The Complete Civil Engineering Portal

Fluid Flow in Pipes

2009-05-05T03:53:00.000-07:00

Laminar Flow

Its is a flow in which the fluid particles move in parallel layers in a single direction.Due to the parabolic velocity distribution in laminar flow, a shearing stress is developed. As this shearing stress increases, the viscous forces become unable to damp out disturbances, and turbulent flow results. The region of change is dependent on the fluid velocity, density, and viscosity and the size of the conduit.

Reynolds number which is the ratio of inertial forces/viscous forces is basically used to determine the kind of flow that is whether it is laminar, turbulent or is in transition .

Reynolds number <2000 ==laminar

Reynolds number >2000 == turbulent.

R=VD$/u=VD/v

where
V=fluid velocity,ft/s(m/s)
D=pipe Diameter,ft(m)
$=density of fluid,lb-s2/ft4
u=viscosity of fluid lb-s/ft2(kg-s/m2)
v=u/$=kinematic viscosity,ft2/s(m2/s)

Diagram showing Laminar Flow

In laminar flow.the following equation for head loss due to friction can be developed by considering the forces acting on a cylinder of fluid in a pipe:

hf=32uLV/D2?g

where
hf=head loss due to friction,ft(m)
L=length of pipe section considered,ft(m)
g=Acceleration due to gravity(9.81 m/s2)

Turbulent Flow

The inertial forces are large due to which the viscous forces cannot dampen out the disturbances which in turn create eddies.These eddies have a rotational and translational velocity.

Factors Regarding Head Loss:

1) The head loss varies directly as the length of the pipe.
2) The head loss varies almost as the square of the velocity.
3) The head loss varies almost inversely as the diameter.
The head loss depends on the surface roughness of the pipe wall.
4) The head loss depends on the fluid density and viscosity.
5) The head loss is independent of the pressure.

Stadia Surveying

2009-05-05T03:43:00.000-07:00

In stadia surveying, a transit having horizontal stadia crosshairs above and below the central horizontal crosshair is used. The difference in the rod readings at the stadia cross hairs is termed the rod intercept. The intercept may be converted to the horizontal and vertical distances between the instrument and the rod by the following formulas:

H= Ki(cos a)2 ( f+c) cos a

V=0.5Ki(sin 2a)+( f +c) sin a

where
H= horizontal distance between center of transit and rod, ft (m)

V =vertical distance between center of transit and point on rod intersected by middle horizontal crosshair, ft (m)

K =stadia factor (usually 100)

i =rod intercept, ft (m)

a =vertical inclination of line of sight, measured from the horizontal, degree

f+c =instrument constant, ft (m) (usually taken as 1 ft) (0.3048 m)

For horizontal sights,the stadia distance ft(m) can be calculated as:

D=Rf/i+C

where
R= intercept on rod between two sighting wires, ft (m)

f =focal length of telescope, ft (m) (constant for specific instrument)

i distance between stadia wires, ft (m)

C= f+c

c= distance from center of spindle to center of objective lens, ft (m)

C is called the stadia constant, although c and C vary slightly. The value of f/i, the stadia factor, is set by the manufacturer to be about 100, but it is not necessarily 100.00. The value should be checked before use on important work,
or when the wires or reticle are damaged and replaced.

Structural Engineering Softwares

2007-03-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

FrameSolver 2D for Windows
Download the full version of FrameSolver 2D for free to model and analyze planar frames, trusses, and multi span beams.

Analysis of plane frames program
Free download of Linear static analysis of plane frames program, Full Setup Package .

Analysis of plane trusses Free download of Linear static analysis of plane trusses program.

Static and Dynamic Structural Analysis of 3D Moment-Resisting Frames
Free software for static and dynamic analysis of 3D moment-resisting linear elastic structures. Written in K&R C. Source code includes: frame analysis

Bridge Basics - A Spotter's Guide to Bridge Design Pictures, history, and structural explanations of many different types of trusses and bridges

SourceOECD: Statistics : STAN Industry Structural Analysis
SourceOECD STAN Structural Analysis. Database Edition (ISSN 1608-1307) Download also: STAN Country Excel Files .

