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Civil engineering is a broad
field of engineering dealing with the planning,
design, construction, maintenance and management
of physical infrastructure networks. This includes
fixed structures, or public works, as they are
related to earth, water, or civilization and
their processes. Most civil engineering today
deals with power plants, bridges, roads, railways,
structures, water supply, irrigation, the natural
environment, sewer, flood control, transportation
and traffic.
Engineering has
developed from observations of the ways natural
and constructed systems react and from the development
of empirical equations that provide bases for
design. Civil engineering is the broadest of
the engineering fields, partly because it is
the oldest of all engineering fields. In fact,
engineering was once divided into only two fields
- military and civil. Civil engineering was
defined to distinguish it from military engineering.
Within the US, some federal government funding
and organization is still part of the United
States Army as the Corps of Engineers. Civil
engineering is still an umbrella term, comprised
of many related specialties. |
