): foliated texture,
Ouvrages enterrés à couverture métallique very brittle to cold, that only worked to hot;
Civil Engineering Structure • hybrid irons (les fers métis): very fragile,
A category of former structures which one unweldable and practically unusable in steel
mostly meets on the Parisian subway. These construction.
works make the office primarily cover for Syn. with RED SHORT IRON
stations, the cuts or works of connection. They
are located at a low depth under the roadways BURNING OFF
and sidewalks. Their span ranges from 7 to 18 m. Brûlage
Most representatives consist of a network of Metallurgy
main beams regularly spaced and resting of share A process intended for removing the smithsonite
and other on the sidewalls. These beams are that covers a metal piece. The removal is made
made of flats (web and flanges) and of corner by abrupt heating of the carboned surface with an
irons (connection web-flanges) jointed by rivets. oxyacetylene multibeak blowpipe having an
The distance pieces perpendicularly connect intensive flow. The coat of smithsonite becomes
them between them and themselves are joined by overheated more rapidly than the underlying
jack arches in bricks covered with concrete. (The metal and causes, by difference of expansion, a
distance pieces also are sections reconstituted by detaching of the surface oxide. Burning off is
riveting.) also used to remove old paints.
BURIN BURNING POINT

Echoppe; Burin Point de combustion
Equipment and Tools Building Materials
1. A steel tool with an oblique point and rounded The minimal temperature to which a body must
handle for carving stone and engraving metal. be heated so that it takes fire when it is put in
2. Syn. with CHISEL; COLD CHISEL; contact with a flame (bituminous binders are
CUTTER subjected to the test of burning point).
BURL BURNISHING
Ronce Rétreinte
Defects (Building Materials) Metallurgy
Syn. with BURR; CURL A process of metal shaping in which the action
of the hammer is exerted in the direction of the
BURMISTER TEST preferential dimensional reduction - most
Essai Burmister frequently from the center of the part toward the
Geotechnics periphery - by circular successive passes and to
A method of bearing capacity test of soils under telling blows. It is for the latter reason that the
a rigid coating in which the ground is supposed burnishing can be compared with a directed flow
to be an elastic semi-indefinite solid. The of metal without modification of thickness.
Burmister test consists in making measurements
to determine one or more moduli of soil BURNT LIME
elasticity. Chaux vive
Building Materials
BURNED IRON Syn. with QUICKLIME
Fer rouverain
Metallurgy BURNT WOOD
A metal containing sulfur and arsenic that Bois arsin
solders hardly, that is brittle to hot, and whose Building Materials
breakage is dull and deepened. A material having undergone the aggression of
Burned iron is a low-grade to the strong iron; it is fire.
subdivided into two grades:
141
BURR 2. A toothed hammer (or comb hammer) whose

Broussin; Ronce; Barbe, Bavure; Barbure teeth are very isolated (5 to 6 mm) and which is
Defects used for cutting hard stones. See Figure 55
1. A wood defect due to the disturbed growth of 3. A stonecutter’s tool that is actually a
the tree by the existence of a foreign body granulating hammer whose heads contain 4 to 16
bringing about a tangle of fibers. Syn. with diamond cutter teeth.
BURL; CURL
2. Barb remaining on a metal part after drilling, BUSH HAMMERING
sawing; etc. Rusticage
3. Syn. with BARB; SCALE; SMUDGE Masonry
The nidge of the stone between carvings to make
BURR the joint rough and to make mortar adhere more
Ebarber easily.
Metallurgy
To suppress with a shave hook the smudges, BUSH HAMMERING OF CONCRETE
burrs and other useless protrusions of a piece of Bouchardage du béton
foundry. Construction of R. C and P. C.
Superficial treatment for concrete with a
BURSTING granulating hammer with intent to show
Explosion aggregates. The result of this operation is to
Explosives obtain an architectural concrete.
Syn. with BLAST; EXPLOSION
BUSH HAMMERING OF STONE
BURSTING CHARGE Bouchardage
Charge d’explosifs Masonry
Explosives Smoothing away of the surface of a stone with a
All explosives placed in a blasthole and whose granulating hammer. Syn. with BUSHHAMMER
quantity was determined by calculation. FINISH; FACING
BUSH BUSH-HAMMER FINISH