Spreadsheets for Structural Engineering - Free software
Structural Analysis FEM Software - free Java Software that be tested online. ... Frame - Free software for static and dynamic structural analysis of 2D

alphaWorks : Structural Analysis for Java : Overview
A technology that analyzes structural dependencies of Java applications, measures stability, detects structural.

Civil Engineering disciplines

2007-03-30T23:59:00.000-07:00

List of Civil Engineering disciplines / fields :

Bridge Engineering

Construction engineering

Environmental engineering

Fire protection engineering

Geotechnical engineering

General engineering

Highway Engineering

Hydraulic engineering

Materials science

Piles Engineering

Structural engineering

Surveying

Timber Engineering

Transportation engineering

Water resources engineering

“Civil Engineering is a Renaissance field that requires the knowledge of many disciplines. ”

Conferences in Civil Engineering

2007-03-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

Leading Civil Engineering Construction Companies

2007-03-30T23:24:00.000-07:00

Engineering & Construction Companies - Engineering & Construction Companies ... USA, project conceptualization through startup and commissioning.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP-Architecture, Engineering, Interior Design, Planning, Project management...Designers of Sears Tower and John Hancock Center .

European Network of Construction Companies for Research ENCORD aims to advance industry-led research and development and innovation in the construction field.

Building and Construction Company UK - Directory of UK Building Find hundreds of Building and Construction Companies in the FreeIndex UK business directory.

Turner Construction Company Leading Engineering And Construction Companies To Form The First Global Industry ,Hochtief, through Kitchell Construction; Skanska USA.

Parsons Corporation
Parsons is one of the world's largest engineering and construction organizations specializing in infrastructure, transportation, planning, environmental, healthcare etc.

Mott McDonald management, engineering and development consultancy serving the public and private sector around the world.

http://www.hse.gov.uk for Health and safety guide at construction.

Other Construction Companies of Note:

http://www.jbconstruction.co.uk

http://www.act.uk.net

http://www.skanska.co.uk

Colleges / Universities offering civil engineering programmes

2007-03-30T23:14:00.000-07:00

U.S. Universities, by State A list of regionally-accredited US universities organized by state.

Welcome to Harvard University Harvard University, which celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.

American Universities home pages for American Universities granting bachelor or masters degrees.

Direct Jobs from Universities & Colleges Get job listings direct from the source.

Universities UK - home page Higher education action group. Lists AZ links, FAQ's and contact details.

UK Active Map of Universities and HE Institutions A map of UK Universities and Higher Education Colleges with sensitive links.

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is one of the oldest universities in the world .

Heriot Watt University, UK offering Civil Engineering and Construction Management degrees.

University Kebangsaan Malaysia

INDIAN UNIVERSITIES Guide to Indian Universities & Education in India

Universities and Colleges in India-A list of universities and colleges in India approved by ministry of education.

Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi-India

University of Delhi-India

University of Mumbai-India

Thapar University - India

Aligarh Muslim University-India

Education in India - Colleges and Universities Information on colleges and Universities in India.

Professional Societies for Civil Engineers

2007-03-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

RICS- Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering - CSCE

International Society for technical Education

American Society of Civil Engineers

Institution of Civil Engineers

The Junior Engineering Technical Society

Society of American Military Engineers

International Society for Bridge and Structural engineers

Civil Engineering Journals and Magazines

2007-03-30T22:52:00.000-07:00

Terra et Aqua - International journal on public works, ports and waterways developments. Presents dredging related papers on important scientific and state-of-the-art subjects.

Current MethodsJournal - explores water resources engineering, with articles and current events inhydrology and hydraulics. From Haestad Methods.

Thomas Telford Journals- online journals include Geotechnique, Civil Engineering, StructuralConcrete and the complete proceedings of the Institution of CivilEngineers

Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics , by J. Wiley and Sons. Currently this journal has papers available online.

New Civil Engineer Plus
New Civil Engineer, magazine of the Institution of Civil Engineers. ... The year will see events, exhibitions, the ICE’s Bicentenary Conference in July and .

American Society of Civil Engineers Publications
In our continuing effort to digitize the ASCE Journal archive, ... This full-text database contains more than 24000 journal and 8700 proceedings papers.

