The History of Civil Engineering An Introduction

Civil Engineer
Engineer is derived from the Latin word ingenium which means clever or ingenious. National School of Bridges and Highways opened in France in 1747 John Smeaton first person to call himself a Civil Engineer in 1770s, as opposed to a military engineer Institution of Civil Engineers founded in 1818 in England.

The Beginnings
Mesopotamia the cradle of civilisation Developed buildings, irrigation systems, simple wheeled vehicles, flood defences, bridges, paved roadways etc in the third millennium BC, over 5000 years ago

Other early developments

Egypt pyramids, canals, bridges, flood control systems, irrigation

Chinese Engineering - 1
200 BC the Ling Canal

http://www.chinats.com/guilin/attr25.htm

Chinese Engineering - 2
The Great Wall - first constructed around 200 BC from earth wall construction

http://www.travelchinaguide.com/picture/china_great_wall/

Chinese Engineering - 3
The Great Wall was reconstructed in its current form during the Ming Dynasty from 1368 - 1644

Chinese Engineering - 4
The Grand Canal c. 600 AD, 900 kms connecting the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, then extended 1100 km in 1293 to connect Beijing to the Yellow River

http://www.chinapage.com/canal.html

Roman engineering - 1
300 BC to 100 AD the Romans developed extensive roads, bridges, water supply systems including storage dams and aqueducts Highly developed labour force of professionals, trades and slaves Decline of the empire coincided with the ending of slavery and loss of mass labour force

Romans to Renaissance
Primary achievement was the development of alternative power sources, other than slave labour
Water wheels Windmills Tides

Renaissance
Renaissance era 14th to 16th century
Cathedrals Canals Roads Military engineering developments

th 18

th 20

centuries

Development of power generation through water and steam allowed major advances in engineering
Canals Bridges Railways Pipe systems Water treatment and sewage systems

Advances in sanitation engineering led to increased life expectancy

The down side

Untreated sewage led to pollution and disease until remedied Industrial effluent from factories Dams constructed for water supply led to environmental damage and loss of habitat Irrigation systems for agriculture lead to salinity, nutrient increase in rivers And more

Roads - 1
First roads built by Sumerians and Egyptians in 3000-2000 BC Lake Moeris Quarry Road in Egypt 2500 BC, oldest surviving paved road 300 BC, first Roman roads built

Roads - 2

http://www.aapg.org/international/africa/ne_ africa_egypt/local_activity/whale_valley/wpe68.jpg

Roads - 3
Roman road construction

http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/history/romanrd.htm

Water Supply & Public Health - 1

Romans developed extensive municipal water supply systems using gravity feed in 300 BC to 100 AD

http://www.inforoma.it/feature.php?lookup=aqueduct

Water Supply & Public Health - 2

The Aqua Triana still supplies water to fountains in Rome

http://academic.bowdoin.edu/classics/research/moyer/html/traiana1.shtml

Water Supply & Public Health - 3

Underground sewers built throughout Rome by 500 BC 1388 England passes the Urban Sanitary Act forbidding throwing garbage into rivers C.1600 Water powered pumps used to pump water from rivers to reservoirs for municipal use in England and Germany 1850-1890 discovery that public water supply systems are spreading cholera and typhoid and development of treatment systems for this.

Rivers, Irrigation and Floods

Sumerians and Egyptians developed irrigation systems and flood control systems by 2000 BC C.250 BC Guan Xian flood control and irrigation project in China C. 600 Hohokam Indians develop irrigation system in area of Arizona

Canals - 1
510 BC Nile Red Sea Canal 200 BC Ling Canal in China 605 AD Grand Canal in China 1825 Erie Canal in USA 1869 Suez Canal opens 1914 Panama Canal opens

Erie Canal

View of Erie Canal by John William Hill, 1829. http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/

Suez Canal

http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/Modern/suezcanal.html

Panama Canal

Culebra Cut 1904 http://www.canalmuseum.com/photos/panamacanalphoto004.htm

Dams - 1
Earliest dams were of gravity type, earth and rockfill construction. First recorded dam was Sadd-El Kaffara in Egypt c. 2850 BC Others known in Yemen (750 BC), Sri Lanka (400 BC) & Spain 150 AD First arch dam built by Romans at Glanum in 1st century BC

Dams - 2
Arch dam built in 1891 on the foundations of the original Roman dam at Glanum (France)
http://discover.edventures.com/functions/termlib.php?action=&ter mid=2930&alpha=g&searchString=

Dams - 3
1935 Hoover Dam, worlds tallest dam (remember Superman!)
http://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/

Bridges - 1
Record of timber bridge on stone pillars in Egypt, 2000 BC C. 300 BC Romans begin to use stone arches extensively for bridge and aqueduct construction 250 BC, Greeks develop timber trusses to use for bridges

Bridges - 2
Zhaozhou bridge, China, completed 605 AD. Oldest flat arch bridge in the world
http://www.chinaetravel.com/attraction/att11k.html

Bridges - 3
Ponte Vecchio flat arch bridge 1345 AD

Bridges - 4
Coalbrookdale Iron bridge, first all metal bridge 1779.

Bridges - 5
First suspension bridge constructed at Jacobs Creek (USA) in 1801 Pratt and Warren trusses developed in 1840s most widely used bridge truss configuration. 1858 Fink through truss developed 1876 Ashtabula bridge collapse proves cast iron not suitable for truss bridges

Bridges - 6
Brooklyn Bridge 1882, worlds longest suspension bridge at time (picture c. 1900) Caisson problems John, Washington and Emily Roebling

http://www.nycroads.com/crossings/brooklyn/

Bridges - 7
Tay Bridge collapse 1879 in Force 10 gale Firth of Forth cantilever bridge, still second longest in world (1890)

http://www.freefoto.com/preview.jsp?id=17-36-16&k=The+Forth+Rail+Bridge

Bridges - 8
1940 Tacoma Narrows bridge failure

http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/research/nonlinear/tacoma/tac09.gif

Bridges - 9
Tatara Bridge, Japan 1999, Worlds longest span cable-stayed bridge

http://www.hsba.go.jp/hasi-inf/img/tatara-b.jpg

Buildings - 1
3000 BC Sumerians build stone and brick buildings 2500 BC Egyptian pyramids commenced 450 BC The Parthenon 1144 Abbey Church of St Denis beginning of gothic construction in Europe

Buildings - 2
450 BC The Parthenon in Greece post and lintel construction

http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/graphics/ParthenonFromNW.html

Buildings - 3
1163 to 1250 Notre Dame Cathedral

http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/ndame/side.jpg

Buildings - 4
1889 Eiffel Tower worlds tallest building for 42 years

Buildings - 5
1931 Empire State Building opens, worlds tallest building for 42 years

http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/Modern/empirestate.html http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/hinex/empire/column2.html

Civil Engineering Today

Much has been learned from the successes of previous years, but also from the failures. The most critical lesson learned for today is that civil engineering is a profession that must interact with the community and the environment to develop solutions that are sustainable for both the economic, environmental and social needs of society.