Civil and Environmental Engineering majors study the various disciplines that design and maintain our society’s infrastructure, and learn about the history and development of civil engineering through the application of modern technology and future challenges.

What do I learn in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering?

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is a multidisciplinary approach that combines civil engineering with environmental engineering, urban engineering, and transportation engineering, all of which are essential to designing and maintaining the infrastructure of our society. It is not just about learning construction skills, but also about integrating knowledge from different disciplines to achieve harmony between nature and humans. Civil engineering alone is divided into structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrology, port engineering, surveying, water supply and sewerage engineering, and each of these subfields requires different specializations, making it a very broad field. This allows students to develop the ability to design and manage complex social infrastructure. Civil engineering is also known as civil engineering in English, which means the engineering that is necessary to build and maintain civilizations and societies, making it an important discipline that plays an important role in building the foundations of human civilization.

How did civil engineering start?

The history of civil engineering goes hand in hand with the history of human civilization. From ancient civilizations to modern societies, humans have developed various civil engineering technologies to control and harness nature to improve living conditions. From the beginning of agriculture to civil engineering projects such as dimensioning, power structures were created within society and civilization began. For example, the construction of the pyramids in Egypt and the irrigation system in Mesopotamia are examples of early civil engineering, which contributed greatly to the development of human civilization. The history of civil engineering goes back thousands of years. Of course, it wasn’t until the modern era that it became a specific discipline with a scientific methodology. However, if you look at the arched piers used in the aqueducts of ancient Rome, you can see that civil engineering has already been established and developed by experience. As you can see, civil engineering is a discipline that has continuously evolved to improve the quality of human life.

What are the different fields of civil engineering?

During the Renaissance, humans began to think of science through the understanding of nature, which led to the development of human-centered rational thought. The Renaissance was not just a revival of art and culture, but a new era of human understanding and utilization of nature through scientific inquiry and innovative thinking. Classical mechanics was established during the Galileo-Newton era. Civil engineering was also cultivated early on, with material mechanics and structural mechanics being the first to be theorized. These theories form the basis of civil engineering, and they still play an important role today. The discoveries of geniuses like Bernoulli led to the development of fluid mechanics, which in turn formed the basis of geotechnics, which describes the behavior of the earth’s surface. These theories are applied in practice on construction sites, helping to make infrastructure safer and more efficient. In addition, the need to calculate distances, areas, etc. for construction led to the development of surveying, which became a branch of civil engineering. Water and sewer engineering, urban engineering, and transportation engineering took longer to be incorporated into civil engineering because they were more of an administrative discipline. By the mid-20th century, civil engineering was organized into six disciplines: structural, geotechnical, hydrological, water supply and sewerage, surveying, and port engineering. This organization provides the foundation for the important role civil engineering plays in many aspects of society today.

Subdisciplines of civil engineering – Structural engineering

All objects change shape, move, or both when subjected to a force. Statics, as the word “statics” implies, is the study of deformations caused by forces. Building on the foundation of statics are material mechanics and structural mechanics. Materials mechanics considers not only the forces and deformations, but also the properties of materials to explain the deformation, deflection, and failure of materials due to forces. This understanding is the basis for designing safe and economical structures. Structural mechanics describes the deformations that occur when components such as columns and beams are connected and act as a unit. The difference between material mechanics and structural mechanics is that material mechanics describes the deformation of a single member, while structural mechanics describes the collective behavior of multiple members acting together. Dynamics, as opposed to statics, describes the motion of an object caused by a force. Dynamics hasn’t been applied in civil engineering for a long time because civil engineering mainly deals with structures that are at rest. However, in recent years, the importance of designing for dynamic loads has increased, and dynamics has become increasingly widely applied. It was only in the early 20th century that it began to be used in conjunction with structural mechanics to explain vibrations in bridges caused by moving loads, wind or earthquakes.

Subdisciplines of civil engineering – hydraulics, harbor engineering, water and sewer engineering

Fluid dynamics is a branch of mechanics that describes the behavior of microscopic and numerous fluid particles in continuous motion. It is nearly impossible to describe the interactions of countless particles of tens of nanometers in size using simple fundamental principles and theoretical equations. Therefore, fluid mechanics is based on repeating countless experiments and deriving the simplest possible equations that best reflect the experimental results. These equations are then used to predict how fluids will behave as they flow through pipes or channels. This knowledge is applied in a variety of fields, including flood protection, water management, and energy production. Based on hydrodynamics, hydrology, which describes the flow of general streams, rivers, and waterways, port engineering, which describes the behavior of ocean currents and waves and their interaction with structures, and water and sewerage engineering, which describes the flow of fluids in pipes, were developed. These disciplines play an essential role in sustainable water management and marine development in the modern world.

Subdiscipline of Civil Engineering – Geotechnical Engineering

The behavior of the ground varies greatly depending on its composition (sand, clay, etc.) and the presence of water (groundwater). Geotechnical engineering, which describes the behavior of the ground, is based on geomechanics, which deals with the behavior of soil, and hydrodynamics, which deals with the flow of groundwater. Geotechnical engineering plays an important role, especially in the early stages of a construction project, and is a key discipline in ensuring the safety of structures. The properties of the ground vary depending on the characteristics of each site, so numerous experiments and site investigations are essential. If the characteristics of the ground are not fully considered, accidents such as ground settlement and tilting of the structure may occur. For example, when constructing a tall building, if the ground is not stable, there is a risk of tilting or collapse. Geotechnical engineering is essential to properly understand the ground behavior and to strengthen the ground or install foundations to safely support the structure. This process is a critical factor in the success of a construction project.

Subdisciplines of civil engineering – surveying and environmental engineering

Surveying is a discipline that developed to calculate distances, angles, and areas in order to accurately carry out construction. Combined with modern GPS technology, surveying has become more precise and efficient. Advances in surveying have allowed for more precise and reliable construction, which has contributed greatly to the development of civil engineering. Environmental engineering is the study of ways to minimize the environmental impact of construction and other construction. Environmental engineering aims for sustainable development and focuses on minimizing the impact of human activities on the natural environment. It develops and applies various techniques to protect the environment and improve human living conditions when carrying out construction. For example, environmental engineering plays an important role in areas such as water pollution prevention, waste disposal, and air pollution control.

The future and challenges of civil engineering

Civil engineering is more than just a collection of construction techniques; it is a multidisciplinary field that includes all the elements necessary to create and maintain an environment where humans and nature coexist. Traditional civil engineering is evolving to become more efficient and sustainable by incorporating the latest technologies. For example, the use of drones to survey construction sites, artificial intelligence to monitor the health of structures, and green design using renewable energy. These technologies are brightening the future of civil engineering and enabling more innovative approaches. However, there are still many challenges that need to be addressed. Designing new infrastructure in response to climate change, solving transportation problems due to urbanization, and managing resources sustainably are some of the major challenges facing modern civil engineers. Therefore, the future of civil engineering will require constant research and development to address these issues.