Institution of Civil Engineer's Virtual Library
Pay per view ICE virtual journal ICE member journals ... The ICE's Virtual Library gives access to the largest repository of full text civil engineering

CEVL Journal Links
Gerard is standing for the UK ICE Council. Site also gives details of his ... Journal, uk, Europe.

Thomas Telford Journals
Welcome to our online journal service. The largest collection of civil engineering papers on the web. All Thomas Telford and Institution of Civil Engineers

Periodicals
The mission of Air Force Civil Engineer (AFCE) magazine is to help Air Force civil engineers perform their mission. Whether it be an article on emergency

Journal of Management in Engineering
The Journal of Management in Engineering examines contemporary issues associated with leadership and management for the twenty-first century civil engineer.

Available journals
Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 0315-1468 1208-6029. Civiele Techniek - Vakblad voor Weg en Waterbouwers, 0925-7128. Civil Engineer International

EJGE Table of Contents: Volume 5 - 2000
The current volume of the Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering includes the ... Civil Engineer, Quebec, Canada, and Professors, School of Civil

The Canadian Society for Civil Engineering - CSCE
Canadian Civil Engineer (CCE): Subscription (print) to Canada’s only magazine devoted exclusively to civil engineering. Canadian Journal of Civil .

ASCE Journal of Infrastructure Systems - Publish cross-disciplinary papers about methodologies for monitoring, evaluating, expanding, repairing, replacing, financing, or otherwise sustaining the civil infrastructure.

Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering - Bimonthly journal of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering. Publishes articles in the fields of structure, construction, mechanics, materials,transportation, computer applications, hydrotechnical and environmental engineering.

Civil Engineering Magazine Online - Explore the latest contents of Civil Engineering magazine, the official publication of the American Society of Civil Engineers

Civil Engineering News Online - An independent news source for information on engineered projects; consulting firm management; surveying GPS; rehabilitation of structures; construction materials methods; public works.

Concrete Canoe Magazine - Published annually and dedicated to students that are involved in the concrete canoe project.

Engineering News-Record - Site features headline news, searchable directories of engineers, contractors and industry job listings for architects, engineers, and other professionals.

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - An international journal that covers the complete spectrum of geo-engineering including soil and rock engineering and hydrogeology.

Grading and Ecavation Contractor Online - Grading and Excavation Contractor is a professional journal covering the construction industry, published by Forester Publishing, Inc.

Institution of Civil Engineer’s Virtual Library - Provides searchable access to the institute’s repository of full text civil engineering papers stretching back to 1836. Pay per view or subscription based.

Journal of Composites for Construction - Deals with composite materials consisting of continuous synthetic fibers and matrices for use in civil engineering structures and subjected to the loading and environments of the infrastructure.

Observer Newsletter - A newsletter for all engineers and those interested in the profession.

Roads and Bridges Magazine - Provides engineers, contractors and government information on equipment, materials, technology, and products targeted to transportation specifying/buying teams who design, build and maintain the facilities.

Journal of Hydraulic Research- bimonthly published by the International Association of HydraulicEngineering and Research (IAHR)

Civil Engineering Terminology

2007-03-27T04:28:00.000-07:00

It is Said: An extensive report is being prepared on a fresh approach to the problem.
It Means: We just hired three guys... We'll let them kick it around for a while.

Said: A number of different approaches are being tried.
Means: We don't know where we're going, but we're moving.

Said: Developed after years of intensive research.
Means: It was discovered by accident.

Said: Modifications are underway to correct certain minor difficulties.
Means: We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch.

Said: Preliminary operational tests were inconclusive.
Means: The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.

Said: Test results were extremely gratifying.
Means: It works, and boy are we surprised !

Said: The design will be finalized in the next reporting period.
Means: We haven't started this job yet, but we've got to say something.

Said: The entire concept is unworkable.
Means: The only guy who understood the thing just quit.

Said: We need close project coordination.
Means: We should have asked someone else.
Alternate: Let's spread the responsibility for this.

