MODULE TCVE-3542: INTRODUCTION TO CIVIL ENGINEERING

FINAL EXAMINATION ANSWER SHEET 2009

Question 1.

(a) . (5)
Civil engineering is a technology that includes numerous other disciplines that
produce useful facilities for the human beings, including roads, dams, waste disposal
and other facilities that are used in our daily life.

(b) (20)
Structural Engineering: This discipline involves the design of structures that should
be safe for the users, be economical, and accomplish the desired functions.
Geotechnical Engineering: Geotechnical engineering deals with soils, rocks,
foundations of buildings and bridges, highways, sewers and underground water
systems.
Water Resources Engineering: This discipline of civil engineering concerns the
management of quantity and quality of water in the underground and above ground
water resources, such as rivers, lakes and streams.
Environmental Engineering: It is related to the science of waste management of all
types, purification of water, cleaning of contaminated areas, reduction of pollution,
and industrial ecology.
In transportation, engineers design streets and highways and plan alterations to
improve traffic flow.

Question 2.

(a) (10)
• Hygienically safe
• Socially acceptable
• Economically feasible
• Environmentally sound
• Technologically feasible

(b) (15)
• Depends on the conditions
• -country to country
• -climate
• -population density
• -disease burden of the population
• -acceptability, privacy and dignity
• -affordability or willingness to pay
Question 3.

(15)

► Optimum use of available funds;

► Control of the scope of the work;
► Project scheduling;
► Optimum use of design and construction firms' skills and talents;
► Avoidance of delays, changes and disputes;
► Enhancing project design and construction quality;
► Optimum flexibility in contracting and procurement.
► Cash flow Management.

Question 4.

(a) (10)
The basic tools used in planar surveying were a tape measure for determining
shorter distances, a level for determine height or elevation differences, and a
theodolite, set on a tripod, with which one can measure angles (horizontal and
vertical), combined with triangulation.

(b) (5)
A more modern instrument is a total station, which is a theodolite with an electronic
distance measurement device (EDM) and can also be used for leveling when set to
the horizontal plane.

Question 5.

5.1 (5)
In this division, engineers and scientists assess the impacts of a proposed project on
environmental conditions. They apply scientific and engineering principles to
evaluate if there are likely to be any adverse impacts to water quality, air quality,
habitat quality, flora and fauna, agricultural capacity, traffic impacts, social
impacts, ecological impacts, noise impacts, Visual (landscape) impacts, etc.
If impacts are expected, they then develop mitigation measures to limit or prevent
such impacts.

5.2 (5)
Engineers and scientists work to secure water supplies for potable and
agricultural use. They evaluate the water balance within a watershed and
determine the available water supply, the water needed for various needs in that
watershed, the seasonal cycles of water movement through the watershed and they
develop systems to store, treat, and convey water for various uses.
5.3 (5)
Due to Water pollution, most urban and many rural areas no longer discharge
human waste directly to the land through outhouse, septic, and/or honey bucket
systems, but rather deposit such waste into water and convey it from households via
sewer systems. Engineers and scientists develop collection and treatment systems to
carry this waste material away from where people live and produce the waste and
discharge it into the environment.

5.4 (5)
Engineers apply scientific and engineering principles to the design of manufacturing
and combustion processes to reduce air pollutant emissions to acceptable levels.
Scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, catalytic converters, and various other
processes are utilized to remove particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides,
volatile organic compounds (VOC), reactive organic gases (ROG) and other air
pollutants from flue gases and other sources prior to allowing their emission to the
atmosphere.