Park and Infrastructure Management Quiz

CE UY 1002 Final Exam Review

• This review covers the course material for the Fall 2024 semester's final exam.
• The course is Introduction to Civil Engineering.

Topic #1 - Civil Engineering Sub-disciplines

• What is engineering? Applying math and science to solve problems, creatively designing and constructing things. It aims to optimize the conversion of natural resources to human use.
• What is civil engineering? Designing the infrastructure of modern societies. This includes roads, bridges, mass transit, airports, ports, waterways, water supply, waste treatment, energy, and communication systems.
• Civil engineering sub-disciplines: This course covers several key areas within civil engineering: Environmental, Water Resources, Structural, Transportation, Geotechnical, Construction, and Urban Systems/Informatics.

Structural Engineering

• Buildings: From single-family homes to skyscrapers. Key issues include loads, geometry, and material selection.
• Bridges: Examples include the Brooklyn Bridge, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and Tower Bridge. Areas of concern include loads, geometry, and material type.
• Stadiums/arenas: Includes iconic structures like Wembley Stadium, Yankee Stadium, The Colosseum, and Barclays Center. Key focus is analysis of loads, geometry, and materials.
• Dams: Examples such as the New Croton Dam, Tarbela Dam, and Hoover Dam. Critical elements are the loads, geometry, and materials used.
• Towers/Drilling platforms: Focus on the loads, geometry, materials involved in tall towers and oil drilling platforms.
• Retaining walls: Issues to consider in this area are loads, geometry and material types.

Water Resources Engineering

• Water supply systems: Diagrams of the water cycle are included, with a focus on issues such as the amount of available water versus needed water and water quality & distribution.
• Drainage systems: Diagrams are presented focusing on issues like quantity, quality, pipe size, materials, and discharge location.
• Stormwater detention/retention ponds: Emphasis is placed on quantity sizing, quality, material used (man-made versus natural), and discharge location.
• Flood control structures: Details on hurricane protection systems (levees and floodwalls), with specific examples like New Orleans levees. Issues include flood predictions, and hydraulic forces.
• Coastal protection: Discusses temporary flood barriers of sectional and frame types, with issues being shoreline sediment transport and sea level rise.

Environmental Engineering

• Clean water supply: Discusses the municipal water treatment plant process flow chart. Issues like water quality standards, physical and chemical treatment methods are highlighted.
• Wastewater management: Focuses on the Newtown Creek WWTP process flow chart as an example. Key issues are physical, chemical, and biological treatment, water recycling, and discharge of treated water, particularly the concern of PFAS in biosolids.
• Air pollution control: The methods and types of air pollutants are discussed. This section is related to treatment processes and transport of air pollutants.
• Solid waste disposal: Includes a drawing of a landfill design, with detailed issues such as transport of waste, leachate, methane production and capture, and alternatives to landfills.
• Groundwater remediation: Depicts examples of groundwater remediation techniques and discusses issues such as groundwater flow, contaminants' behavior, and alternative remediation procedures.
• Alternative energy sources: Addresses research and development, and economics to understand how this area fits in with environmental engineering.

Transportation Engineering

• Highways and road networks: Covers highway capacity, alignment, multi-modal use, and pavement design issues.
• Railways: Includes Chicago Rail Yard and mentions subways, commuter rail, freight, horizontal/vertical alignment, and station location as major issues.
• Airports: Discussion of capacity, layout, and runway design for airports and the issues of parking facilities (capacity, layout, and traffic flow).
• Traffic control and signal systems: Includes topics on capacity and flow control, automated systems and driver psychology.

Geotechnical Engineering

• Foundation design: Details are on design loads, subsurface formations, corrosive conditions, and superstructure types.
• Slope stability analysis: Key issues include geometry of the slope, location of the water table, subsurface materials, and subsurface layering.
• Construction dewatering: Different dewatering methods are reviewed, along with considerations like water table location, depth of foundation, and water disposal.
• Site remediation: Focus on groundwater flow, behavior of different contaminants, and alternative remediation techniques.
• Landfill design: Discusses slope stability, liner design, and cap design as critical areas in landfill site management.