Top Ten Reasons To Date a Civil Engineer

2007-03-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

1. The world does revolve around us... We pick the coordinate system.
2. Find out what those other buttons on your calculator do.
3. We know how to handle stress and strain in our relationships.
4. Parents will approve.
5. Help with your math homework.
6. Can calculate head pressure.
7. Looks good on a resume.
8. Free body diagrams.
9. High starting salary.
10. Extremely good looking

Funny Joke

2007-03-27T04:15:00.000-07:00

A man was crossing a road one day when a frog called out to him and said: "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a beautiful princess".
He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket. The frog spoke up again and said: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for one week."
The man took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and returned it to the pocket. The frog then cried out: "If you kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you and do ANYTHING you want". Again the man took the frog out, smiled at it and put it back into his pocket.
Finally, the frog asked: "What is the matter ? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll stay with you for a week and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me ?"
The man said, "Look I'm a software engineer. I don't have time for a girlfriend, but a talking frog is cool."

You Might Be A Civil Engineer if...

2007-03-27T04:12:00.000-07:00

- You have no life - and you can PROVE it mathematically.
- You enjoy pain.
- You know vector calculus but you can't remember how to do long division.
- You chuckle whenever anyone says "centrifugal force".
- You've actually used every single function on your graphing calculator.
- It is sunny and 70 degrees outside, and you are working on a computer.
- You frequently whistle the theme song to "MacGyver".
- You know how to integrate a chicken and can take the derivative of water.
- You think in "math".
- You've calculated that the World Series actually diverges.
- You hesitate to look at something because you don't want to break down its wave function.
- You have a pet named after a scientist.
- You laugh at jokes about mathematicians.
- The Humane society has you arrested because you actually performed the Schrodinger's Cat experiment.
- You can translate English into Binary.
- You can't remember what's behind the door in the engineering building which says "Exit".
- You have to bring a jacket with you, in the middle of summer, because there's a wind-chill factor in the lab.
- You are completely addicted to caffeine.
- You avoid doing anything because you don't want to contribute to the eventual heat-death of the universe.
- You consider ANY non-engineering course "easy".
- When your professor asks you where your homework is, you claim to have accidentally determined its momentum so precisely, that according to Heisenberg it could be anywhere in the universe.
- The "fun" center of your brain has deteriorated from lack of use.
- You'll assume that a "horse" is a "sphere" in order to make the math easier.
- The blinking 12:00 on someone's VCR draws you in like a tractor beam to fix it.
- You bring a computer manual / technical journal as vacation reading.
- The salesperson at Circuit City can't answer any of your questions.
- You can't help eavesdropping in computer stores... and correcting the salesperson.
- You're in line for the guillotine... it stops working properly... and you offer to fix it.
- You go on the rides at Disneyland and sit backwards to see how they do the special effects.
- You have any "Dilbert" comics displayed in your work area.
- You have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work.
- You have never backed up your hard drive.
- You haven't bought any new underwear or socks for yourself since you got married.
- You spent more on your calculator than on your wedding ring.
- You think that when people around you yawn, it's because they didn't get enough sleep.
- You would rather get more dots per inch than miles per gallon
- You've ever calculated how much you make per second.
- Your favorite James Bond character is "Q," the guy who makes the gadgets.
- You understood more than five of these jokes.
- You make a copy of this list, and post it on your door (or your home page !)

Difference between Mechanical and Civil Engineers

2007-03-27T04:11:00.000-07:00

"Q: What is the difference between Mechanical Engineers and Civil Engineers ?
A: Mechanical Engineers build weapons, Civil Engineers build targets."

Top Ten Reasons not to Date an Engineer

2007-03-27T04:08:00.000-07:00

1. T-shirt and jeans are their formal dress. Hot dog and a six-pack is their seven-course meal.
2. The only social life known of is to post and talk on the net.
3. Flames like a monster and speaks like a pussycat.
4. Works from 6:30am to 7:30pm daily. No morning kisses and no evening walks.
5. No matter how hard you cry and how loud you yell, he just sits there calmly discussing your emotion in terms of mathematical logic.
6. Only listens to classic rock. Hates everything from Bach to Prince.
7. Touches his car more often than you.
8. Talks in acronyms.
9. Can't leave that damn pencil off his ear for a minute.
10. Will file a divorce if you call him in the middle of debugging.

What is Civil Engineering ???

