Curious Civil Engineer

 Construction management: Road construction course This course is designed to expand your practical side of engineering knowledge. This course is concentrating on the construction of roads. Here you will learn how the road is constructed. The construction stages such as protection of existing services, clearing the area, future utilities, preparing the road subgrade, then placing different pavement layers such as sub-base, base course, and asphaltic courses. We will also discuss the types of asphaltic course and the common defects of asphaltic pavement, such as permanent deformation, fatigue cracking, and low-temperature cracking. Also, I will show a typical cross-section of road and road profiles and many other subjects. Enroll from here  Pile foundation design This course will discuss the design of pile foundations. We will learn the methods of calculating the pile bearing capacity. The bearing capacity for a pile consists of skin and end bearing resistance. Here you will un...

The slump test used widely in construction to test the concrete. The popularity of the slump test can be attributed to the small size of the apparatus and the simple procedure of conducting the test. Figure no:1 showing the slump test apparatus. The slump cone will be filled with concrete on layers. The slump cone will be filled with three layers of concrete. Each layer will receive 25 blows by the tamping rod. Then the cone will be lifted vertically, and the slump will be measured, as shown in figure no:2. Figure 1 Actually, the slump test used to evaluate the consistency of concrete, not the workability. Consistency can be defined as the ability of concrete to hold all the ingredients without segregation. There is no connection between the results of the slump test and the workability of concrete. Moreover, the test procedure doesn't resemble the site conditions. The ease of placing and compacting of concrete will determine the degree of concrete workability. The slump...

If you ever drive on a curved road, you would notice that the cross-slope of the road is larger than other portions of the road, as shown in figure no:1. The cross-slope for curves commonly known as superelevation and it is used to counteract the effect of centrifugal force and stabilize the vehicles moving above the curved road. Driving the vehicles above a curve with a small radius will cause a large centrifugal force, which may cause a considerable lateral force on a vehicle, and it can result in losing the control of the vehicle.   Figure 1 Superelevation is the change in road cross-slope. It can be done by increasing the level of the outer road edge, as shown in figure 1. superelevation and transverse friction will act together to stabilize the vehicle traveling on a curved road. Superelevation will allow a safer movement of vehicles at a higher speed compared to a curved road with no superelevation. Superelevation can be calculated using the following equation. ...

  Bentonite slurry is a common type of soil stabilizing liquids. Bentonite used to stabilize the soil for deep foundations such as cast-in-situ piles during the drilling stage. Also, it is commonly used for stabilizing the drilled soil for the diaphragm wall. The bentonite powder is mixed with water. Then it is poured during the drilling of a pile hole to stabilize the soil and prevent the soil from collapse. Bentonite is used where the soil is weak and it is expected to collapse during the drilling of piles or other types of excavations. The bentonite will provide sufficient time to lower the steel reinforcement and cast the concrete while the soil is stable.  The mixing of water with bentonite will produce gell products when left to stand for sometimes. This product will return quickly to the liquid state when it is in motion. Bentonite mixture should be tested for viscosity, sand content, ph, and density. The test results should be within the permissible value...

Roundabouts are a common type of circular intersection used to regulate the traffic efficiently without the need for traffic signals generally. There are different types of circular intersections: Rotaries: rotaries are a circular intersection with a large diameter exceeding 100 mm, rotaries allowing the vehicles to travel within the circulatory roadway at high speeds exceeding 50 km/hr. Neighborhood traffic circles: this type of circle built for the purpose of aesthetic or calming the traffic at intersections of local streets. The approaches for this type of traffic circles can be uncontrolled or stop-controlled. Neighborhood traffic circles don’t include a raised channelization to guide the into the circulatory roadway. Roundabouts: roundabouts are a circular intersection with specific design and traffic control features. The features will include the yield control of all entering traffic, channelized approach, and specific geometric curvature to ensure maintaining a speed ...