What's Civil Engineering?

Civil Engineers play important roles in improving the quality of life in human society. The technology and knowledge in civil engineering have contributed to hazard mitigation, improvement of safer and pleasant communal spaces. In general, Civil Engineering consists of four main sub-disciplines;

Structural Engineering

Structural engineering shapes the basic structures of the world we live in, such as roadway and railway bridges. It contributes to design, construction and maintenance of the structures. The prevention and mitigation of natural disasters are also important missions for structural engineers. Developing sustainable infrastructures combining with environmental aspects is our next challenge.

Hydraulics

Hydraulics deals with the study of fluid motion, and the interaction of fluid with other bodies. In a bigger scale, hydraulics is vital in understanding the flow of rivers, lakes and the oceans. The knowledge of hydraulics is indispensable in water-system management, flood hazard mitigation as well as the maintenance of rivers, lakes and oceans eco-system in local and global environmental scale.

Geotechnical Engineering

Geomechanics studies the engineering behavior of earth materials such as soils and rocks, playing a crucial role in all civil engineering projects since most constructions take place on or in the ground. The principles of soil and rock mechanics are used to investigate the physical-chemical conditions of the subsurface, the dynamic behavior of soils as well as the stability of slopes and soil deposits, to design, construct and maintain earthworks and structure foundations.

Infrastructure Planning

Infrastructure Planning and Management aims to promote knowledge to create safe, comfortable and sustainable cities. Therefore common research themes of infrastructure planning laboratories are to develop comprehensive and practical methodologies for infrastructure design and management. Such methodologies should consider a potential broad range of impacts, such as economic, societal as well as environmental ones. These methodologies are then used to assess potential future scenarios and to develop policy suggestions. Given the complexity of our societies and wide ranging impacts of infrastructure planning policies, students in infrastructure planning are encouraged to develop a broad range of skills and knowledge, including subjects such as operations research and economy as well as sociology, psychology and philosophy.