2007-03-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

Civil Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of Power in Nature for the use and convenience of man; being that practical application of the most important principles of natural Philosophy which has in a considerable degree realized the anticipations of Bacon, and changed the aspect and state of affairs in the whole world. The most important object of Civil Engineering is to improve the means of production and of traffic in states, both for external and internal Trade. This applied in the construction and management of Roads - Bridges - Rail Roads - Aqueducts - Canals - river navigation - Docks, and storehouses for the convenience of internal intercourse and exchange; - and in the construction of Ports - Harbours - Moles - Breakwaters - and Lighthouses, and in the navigation by artificial Power for the purposes of commerce.

Civil Engineering Quotes Sayings & Quotations

2007-03-27T03:38:00.000-07:00

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
- Douglas Adams -

“The road to success is always under construction”
Get it right….CIVIL ENGINEERS
A bridge is built for us to pass over; it is a work of utility, and which should endure. It should be in keeping with its object, solid, clean, simple, well executed without vain ornament.
- Paul Sejourne -

Aeroplanes are not designed by science, but by art in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary. I do not mean to suggest that engineering can do without science, on the contrary, it stands on scientific foundations, but there is a big gap between scientific research and the engineering product which has to be bridged by the art of the engineer.
- Walter G Vincenti -

A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible
- Freeman Dyson-

A great bridge is a great monument which should serve to make known the splendour and genius of a nation; one should not occupy oneself with efforts to perfect it architecturally, for taste is always susceptible to change, but to conserve always in its form and decoration the character of solidity which is proper.
- Jean Peronnet-

An engineer is someone who is good with figures, but doesn't have the personality of an accountant.
- An Arts graduate's view of engineers-

An engineer is someone who washes his hands before going to the toilet.
- Anon-

Another places upon his nose a pair of paper or wooden spectacles; he performs the duty of engineer, comes, goes, makes a plan, looks at the workmen, draws lines, plays the pedant, cries that everything is being ruined, causes the work to be abandoned and resumed at his will, and directs it at great length and as absurdly as possible.this character is termed the geometer, and he does his best to make himself unendurable to those who wield the spade and pickaxe.
- George Sand -

Architects and engineers are among the most fortunate of men since they build their own monuments with public consent, public approval and often public money.
- John Prebble -

A theory may be so rich in descriptive possibilities that it can be made to fit any data.
- Phillip Johnson-Laird -

But even experimental scientists today, despite Einstein and Darwin, seem loath to abandon the search for an eternal changeless unhistorical reality of which pure mathematics could be the model
- Gordon Childe -

Electronic calculators can solve problems which the man who made them cannot solve; but no government subsidised commission of engineers and physicists could create a worm.
- Joseph Wood Krutch

Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance.
- Dr AR Dykes -

Engineering problems are under-defined, there are many solutions, good, bad and indifferent. The art is to arrive at a good solution. This is a creative activity, involving imagination, intuition and deliberate choice.
- Ove Arup -

Engineering refers to the practice of organizing the design and construction [and, I would add operation] of any artifice which transforms the physical world around us to meet some recognized need.
- GFC Rogers -

Engineering ... to define rudely but not inaptly, is the art of doing that well with one dollar, which any bungler can do with two after a fashion.
- Arthur Mellen Wellington -

Engineers ... are not mere technicians and should not approve or lend their name to any project that does not promise to be beneficent to man and the advancement of civilization
- John Fowler -

Engineers ... are not superhuman. They make mistakes in their assumptions, in their calculations, in their conclusions. That they make mistakes is forgivable; that they catch them is imperative. Thus it is the essence of modern engineering not only to be able to check one's own work but also to have one's work checked and to be able to check the work of others.
- Henry Petroski -

To Engineer Is Human. Engineers Creed

I am an Engineer
I serve mankind
by making dreams come true.
- Anon -

Experience serves not only to confirm theory, but differs from it without disturbing it, it leads to new truths which theory only has not been able to reach.
- Dalembert -

For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petar; and't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines
And blow them at the moon.
- William Shakespeare -

From the laying out of a line of a tunnel to its final completion, the work may be either a series of experiments made at the expense of the proprietors of the project, or a series of judicious applications of the results of previous experience.
- HS Drinker -

Go for civil engineering, because civil engineering is the branch of engineering which teaches you the most about managing people. Managing people is a skill which is very, very useful and applies almost regardless of what you do.
- Sir John Harvey Jones -