Construction Engineering & Management

• Design management: This section covers managing the design process.
• Cost estimating and control: Covers estimating and managing the costs of projects.
• Scheduling: This section covers planning the timing of construction activities.
• Building information modeling (BIM): This section covers managing the information of the construction project.
• Contract administration: Covers managing the contractual aspects of a project.
• Construction management: Covers managing the construction project from start to finish.
• Material and equipment procurement: Covers the acquisition of building materials, tools, and equipment required for a project.
• Quality control: Covers checking work for quality and ensuring quality standards are met.
• Temporary structures: Covers the temporary support systems.
• Safety: High importance on construction safety.

Urban Systems/Informatics

• Big Data: Details on big data, the Internet of things (IoT), interdisciplinary approaches to urban problems.
  • Important issues cover population growth, cybersecurity, and new technologies like AI.

Topic #2 - Effective Teams

• Good characteristics: Include features like commitment, flexibility, active listening, open communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Bad characteristics: Mention aspects like floundering or difficulties with team members: overbearing, dominating, reluctant, etc., and issues like rush to accomplishment, attribution, wanderlust, and issues related to feuding team members.

Topic #3 - Greatest Civil Engineering Challenges of the Future

• The sections in this section cover specific challenges for different engineering disciplines, such as Structural, Water, Environmental, Transportation, Geotechnical, Construction, and Urban Systems/Informatics.

###Topic #4 - Professional Licensure

• NCEES: National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying.
• Why become a professional engineer (PE)?: Gain societal trust, greater job opportunities, and higher compensation.
• NCEES Model Law: Topics on what it means to practice engineering, licensure requirements, and the role of ABET accreditation.
• Examinations: Explains the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, its format, and required contents. It also describes the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam and its format.

Topic #5 - Engineering Ethics

• The importance of studying engineering ethics, including discussing how engineers impact modern life and the development of moral autonomy.
• Ethical theories: Utilitarianism, duty ethics, rights ethics, and virtue ethics.
• Professional responsibilities and the pitfalls of potential ethical dilemmas.
• NSPE Code of Ethics: The sections of the Code of Ethics, including preamble, fundamental canons, rules of practice, and professional obligations.
• Some example dilemmas discussed include data integrity, trade secrets, gift-giving, informed consent, conflict of interest, accountability to clients, and fair treatment.

Topic #6 - ASCE Report Card

• ASCE grades national/state infrastructure every four years, providing an assessment of infrastructure conditions and suggested improvements.
• Infrastructure categories: Aviation, Bridges, Broadband, Dams, Drinking water, Energy, Hazardous waste, Inland waterways, Levees, Parks, Ports, Rail, Roads, Schools, Solid waste, Stormwater, Transit, Wastewater.

Topic #8 - Engineering Problem Solving

• Five-step problem-solving method:
  • Identify and define the problem.
  • Sketch or diagram the system.
  • Select theory.
  • Solve the problem.
  • Check your answer.

Topic #9 - Intro to Env Eng

• Engineering design for environmental applications, emphasis on sustainability and health.
• Environmental engineering concerns: Sources, fate, transport, and control of environmental pollutants.
• Dimensions and units: Fundamental vs. derived units with focus on Density (r), Flow rate (Q), Concentration (C).

Topic #10 - Conservation of Mass

• Governing equation: AR = IR-OR + PR-CR (differential equation)
• Steady state? If yes, then AR = 0
• Conservative pollutant? If yes, PR=CR=0
• Result is IR=OR, simple algebra

Topic #11 - Drinking Water

• Importance of maintaining safe drinking water, the history of water treatment.
• Water quality and availability as a critical public health concern.
• Health risks: water-borne illness, water-contact illness, water-privation, toxic chemicals (ADI/GV).
• Interconnectedness of drinking water and wastewater.

Topic #12 - Air Pollution

• Components of the air problem: emissions sources (anthropogenic, biogenic), atmosphere, and receptors (health effects).
• Air quality trends (US) and global trends in pollutants.
• Indoor air pollution: sources (combustion, organic compounds, etc.) and significance in terms of exposure.
• Specific health considerations for O3, NO2, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM).

Homework

• The homework assignment for this course involves researching and writing an explanation of what the student considers the greatest future challenge that engineers face.