My Future Speciality: Industrial and Civil Engineering

Construction is an important branch of the economy that involves the construction of new and the maintenance of existing buildings and permanent structures.

Structures can be classified according to the materials used as wooden, stone, concrete, reinforced concrete, steel structures and so on. According to their functions permanent structures can be divided into residential and public buildings (including houses, apartment buildings. government buildings, school buildings, community buildings in villages), industrial buildings (factories, plants, power stations).

In most countries housing and industrial construction is being carried out on a large scale. Hundreds of factories are producing prefab panels, metal frames, reinforced concrete arches and so on. To-day industrial methods are used extensively in construction operation: the work is organized according to the assembly-line principle and is highly mechanized. The production cycle in the construction industry lasts from a few months to a few years. Work is carried out by construction and assembly organizations that have at their disposal planners, designers, surveyors.

Building profession attracts a great number of young men and women as an honourable profession. The person entering this profession must have scientific attitude,'imagination, initiative and good judgement obtained by experience and serious work. Civil engineers have an important aim – to provide people with all modern conveniences for a dwelling. The efforts of an engineer who designs a project and the constructor who builds a project are directed towards thesame goal namely, the creation of something which will serve the purpose for.which it is built. Construction is the ultimate objective of adesign. The ultimate decisions of civil engineer should be based on a reasonable knowledge of new methods in construction. An engineer is also engaged in preparing plans and specifications and in supervising the construction of the project. It is the duty of the engineer to design the project which will most nearly satisfy the needs of the occupant at the lowest practical cost.

If you want to contribute to the beauty of a town or city, if you want to leave a memory of yourself in the history of that town or city do your best to learn the trade of civil engineer.

National University of Water Management and Natural Resources Use trains future civil engineers at the jouilding faculty. Students get good scientific training and study the existing industrial methods. When they become full-fledged builders they will develop new ones. Besides, the course of study includes general technical subjects (descriptive geometry and drawing, strength of materials, building machines, theoretical mechanics, geology, hydrology, heat engineering), special subjects (building materials, civil and industrial architecture, reinforced concrete, metal and timber constructions, building technology and organization, construction economy, construction planning and management, environmental protection), work-based courses (essentials of law, science of theory and practice of patenting and protection of author's right, financing in construction).

The study of courses is accompanied by work experience enabling the students to test their vocational preferences. Work experience helps them to obtain occupational and survival skills and establish a relation­ship with a particular employer which may lead to the offer of a permanent job after the graduation from the Academy. The engineer should know the perspective problems connected with vocational guidance such as usage of new technologies, improvement of technologies, up-to-date industrial methods.

After the graduation Дот the Academy young specialists are able to work as building engineers, chief engineers, development engineers, process engineers, job foremen, health and safety engineers on the construction sites and enterprises; design engineers, designers at the project and survey institutes; junior and senior research workers at the research institutes'; teachers at higher and vocational schools.

The graduates may have their follow-up education at post- graduate courses of different institutes and universities at home and abroad and at in-service training of civil engineers. They usually participate in international exhibitions, conferences, congresses and symposia. It is very important that people enjoy their work as much as possible and enjoying work means choosing the right career and placing.

 

Vocabulary notes:

survival skills	вміння знайти своє місце в житті
satisfy the needs	задовольняти потреби
environmental protection	захист навколишнього середовища
work-based courses	предмети теоретичного та практичного циклів
essentials of law	правознавство
follow-up education	продовження освіти
in-senvice training	підвищення кваліфікації без відриву від виробництва
job foreman	майстер виробництва
process engineer	інженер-технолог
heat engineering	теплотехніка
full-fledged engineer	добре підготовлений інженер
to test vocational preference	перевірити себе в обраній професії
work experience	виробнича практика

 

Civil Engineering

I. Vocabulary and reading comprehension.

1. Read the following international words and give their Ukrainian equivalents:

civil, nature, construction, fortification, occupation, calculation, irrigation, project, public, finance, special, popular, port, hydroelectric, consultation.

 

2. Menorize the following words and expressions necessarry to comprehend the text:

civil engineering	цивільне будівництво
military engineering	військово-будівельна справа
to be engaged in smth.	займатися чим-небудь
to be responsible (for smth.)	відповідати, бути відповідальним
degree of involvement (with other fields)	ступінь зв’язку /з іншими галузями/
in contrast to	на відміну від
to make use of smth.	користуватися чим-небудь, використовувати
harbour	пристань
domestic dwelling	житловий будинок
multistorey flats	багатоквартирний будинок
with (in) reference to	відносно, стосовно /чого-небудь/
alloy	сплав
water supply	водопостачання
hydroelectric schemes	гідроелектричні проекти
precast (prefabricated) concrete	збірний залізобетон
reinforced concrete	залізобетон
prestressed concrete	попередньо напружений бетон
a great deal of	багато, велика кількість
hard and fast (dividing line)	непорушна, раз на завжди встановлена межа /лінія поділу/
honourable	почесний

 

3. Read the text and carry out the following assignments:

a) find the paragraph emphasizing the value of the work done by the civil engineers;

b) find the sentences explaining the difference between the word “building” and the term "structural engineering";

c) choose the best Ukrainian title, expressing the main idea of the text:

Планування і забудова міст;

Важлива і почесна професія;

Цивільне будівництво.

Civil Engineering

Civil engineering was not distinguished from other branches of engineering until 200 years ago.This term was first used to distinguish the work of the engineer with a non-military pur­pose from military engineering. Most early engineers were en­gaged in the canstruction of fortifications and were responsible for building the roads and bridges required for the movement of troops and supplies.

The Roman armies of occupation in Europe had brilliant engineers. After the collapse of the Roman Empire there was little progress in communications. It was only with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the invention of the steam engine and the realization of the potentialities in the use of iron that it revived. Roads, canals, railways, ports, harbours and brid­ges were then built by engineers who called theaselves "civil" in contrast to military engineers. This may have emphasized the value of thair work to the community.

Today, the scope of civil engineering has become very broad. It is subdivided into such as construction (all kinds of buil­dings), highway and railway engineering, hydraulic engineering (canals, dams, drainage and irrigation systems) and municipal engi­neering (city planning, traffic regulation, water supply, and sewerage).

Civil engineering is an extremely broad professional field. It must make use of many different branches of knowledge, inclu­ding mathematics, theory of structures, hydraulics, soil mechanics, surveying, hydrology, geology, economics and the most recently a knowledge of computers. Civil engineering problems involve the physical, mathematical, earth, social, communication, and engi­neering sciences. Civil engineering projects involve many other professional areas, including law, public health, economics, manage­ment, finance, and other branches of engineering. The scope and complexity of the field, and its degree of involvement with other fields, has increased rapidly with the development of modern science and technology and the growth of population and national economy. Taken as a whole, modern civil engineering constitutes a vital element of national industry which involves large numbers of people of various special interests and occupations.

Speaking about civil engineering we must properly use the words “construction” and “building”.

The term "construction" is used to denote the erection, and repair of all types of buildings, roads, bridges, and other struc­tures.

The word “building” is mainly used in the sense of domestic dwellings, including houses and, multistorey flats, schools, hospitals and office blocks, while “civil engineering” is used with reference to bridges, roads, harbours, water supply and hydroelectric schemes.

The term “structural engineering” means particularly the cal­culation and design of all kinds of structures whose strength is mostly provided by steel, reinforced, prestressed, or precast concrete, or other alloys. This work involves a great deal of mathematics аnd consultations from several different professions.

We should remember that there is no hard and fast dividing line between these terms.

Civil engineering is a very popular and honourable profession in our country.