He ... insists that no mathematical formula, however exact it may appear to be, can be of greater accuracy than the assumptions on which it is based, and he draws the conclusion that experience still remains the great teacher and final judge.
- James Kip Finch -

He was living like an engineer in a mechanical world. No wonder he had become dry as a stone.
- Simone de Beauvoir -

His father loved him dearly, but his work, that of a civil engineer, had left him with but little time for his family. Energetic, active, and always taken up with some responsible work, he did not spoil his children with excessive tenderness.
- Mme Estafavia -

How could you do anything so vicious?
It was easy my dear, don't forget I spent two years as a building contractor.
- Priscilla Presley & Ricardo Montalban -

I am an old man now, and when I die and go to Heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightement. One is quantum electrodynamics and the other is the turbulent motion of fluids. And about the former I am rather more optimistic.
- Sir Horace Lamb -

[I am] opposed to the laying down of rules or conditions to be observed in the construction of bridges lest the progress of improvement tomorrow might be embarrassed or shackled by recording or registering as law the prejudices or errors of today.
- Isambard Kingdom Brunel -

If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction firm and the house collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house - that builder shall be put to death. If it destroys property, he shall restore whatever it destroyed, and because he did not make the house firm he shall rebuild the house which collapsed at his own expense. If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction meet the requirement and a wall falls - that builder shall strengthen the wall at his own expense.
- The Code of Hammurabi, c. 2250 BC -

Improvement makes strait roads: but the crooked roads without Improvement are roads of Genius.
- William Blake -

I'm the chap who builds motorways through places like Twyford Down and when people complain I say f... off.
- Sam Small -

In my intercourse with mankind, I have always found those who would thrust theory into practical matters to be, at bottom, men of no judgement and pure quacks.
- John Smeaton -

In practical work he can be ingenious with regard to modifying apparatus; he uses engineering rather than imagination.

In free society art is not a weapon.... Artists are not engineers of the soul.
- President John F Kennedy -

I sell here, Sir, what all the world desires to have - power.
- Matthew Boulton (British Engineer) -

It takes an engineer to undertake the training of an engineer and not, as often happens, a theoretical engineer who is clever on a blackboard with mathematical formulae but useless as far as production is concerned.
- The Rev EB Evans -

Let him not be grasping nor have his mind preoccupied with ... receiving perquisites, but let him with dignity keep up his position by establishing a good reputation. No work can be rightly done without honesty and incorruptibility.
- Vitruvius -

"Mach 2 travel feels no different." a passenger commented on an early Concorde flight. "Yes," Sir George replied. "That was the difficult bit."
- Sir George Edwards -

Mary, I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow, and the next day, and next year, and the year after that. I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my shoes and I'm gonna see the world! ... Then I'm gonna come back home and go to college and see what they know, and then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred storeys high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long!
- James Stewart -

Men build bridges and throw railroads across deserts, and yet they contend successfully that the job of sewing on a button is beyond them. Accordingly, they don't have to sew buttons.
- Heywood Broun -

No greater care is required upon any works than upon such as are to withstand the action of water; for this reason, all parts of the work need to be done exactly according to the rules of the art which all workmen know, but few observe.
- Sextus Julius Frontinus -

Nor aught availed him now
To have built in heaven high towers; nor did he scape
By all his engines, but was headlong sent
With his industrious crew to build in hell.
- John Milton -

Nothing can be of great worth or holy which is the work of builders and mechanics.
- Zeno, Stoic Philosopher -

Nothing is so inspiring as seeing big works well laid out and planned and a real engineering organisation.
- Frederick Handley Page -

No village or man shall be forced to build bridges at river banks, except those who ought to do so by custom and law.

