HYDROLOGY: GROUNDWATER YIELD AND QUALITY

courtesy of Water Education Foundation

Aquifers are important sources of fresh water. Two types of aquifers - confined and unconfined- are good tunnels for groundwater.

Basin yield is the amount of water that can be extracted from the basin without having any detrimental effects on both the channel and the water.

Artificial recharge on the other hand, is a human design devising the augmentation of groundwater faster than normal recharge.



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Groundwater contamination comes from different sources.

Natural contaminants are from the dissolving of the aquifer's surrounding rocks as water flows through it.

Anthropogenic contamination is man-made and basically is composed of those pollutants to water we are all aware of.

DYNAMICS: PARTICLE KINETICS: FORCE, MASS, AND ACCELERATION

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After kinematics, the other part of Dynamics is kinetics which deals with the force responsible for motion in the analysis of bodies. Kinetics will be relating force to acceleration, velocity, distance traveled and time.

Particle kinetics have been subdivided into three important parts:

1. Force, mass, and acceleration
2. Work-energy
3. Impulse and momentum

Special applications for kinetics deal with
a. Impact
b. Central-force motion
c. Relative motion


Click for PDF Notes on Particle Kinetics

WHAT IS ACADEMIC ADVISING PROGRAM?

courtesy of Campus Bridge International

So you are already in the tertiary education, this does not mean that you are good to decide on your own just yet. There may be some of the lucky ones who would actually start planning their life ahead and be fortunate enough to really be in luck. However, there are also those who are still struggling on the choice they made. Some may struggle but they are well determined that the course is the right one for them. They can still be right.

So what is academic advising? This is a program which is focused on helping the students attain their educational (as well as career) goals. An adviser is assigned to each student and both have responsibilities to make the students’ track to educational success be visible and clear.

Adviser Duties

Advising program does not let students ask academic help to their advisers for cases like answering homework or giving more lectures to a course. Advising program is limited to the assistance on making sound plans and decisions for students to discover their full potentials as engineers.

The adviser may not be teaching the subjects one more time but they should assist in the development of consistent career plans aligned with students’ interests and abilities. The student would be assisted in understanding the rationale of engineering.

The adviser should also help students develop a positive working relationship with faculty and school staff. They should provide students with accurate information regarding department policies, requirements, and procedures.

It is also the duty of the adviser to refer the student to the guidance center when student seems to need further professional advising assistance.

Student Duties

With the huge number of students for one faculty, students are responsible on making appointments in advance and appearing on time. They should be prepared with their concerns. If the concern is about subjects to be taken for the next semester, students are required to have a copy of those subjects they are interested with.

Students are responsible in the decisions they make. Although advisers provide advice, students have the last decision to make. They should clarify confusing concerns with their adviser.

It is the duty f students to be fully aware of the adviser correspondence sent personally or as an announcment in the building. Students should also respond on time if required.

Students are responsible in taking advantage of resources in the department which will improve and develop their educational experience.

CONST MTRL & TESTING: MISCELLANEOUS MATERIALS

courtesy of Glass by Design

 Other materials used in construction have minor responsibilities but they are still necessary especially for aesthetic purposes. These materials are seldom considered for load bearing materials, and more on the aesthetic design of the structure.

PVC pipes courtesy of India Mart

Click here for downloadable notes on Miscellaneous Materials

The following the miscellaneous materials in construction:

1. Glass
2. Asbestos
3. Thermocol
4. Plaster of Paris (POP)
5. Fiber reinforced concrete (FRC)
6. Wallpaper
7. Bitumen and Tar 
8. Aluminum

Fiber Reinforce Concrete courtesy of Quora

CONST MATRL & TESTING: SURFACE PROTECTIVE MATERIALS

courtesy of Alton Worldwide

Surface Protective Materials are thin films applied on surfaces of any material for the purpose of protecting it. However, most of the time, these materials are more considered for their aesthetic addition to materials.

There are two kinds of surface protective materials namely:

1. Paints
2. Varnish

courtesy of JLJ National Construction LLC

Paints are liquid substances with pigment used as decorative coating as well as protective coating for surfaces mostly are timber and metals. Varnishes are liquid of semi-transparent nature which are applied on timber surfaces and on paint to give the extra gloss.

Painting has several procedures and layers to be performed. It takes more than one coating or application to work on a finished surface. Painting also covers a variety of different finishes - matte, semi-gloss, or gloss.

courtesy of DIY Network

Click here to download PDF notes on Surface Protective Materials

CONST MTRLS & TESTING: TIMBER

courtesy of Smith Currie

Wood has benefited mankind for so many things. In construction, wood cut down to be used as a construction material is termed as timber. With the movement to save the earth, designers are strongly discouraged to use timber in construction but can take alternative materials which can be shaped and designed as timber.

Click here for downloadable notes on Timber

courtesy of James Latham

There are three kinds of timber used in construction:

1. Cocolumber, from palm trees, is the softest type of lumber used in construction. They are commonly used for scaffolding although the steel alternative is rising popularity nowadays. Cocolumber would usually have discrepancies on the standard sizes and contractors would need to watch for tapered ends.
2. Rough lumber is the type which would still need planing. This type of timber is used most commonly to covered places like studs for partitions where they are covered by other materials. With their cheaper cost, most designers use this kind of lumber for those parts of the structure which would not be seen exposed.
3. Finished lumber is the smoothly planed lumber that we mostly see exposed on sight inside of outside a structure. This type of timber has been cut and planed carefully for aesthetic purposes more than structural.

Seasoning of lumber is vital for construction. Seasoning is lessening of removing the moisture from timber. There are two ways of seasoning:

1. Wet seasoning where timber is left into water for a few days to remove its sap and then dried.

2. Dry seasoning is the method where timber is left exposed to reduced its moisture content before being used in construction.

