A Horizon Drift: Civil Engineering and Contracring Interviews: Must Know Information

Time for some Civil Engineering tourism!

After going through many job interviews as a fresh graduate, I really felt the necessity of going over several engineering principles which I have forgotten or have not sufficiently stressed on. A lot of stuff I learnt during early university courses turned out to be vital for every Civil Engineer especially when it comes to Contracting.

Therefore, I felt like sharing with you IMPORTANT links, principles, guides, and blogs I have collected across MONTHS of researching. Yup, you kind of won the lottery if you are engineer and a reader of this post!

I will start with beneficial websites about Civil Engineering in general and contracting in specific. Most of these sites contain references, definitions, news, and case studies. Please find the links below:

- Civil Engineering Portal: http://www.engineeringcivil.com/

- Builder Bill: http://www.builderbill-diy-help.com/whoami_DIY.html

- The Constructor- Complete Civil Engineering Website: http://theconstructor.org/

- New Civil Engineer: http://www.nce.co.uk/

- History of Innovation: http://aehistory.wordpress.com/

Voila! I am sure you will bookmark these links ♥

Dwelling upon contracting, here are some major principles every civil engineer should know about contracting and working on site.

- Important Information for Site Engineers:

Source: https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/936609_10151374829967477_2101768394_n.jpg

- Water/Cement Ratio in Concrete:
As a reference, a 0.4-0.6 is used. A 0.4 w/c ratio is generally expected to produce concrete with a compressive strength (f’c) of approximately 5600 psi. A 0.8 ratio makes a weak concrete of about 2000 psi. As w/c increases strength decreases.

http://www.mastour.com/blog/

- Concrete Mixes for Different Conditions:

As a reference, 1:2.5:3.5 means cement to sand to aggregates ratio, 1:2:3 can be also used.

- Portland Cement:

AS mentioned in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, its name is derived from "its similarity to Portland stone, a type of building stone that was quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England".

- Setting out Foundation Trenches:

Please follow the link for description of the methodology.

http://theconstructor.org/practical-guide/setting-out-of-foundation-trenches/5986/

- Pouring, Testing, Finishing, and Curing of Concrete:

http://www.wikihow.com/Place-and-Finish-a-Concrete-Floor

http://media-cache-ec4.pinimg.com/736x/db/4c/0e/db4c0ecb5bba11ae19d11518e4995586.jpg

- Types of Joints:

Control/Contraction Joint: Isolates one major building component with another(example - new building abutting an existing building).Control joints are typically used in concrete to reduce the occurrence of shrinkage cracking. A control joint is a continuous vertical joint filled with mortar, but with a bond breaker. If control joints are not provided, a concrete masonry wall may crack as it shrinks over time.

http://faculty.delhi.edu/hultendc/A220-Week2-Lecture-Web.html

Expansion/Isolation Joint: Used within straight lengths of the same wall. Expansion joints are typically used to cope with thermal and moisture expansion in clay brick masonry. An expansion joint is a continuous vertical or horizontal joint, left completely free of mortar and filled with elastomeric sealant to keep it watertight.