Oh! Ill fated bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay,
By telling the world fearlessly and without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less the chance of us being killed.
- William McGonagall -

One has to watch out for engineers - they begin with the sewing machine and end up with the atomic bomb.
- Marcel Pagnol -

Phases of a Project:
1 -- Exultation
2 -- Disenchantment
3 -- Search for the Guilty
4 -- Punishment of the Innocent
5 -- Praise for the Uninvolved
- Anon -

Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways, but the real task is to alter it.
- Karl Marx -

Pure scientists have by and large been dim-witted about engineers and applied science. They couldn't get interested. They wouldn't recognise that many of the problems were as intellectually exacting as pure problems, and that many of the solutions were as satisfying and beautiful. Their instinct - perhaps sharpened in this country by the passion to find a new snobbism wherever possible, and to invent one if it doesn't exist - was to take it for granted that applied science was an occupation for second rate minds. I say this more sharply because thirty years ago I took precisely that line myself.
- CP Snow -

Rise thou prostrate Ingineer, not all thy undermining Skill shall reach my Heart.
- George Farquhar -

So far I have been speaking of theoretical science, which is an attempt to understand the world. Practical science, which is an attempt to change the world, has been important from the first, and has continually increased in importance, until it has almost ousted theoretical science from men's thoughts. ... The triumph of science has been mainly due to its practical utility, and there has been an attempt to divorce this aspect from that of theory, thus making science more and more a technique, and less and less a doctrine as to the nature of the world. The penetration of this point of view to philosophers is very recent.
- Bertrand Russell -

Tell me, Mr Hoover, what are your interests?
Madam, I am an Engineer
Really? I took you for a gentleman.
- Herbert Hoover -

...(that) any general system of conveying passengers would ... go at a velocity exceeding ten miles an hour, or thereabouts, is extremely improbable.
- Railway engineer Thomas Tredgold, 1835 -

That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.
- Neal Armstrong -

The contractors do not hesitate to enrich themselves at the expense of the King or of those who work for them; & the engineers or inspectors of the works, on the contrary, have only in mind the honesty with which they act and to be highly esteemed; & they do not hesitate to regard the former as their enemies, when they are unfaithful.
- Hubert Gautier -

The history of engineering is really the history of breakages, and of learning from those breakages. I was taught at college 'the engineer learns most on the scrapheap'.
- CA Claremont -

The joy of engineering is to find a straight line on a double logarithmic diagram.
- Thomas Koenig -

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.
- Douglas Adams -

The means by which we live has outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
- Martin Luther King Jr -

The newly placed earth of the Road is not immediately to be compacted, as some will claim. Two or three months of time, some rain, and those who pass over the Road better assure this than if we compact with women and girls for many days; this is an unnecessary expense for the contractor.
- Hubert Gautier -

The words art, artisan, and artificial all come from the Latin word ars, and reinforce the notion that beauty and utility have been inextricably linked. The jazz musician Duke Ellington is believed to have said that if any music sounds good, it is good. The beauty of utility goes back at least as far as the flint axe and is as contemporary as the supersonic Concorde.
- Carroll Pursell -

There are three possible roads to ruin - women, gambling and technology. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technology.
- Georges Pompidou -

There can be little doubt that in many ways the story of bridge building is the story of civilisation. By it we can readily measure an important part of a people's progress.
- Franklin D Roosevelt -

Therefore O students study mathematics and do not build without foundations.
- Leonardo Da Vinci -

...as for earthquakes, though they were still formidable, they were so interesting that men of science could hardly regret them.
- Bertrand Russell -

This is not the age of pamphleteers. It is the age of engineers. The spark-gap is mightier than the pen. Democracy will not be salvaged by men who talk fluently, debate forcefully and quote aptly.
- Lancelot Hogben -

Very nice sort of place, Oxford, I should think, for people that like that sort of place. They teach you to be a gentleman there. In the Polytechnic they teach you to be an engineer or such like.
- George Bernard Shaw -

We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us.
- Winston Churchill -

We were shepherded in for our first lecture on engineering drawing in a studio on the top floor of a building in Shakespeare Street. There we were confronted by the lecturer, a Mr Rawlinson, an elderly gentleman with a nicotine stained moustache. He looked around the room at us and then said, "I know you lot. Your parents said, 'Our Jim's not very bright in the head but he's good with his hands, so we'll make him an engineer'."
- Frank Vann -

Well if you ever plan to motor west
Try take my way on the highway that's the best
Get your kicks on Route 66
- Bobby Troup -

What need the bridge much broader than the flood?
- William Shakespeare -

When engineers and quantity surveyors discuss aesthetics and architects study what cranes do we are on the right road.
- Ove Arup 1980 --

Whilst surveying what do you think I did? - only what others have done - fell in love!

You have been found guilty of indulging in unnatural practices under one of London's most beautiful bridges.