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Construction Engineering

Abstract: Construction engineering is a specialized branch of civil engineering concerned with the planning, execution, and control of construction operations for such projects as highways, buildings, dams, airports, and utility lines. Planning consists of scheduling the work to be done and selecting the most suitable construction methods and equipment for the project. Execution requires the timely mobilization of all drawings, layouts, and materials on the job to prevent delays to the work. Control consists of analyzing progress and cost to ensure that the project will be done on schedule and within the estimated cost.

Keywords: planning, Execution, Control, Preparation of site, Earthmoving, Foundation treatment, Steel erection, Concrete construction, Asphalt paving and so on.

Construction engineering is a specialized branch of civil engineering concerned with the planning, execution, and control of construction operations for such projects as highways, buildings, dams, airports, and utility lines.

Planning consists of scheduling the work to be done and selecting the most suitable construction methods and equipment for the project. Execution requires the timely mobilization of all drawings, layouts, and materials on the job to prevent delays to the work. Control consists of analyzing progress and cost to ensure that the project will be done on schedule and within the estimated cost.

Planning. The planning phase starts with a detailed study of construction plans and specifications. From this study a list of all items of work is prepared, and related items are then grouped together for listing on a master schedule. A sequence of construction and the time to be allotted for each item is then indicated. The method of operation and the equipment to be used for the individual work items are selected to satisfy the schedule and the character of the project at the lowest possible cost.

The amount of time allotted for a certain operation and the selection of methods of operation and equipment that is readily available to the contractor. After the master or general construction schedule has been drawn up, subsidiary detailed schedules or forecasts are prepared form the master schedule. These include individual schedules for procurement of material, equipment, and labor, as well as forecasts of cost and income.

Execution. The speedy execution of the project requires the project requires the ready supply of all materials, equipment, and labor when needed. The construction engineer is generally responsible for initiating the purchase of most construction materials and expediting their delivery to the project. Some materials, such as structural steel and mechanical equipment, require partial or complete fabrication by a supplier. For these fabricated materials the engineer must prepare or check all fabrication drawings for accuracy and case of assembly and often inspect the supplier’s fabrication.

Other construction engineering duties are the layout of the work by surveying methods, the preparation of detail drawings to clarify the design engineer’s drawings for the construction crews, and the inspection of the work to ensure that it complies with plans and specifications.

On most large projects it is necessary to design and prepare construction drawings for temporary construction facilities, such as drainage structures, access roads, office and storage buildings, formwork, and cofferdams. Other problems are the selection of electrical and mechanical equipment and the design of structural features for concrete material processing and mixing plants and compressed air, water, and electrical distribution systems.

Control. Progress control is obtained by comparing actual performance on the work against the desired performance set up on the master or detailed schedules. Since delay on one feature of the project could easily affect the entire job, it is often necessary to add equipment or crews to speed up the work.

Cost control is obtained by comparing actual unit costs for individual work items against estimated or budgeted unit costs, which are set up at the beginning of the work. A unit cost is obtained by dividing the total cost of an operation by the number of units in that operation.

Typical units are cubic yards for excavation or concrete work and tons for structural steel. The actual unit cost for any item at any time is obtained by dividing the accumulated costs charged to that item by the accumulated units of work performed.

Individual work item costs are obtained by periodically distributing job costs, such as payroll and invoices to various work item accounts. Payroll and equipment rental charges are distributed with the aid of time cards prepared by crew foremen. The cards indicate the time spent by the job crews and equipment on the different element of the work. The allocation of material costs is based on the quantity of each type of material used for each specific item.

When the comparison of actual and estimated unit costs indicates an overrun; an analysis is made to pinpoint the cause. If the overrun is in equipment costs, it may be that the equipment has insufficient capacity or that it is not working properly. If the overrun is in labor costs, it may be that the crews have too many men, lack of proper supervision, or are being delayed for lack of materials or layout. In such cases time studies are invaluable in analyzing productivity.

Construction operations are generally classified according to specialized fields. These include preparation of the project site, earthmoving, foundation treatment, steel erection, concrete placement, asphalt paving, and electrical and mechanical installations. Procedures for each of these fields are generally, the same, even when applied to different projects, such as buildings, dams, or airports. However, the relative importance of each field is not the same in all cases.

Preparation of site. This consists of the removal and clearing of all surface structures and growth from the site of the proposed structure. A bulldozer is used for small structures and trees. Larger structures must be dismantled.

Earthmoving. This includes excavation and the placement of earth fill. Excavation follows preparation of the site, and is performed when the existing grade must be brought down to a new elevation. Excavation generally starts with the separate stripping of the organic topsoil, which is later reused for landscaping around the new structure. This also prevents contamination of the nonorganic material which

is below the topsoil and which may be required for fill. Excavation may be done by any of several excavators, such as shovels, draglines, clamshells, cranes, and scrapers.

Efficient excavation on land requires a dry excavation area, because many soils are unstable when wet and cannot support excavating and hauling equipment. Dewatering becomes a major operation when the excavation lies below the natural water table and intercepts the groundwater flow. When this occurs, dewatering and stabilizing of the soil may be accomplished by trenches, which conduct seepage to a sump from which the water is pumped out. Dewatering and stabilizing of the soil may in other cases be accomplished by wellpoints and electroosmosis.

Some materials, such as rock, cemented gravels, and hard clays, require blasting to loosen or fragment the material. Blast holes are drilled in the material; explosives are then placed in the blast holes and detonated. The quantity of explosives and the blast-hole spacing are dependent upon the type and structure of the rock and the diameter and depth of the blast holes.

After placement of the earth fill, it is almost always compacted to prevent subsequent settlement. Compaction is generally done with sheep’s-foot, grid, pneumatic-tired, and vibratory-type rollers, which are towed by tractors over the fills it is being placed. Hand-held, gasoline-driven rammers are used for compaction close to structures where is no room for rollers to operate.

Foundation treatment. When subsurface investigation reveals structural defects in the foundation area to be used for a structure, the foundation must be strengthened. Water passages, cavities, fissures, faults, and other defects are filled and strengthened by grouting. Grouting consists of injection of fluid mixtures under pressure. The fluids subsequently solidify in the voids of the strata. Most grouting is done with cement and mixtures, but other mixture ingredients are asphalt, cement and clay, and precipitating chemicals.

Steel erection. The construction of a steel structure consists of the assembly at the site of mill-rolled or shop-fabricated steel section. The steel sections many consist of beams, columns, or small trusses which are joined together by riveting, bolting, or welding. It is more economical to assemble sections of the structure at a fabricating shop rather than in the field, but the size of preassembled units is limited by the capacity of transportation and erection equipment. The crane is the most common type of erection equipment, but when a structure is too high or extensive in area to be erected by a crane, it is necessary to place one or more derricks on the structure to handle the steel. In high structures the derrick must be constantly dismantled and reerected to successively higher levels to raise the structure. For river bridges the steel may be handled by cranes on barges, or, if the bridge is too high, by traveling derricks which ride on the bridge being erected, Cables for long suspension bridges are assembled in place by special equipment that pulls the wire from a reel, set up at one anchorage, across to the opposite anchorage, repeating the operation until the bundle of wires is of the required size.

Concrete construction. Concrete construction consists of several operations: forming, concrete production, placement, and curing. Forming is required to contain and support the fluid concrete within its desired final outline until it solidifies and can