Cône réducteur Bouchardage
Materials Masonry
A piping piece to be screwed, welded or pasted Syn. with BUSH HAMMERING OF STONE;
intended for connecting two pipes of different FACING
diameters. Syn. with REDUCER
BUSH-HAMMERED STONE
Pierre bouchardée
Boucharder Masonry
Equipment and Tools A material whose face is dressed with a
To work with the granulating hammer. Syn. with granulating hammer.
GRANULATE
BUSHING
BUSH HAMMER Fourrure
Boucharde; Rustique; Talot Construction
Equipment and Tools Syn. with FISHPLATE; LINING; PACKING.
1. Hammer of quarryman and builders with two
squared heads and from 4 to 64 diamond cutters. BUTT
One hits the facings of stone, of concrete, etc., Rabouter; About; Abouter
which were already worked over with pickax. Work; Masonry; Construction
Syn. with GRANULATING HAMMER. See 1. To put end to end two pieces of timber, metal,
Figure 54. etc.
2. Syn. with END; GRAFT; JOIN END TO END
142
BUTT IRON BUTTERED DRILLING

Matoir Forage beurré; Trou beurré
Equipment and Tools Work
A tool for caulking weld beads. Syn. with A boring whose periphery is covered by a kind
MATTING TOOL of paste; this one forms during the drilling of a
hole in the masonry by mixing of the cooling
BUT-LOG water with debris of stone, notably of chalky
Bille de pied stones.
Building Materials Fines coming from the grinding of the material
The low part of the log of the tree that goes from by cutting edge is mixed with the water used for
the foot at the large first connects or the first the drilling and form cement that adheres on the
crown. walls of the hole. At the time of the work of
injection, this butter coat can present the
BUTT STRAP disadvantage not to leave to penetrate the grout
Couvre-joint in the body of the masonry because the cracks or
Construction hairline cracks can be sealed by this paste; this
Syn. with BATTEN; BEAD; CAPPING STRIP; is why a washing the drilling with water is
COVER PLATE; COVER STRAP; FILLER; indispensable before beginning injection.
JOINT COVER; TRIM
BUTTERED JOINT
BUTT WELD Joint beurré
Ecolleter Masonry
Welding Space of a width higher than the normal in a
To weld two steel parts end-to-end. opus incertum work.
BUTT WELDING BUTTERFLY NUT

Ecollage; Soudure bout à bout Ecrou à oreilles
Welding Equipment and Tools
1. A welding for uniting end-to-end two parts of A nut having two flat widely projecting pieces
dead soft steel. such that it can be readily tightened manually.
2. A joining for uniting two parts in the Syn. with WING NUT
prolongation one of the other; they are generally
X or V-shaped. BUTTERMILK
Bât-beurre
BUTTER COAT Equipment and Tools
Beurrage Syn. with PACK BUTTER
Masonry
A film covering the periphery of a drilling BUTTERY CONCRETE
carried out in a masonry or concrete. This film- Béton plastique
forming dough is made up of water and fines Building Materials
coming from the material drilled. The formation Syn. with PLASTIC CONCRETE
of this dough is due either to the necessary water
supply for cooling the drilling tool tothe water BUTTING
contained in the material drilled. Aboutement
The butter coat can constitute an obstacle to the Construction
injection work by preventing the grout from Syn. with GRAFTING; JOINING
penetrating into fissures or to mask the fissures
that will be undetectable with the endoscope, BUTTONHEAD
which can falsify the diagnosis on the real state Bouton; Goutte de suif
of the sounded work. Construction; Equipent and Tools
1. A bulge at the end of an elementary thread of a
steel prestressing cable. It is made by steel
143
pressing. It is used to seize, tighten, and anchor the outside main plane of the construction to be
the cables. consolidated.
2. A widened and bulged-shaped head of a 5. Syn. with STAY
screw or a rivet. 6. A sort of buttress made of a beam intended for
supporting the wall of a construction whose
BUTTONHEAD RIVET foundations are excavated.
Rivet à tête goutte-de-suif 7. An inclined element of reinforced concrete
Metal Construction working in compression which supports the deck
A rivet whose head has the shape of a spherical of a prestressed concrete portal bridge.
cap.
BUTTRESS OF A PIER
BUTTRESS Dosseret
Etayer; Arc-bouter; Contrebutée: Construction
Contrebuter A buttress designed to support an unsteady wall.
Temporary Construction; Civil Engineering Syn. with PILASTER STRIP
Structure; Foundation; Work
1. To support, reinforce with props. Syn. with BUTTRESS PILLAR
SHORE (UP); STAY (UP); STRUT; Pilier adossé
UNDERPIN Construction
2. Syn. with PROP UP; SUPPORT A built-in or added element to a wall with intent
3. In the underpinning of foundations, to give it a better base or to buttress the thrusts.
strengthening of the base of foundations by the
addition of a concrete block so as to struggle BUTTRESSING OF A DAM
from the slipping by the base. See Figure 56 Cerce
4. To annihilate the effects of the thrust of a vault Temporary Constructions
or a wall by the construction or putting into place A propping-up device of curved form, made of
of elements intended for opposing it an opposite concrete, reinforced concrete, or steel used in the
thrust. sheetings or circular cofferdams. Syn. with
5. To carry out a buttress at the base of a HOOPING BUTTRESS
foundation.
BUTYL RUBBER
BUTTRESS Caoutchouc butyl
Contrefort; Antéride; Eperon; Boutant; Materials
Bracon A gasproof synthetic rubber.
Construction
1. The overhanging of a wall in elevation (of BYE-CHANNEL
masonry or concrete) compared with all or part Cunette de ceinturage
of a mass, a wall, with a view to increase the Sanitary Engineering and Drainage
resistance of this last. Syn. with DIVERSION CUT; GARLAND
2. A massive construction in elevation and DRAIN
overhanging on the side face of a viaduct pier
being able to prolong up to the top level of the BYPASS
tympan (under certain circumstances, the buttress Rocade
has simply been erected on the tympan directly Civil Engineering Structure
below of a pier). A way, generally a road, of skirting a site. Syn.
3. A masonry part standing out on the facing of a with LATERAL ROAD; PARALLEL ROAD
wall bonded with it, and intended for
strengthening this wall allowing it to withstand
transverse thrusts.
4. A masonry or concrete buttress, added as a
consolidation element to a construction (wall,
pier, etc.). The buttress is erected projecting on
144
Figures of the letter
145

