What are Sub-disciplines of Civil Engineering?

What are the Subdivisions of Civil Engineering?

Civil engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the design and construction of buildings, roads, bridges, and other large-scale structures. It is an established profession that has existed since the establishment of the first permanent human settlements.

Within the civil engineering profession, there are many other sub-disciplines one can specialize in. Some of these sub-disciplines include environmental engineering, transportation engineering, and structural engineering.

Sub-disciplines of Civil Engineering are...

1. Materials science and engineering
2. Coastal engineering
3. Construction engineering
4. Earthquake engineering
5. Environmental engineering
6. Geotechnical engineering
7. Water resources engineering
8. Structural engineering
9. Surveying
10. Transportation engineering
11. Forensic engineering
12. Municipal or urban engineering
13. Control engineering.

    Coastal Engineering

Coastal engineering involves the management and maintenance of coastal areas, this means knowledge in the areas of oceanography and marine geology are required to gain an understanding of the interactions between the salt water and coastal structures.

   Transportation Engineering

Transportation engineering involves the design of transportation systems such as highways, roads, and public transportation networks. In addition, the operation and maintenance of these transportation systems are also part of the responsibilities of a transportation engineer along with an understanding of traffic control systems.

   Construction Engineering

Knowledge of construction processes is required to work in this field along with the business, management, and economic sides of a construction project. 

   Structural Engineering

Structural engineer involves the design of small and large structures to ensure they can withstand the stresses and pressures of their environments and remain safe for use throughout their life cycle. An understanding of building physics and statics are required along with the local building design codes to work in the discipline.

   Earthquake Engineering

Earthquake engineering involves working to reduce seismic hazards in areas prone to earthquakes. This requires the study of earth sciences as well as the design and construction of structures to withstand earthquakes. Additionally, locating the source of earthquakes along with understanding how a structure responds to an earthquake are also part of the job description. 

   Environmental Engineering

Environmental engineering deals with protecting the public from destructive environmental effects. Some of these processes are water and air pollution control, recycling processes, waste disposal, as well as soil contamination and large-scale farming.

   Geo technical Engineering

      Geotechnical engineering deals with the design of a structure’s foundations. This means knowledge of geology is required along with an understanding of the properties of clay, silt, rock, snow, and sand are highly important. Some typical tasks associated with geotechnical engineering include slope stability assessment, evaluation of landslides, rock falls and avalanches, as well as performing numerical calculations to assess the load-bearing capacities of soils and rock.

   Water Resources Engineering

Water resource engineering deals with the management of water supplies essential to everyday life. This means an understanding of the basic water processes is required so a clean supply of water can be used for drinking and living. 

   Municipal and Urban Engineering

Municipal and urban engineering deals with the design of basic municipal infrastructures such as streets, sidewalks, sewers, street lighting, and solid waste management. In addition, designing and maintaining public parks and underground utility lines are also part of the discipline.

  Surveying

 Surveying Principles and Methods in Civil Engineering. ... Surveying is the art of determining the relative positions of points on, above or beneath the surface of the earth by means of direct or indirect measurements of distance, direction and elevation.

Forensic Engineering

Forensic Engineer is the application of engineering principles to the investigation of failures or other performance problems.  Forensic engineering  also involves testimony on the findings of these investigations before a court  of law. The purpose of this Division is to:

o    Develop  practices and procedures to reduce the number of such failures

o    Disseminate  information on failures and their causes

o    Provide guidelines for conducting  failure investigations

o    Provide guidelines for ethical conduct in  forensic engineering

Material Science

Material science is defined as the study of the properties and applications of materials of construction or manufacture. The relationship between civil engineering and material science is very strong. ... Structural reinforcement materials are used due to its high capacity to take loads.

 Control Engineering

Design and oversee the production of many types of complex systems and equipment. The engineer researches, tests, and analyzes the design use in relation to the function of the elements in the system.