What is importance of geology in civil engineering?

Answer 1

Because all construction takes place in or on the ground, geotechnical engineering plays a crucial role in all civil engineering projects. The need to investigate the ground is of vital importance before any construction work takes place. The failure to carry out adequate site investigations often has had dramatic and expensive consequences on construction projects. Geotechnical engineers require a wide variety of skills and, in general, need to be smarter than other kinds of engineer. Whereas most engineers have the luxury of specifying the materials they use, the geotechnical engineer has no choice but to work with the natural soil and rock as he or she finds it. In a geotechnical consulting firm, everyone works in a team to complete a project. A team usually comprises a project director who oversees the whole project; a senior engineer, assisted by one or more engineers and geologists; a checker or checkers to make sure everything is done correctly; followed by an internal and an external reviewer.

Answer 2

Civil engineers design structures that are built on or in the ground. As such an understanding of how the ground behaves is fundamental to civil engineering design. Earth materials can pose significant problems that need to be predicted, planned and designed for.

As such, Geology is applicable in

• Foundation engineering - assessment of soil conditions
• Construction materials engineering - quality of stones, lime, cement etc.
• Infrastructure engineering - location of bridges, tunnels, river meandering zones
• Disaster mitigation - seismic resistant structural design, flood control, river training, waterway of bridges
• Land-use engineering - soil erosion control, natural drainage
• Water Resources engineering - hydrogeology (reservoir capacity for e.g.), source and quality of aquifer and water, desilting of reservoirs and navigation channels
• Environmental engineering - ecological balance, solid waste management by landfill

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Answer 3

Soil mechanics is a discipline that applies principles from engineering mechanics to predict the mechanical behaviour of soils. Every man made structure needs foundations to support the forces applied to it, whether they are live loads, dead loads, wind loads, etc...

What ever structures we build, the ultimate FOUNDATION of these structures is the earth...

That is why we need to study the behaviour of the soil and it's interaction with the structure we are going to build in that specific area in order to ensure the safety of people who will use it, and in order to ensure it is able to withstand the forces likely to act upon it, including any unusual / extreme events such as earthquakes or hurricanes. Importance of the soil mechanics for the Civil Engineers

In soil mechanics we study about the various properties of the soil to be used for various engineering construction works. There are various reasons that as a civil Engineer one must study this new branch of the Engineering science.

(1) Foundations: All the civil Engineering structures, ultimately rest on the soil. They transfer their whole load to the soil, so we have to construct the foundations to retain these structures. In case of the hard soil/ having sufficient strength we can provide the shallow foundations. If we know the strength of the soil then we can decide which type of foundation is to be used. If the soil is weak in strength then we have to provide the deep foundations like pile foundation, well foundation etc. It is important to know the method to calculate the method to know the strength of the soil.

(2) Earthen Dams: There are so many earthen dams constructed to retain the water. The soil to be used for the construction of these earthen dams must be suitable enough to use it in its construction. Various properties of the soil, like it permeability, strength, and density are checked on regular basis to know if the soil compacted to required density or not.

The earthen dams are costly structure and also they have a high risk of getting failed, so they must be constructed with great care, so it is very important to study the properties of the soil.

(3) Embankments: There are embankments constructed to raise the levels of the highways on the plains because there are chances of the floods etc, and also it is required to keep the foundation of the pavement above the water table. The embankments are generally constructed of the soil, which is tested for its various properties. There is need to design a economical embankment which is only possible by studying the various soil properties.

(4) Canals or other retaining and under ground structures: The canals also are formed by the soil which are to be constructed to be impermeable and of enough strength. The retaining structure like the retaining walls, are constructed to retain the earth. The earth properties are important to know about. The properties like the earth pressure, shear strength etc gives us the idea to design the retaining structure.

The soil strata is constantly investigated by the geologist to give the idea of the type of construction to be carried further in case of the tunneling.

(5) There are various techniques to be used to improve the soil properties, which can help with the economy of the construction works dealing with the soil.

Answer 4

It has very great importance in mitigation for natural disasters that may have impact on engineering structures on design and and to give engineering solution to seismic activity to design earth quake resistance structures etc

Answer 5

You must know your soil classifications for excavation purposes...density and compaction.

Answer 6

It helps to identify areas susceptible to failure due to geological hazards.