Civil Dictionary PDF

Încărcat de

Informații document

Titlu original

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Civil Dictionary PDF

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

B BACK BRIDGE

BACK BACK GAUGE

BACK SHIELD BACKFILL

BACKGROUND PREPARATION BACKING BRICK

BACKING COAT mycotic ring shake;

BACKING STRIP BAD REINFORCEMENT ANGLE

BAKELITE ™ unfavorable combinations of loads and overloads

BALL RACE TRACK BALLAST HOLDER

BALLAST BALLAST RETAINER

BALLASTING the capital, made up of a square tablet forming

climatic conditions, or to a bad fastening or BAR

BAR SPACER BARITE

BAR TEST BARYTES

BAROID FILTER PRESS

carefully compacted to reduce the spaces, to BARREL SQUARE

BARREL BARRICADE OF PILES

BARREL DEFORMATION BARROW

BARS BASCULE METAL BEARING

BASE COURSE OF SURFACING BASIC ROCK

BASE PLATE BASIS

BASTARD ASHLAR BATCH NUMBER

BASTARD PRODUCT BATCHER

2. The absolute bulk of this concrete ingredient (flooring) BATTEN

BATH BATTEN (DISH)

BATTER BOARD Equipment for Measure and Control

BATTER FACE BAUXITE

A beam is a lengthened and horizontal support BEAM HANGER

BEARING 2. The vertical upright equipping a metal beam

BEARING BAR BEARING DIE

BEARING BLOCK BEARING DISK

BEARING DISTANCE Allowable working load per square centimeter of

BED LOAD BEDDING CLEAVAGE

BEGINNING includes one or two knives articulated at the head

BELL-BOTTOMED BELT TELECONVEYOR

BENCH 2. To fashion reinforcements for a reinforced

BENDING STRENGTH a weakening or plasticization of the ground

BENDING TEST BENT SHEETING

BERLIN WALL. BERTH

BEVEL BEVEL-EDGED PLANK

2. The centerpiece of a paint, generally formed 4. Syn. with CONNECTION; COUPLING;

BINDING BINDING POWER

BINGHAM’S PRACTICE the anisotropy brought about in some materials

BIOPOLYMER BIT WEIGHT

BIRD’S MOUTH BITE

BITUMEN hard asphalt (le bitume solide ou semi-solide):

BITUMINOUS COATED MATERIAL mechanical advantages of epoxy resin or

BLASTING BY EXPLOSIVES Building Materials

BLASTING POWDER BLEEDING GROOVES

diameter and 25 cm high, filled to a graduation BLIND ARCADE

BLENDED CEMENT BLIND SHIELD

welding by some care determined according to

4. A concrete element, reinforced or not, used BLOCKING UP

BLOTTING BLUE ALGA

Syn. with SHEETING; WEATHER Syn. with PLUMB; PLUMMET

3. Syn. with BRACKET; CORBEL BOLTING

BOND LENGTH BONDERIZATION

BOOM BORE BIT

BOOMLESS DERRICK BOREHOLE DRILLED BY PERCUSSION

2. An operation of machining performed in a 1. A borrow area of materials (earth, sand,

vermiculated stonework (le bossage Geomorphology

BOUCHERIE PROCESS BOWING

BOX ABUTMENT receiving, in immersed site, the base of the

Syn. with BOX BEAM; DOUBLE-WEBBED BRACE