CONST MTRLS & TESTING: METALS

courtesy of the Balance

Metals are one material in construction which gives more strength to the concrete. As concrete is strong in compression yet weak in tension, metals help with their high tensile strength.


Click here for downloadable notes on Metals

courtesy of the Balance

There are different kinds of metals with the various specification of structures. In terms of reinforcing steel bars, RSB, there are also numerous grades offered according to the design used. The most commonly used grades are grade 40 (grade 270) and grade 75 (grade 415); however, commercial grade is also available at grade 33 (grade 230). Grades of steel bars are designated colors in the manufacturing plants. These colors are also combined for those bars which are weldable. Non-weldable bars use one color on both ends.

Rebar diameters also vary from plain rebars of 6 and 8mm diameters commonly used for glassblocks laying and other minor construction work. 10mm to 12mm deformed rebars are used for stirrups and lateral ties and also for slab reinforcement. The bigger sizes from 16mm to 25mm diameters are more used on load bearing structures. Special diameters starting 28mm to 50mm are used for high strength designs. 

CONST MTRLS & TESTING: CONCRETE

Concrete is the combination of cement with aggregates, both fine and coarse, with enough proportion of water. Although more commonly called cement, it is technically called concrete.

There are two ways to check proportioning of materials in concrete.

1. Nominal mix which would be following an arbitrary set of proportions already had been checked. This kind of mix is possible for the lower strength requirement of concrete from 5N/mm2 to to 20N/mm2. 

courtesy of the Balance

2. Design mix is the one to be designed as per required in the structure. This is the mix used for high rise structures as they needed higher strength of concrete.

 Click here for downloadable notes on Concrete


Different kinds of concrete are also stipulated in ASTM 150 whereby Type I is the concrete used for all general works and the others - Type II until V - are for special situations. Apart from these 5 main types of concrete, there are also special types of concrete.
 
Workability is one aspect which needs to be given attention with concrete. Workability is the east of working with concrete - transporting, batching, placing, etc. Since workability is in direct proportion with water content, proper proportioning should be done not to sacrifice strength of concrete.

courtesy of Taracon Precast

Pre-cast concrete is a type of concrete which is fabricated from the plant as per specification and then later transported on site. These concrete members usually carry enormous amount of strength which is impossible to attain on site.

Pumped concrete, on the other hand, is concrete which is used for the higher floors of a structure.This type of concrete has high workability, which means it has more amount of water than usual, the strength is just compensated with the use of additives.

CONST MATRLS & TESTING: MASONRY

courtesy of Firth

Masonry units, in this case talks about concrete masonry units (CMU). Being fire resistant and economical, CMUs are commonly used for construction these days. There are two kinds of CMUs:

Click here for downloadable notes on Masonry

1. Solid concrete blocks which do not have any holes in them. These blocks are laid like bricks.

2. Hollow concrete blocks whereby reinforcing bars are placed through the holes provided.

courtesy of Globalsistersreport.org

CMUs may contain minimal gravel but cement aggregate ratio should be 1:6 where aggregates contain 60% fine and 40% coarse.

CONST MTRL & TESTING: CONCRETE

Concrete is the combination of cement with coarse aggregates, fine aggregates and water. When most structures have already been built using concrete, one has to always remember that concrete is low on tensile strength but strong in compression. Other advantages of using concrete in structures are easy to cast, fire resistant, can be fabricated on site, reusable and recyclable, has low maintenance and carries different aesthetic properties.

courtesy of Total Concrete

The two kinds of concrete mixes are:

1. Nominal mix, which are the proportion of the materials to reach a desired strength usually low until 30N/mm2. The arbitrary proportions can be used to attain the strength required without any doubt or recalculations needed.

courtesy of Alamy

2. Design mix, on the other hand, is the proportion of materials to make concrete for high-rise buildings. These buildings require stronger concrete, thus design mix would require the computation for the desired strength of the structure.

Click here to download PDF Notes on Concrete

courtesy of the Balance

The study of concrete would also need to discuss workability of concrete besides its strength. Workability is the rate at which concrete can be transported and placed without segreration of the materials, especially the coarse aggregates. Workability is in direct proportionality with the amount of water introduced in the concrete. The balance between workability and strength of the concrete can be measured with the concrete slump test.

While the concrete is setting from inside the structure, proper curing is also needed to help maintain the moisture of the concrete while it hardens. Improper curing usually is shown from the cracks on the concrete surface. Curing of concrete can be employed in various methods where ponding is the most commonly used. 

courtesy of Taracon Precast

Pre-cast concrete is a kind of concrete structure which was fabricated at the factory and not on site. Pre-cast concrete usually carry high strength wherein most often pre-tensioning of the reinforcing cables inside the concrete structure is adopted to lift the strength of the member.

courtesy of Depositphotos

Pumped concrete is also a kind of concrete whereby it is pumped from the truck barrel to the structure. This kind of concrete would need to be high in water to be easily pumped out. Pumped concrete is used in high rise structures where pouring of concrete will be impossible to be done in any other method.

CONST MTRLS & TESTING: MORTARS

courtesy of The Constructor

Mortar is the paste from combining cement, fine aggregates (sand), and water. Some mortars add lime to the ingredients. Mortar is different from plaster from the proportions of cement and sand and also the grading of sand.

There are different kinds of mortars:

1. Lime mortar. This is the kind of mortar where lime is added. One type is hydraulic lime mortar which, from the lime used, can be adopted underwater.  Fat lime mortar, on the other hand, is the other kind of lime mortar which is inferior in quality compared to hydraulic lime mortar. From the definition of fat lime, which is the lower quality of lime, the mortar produced can only be used in inferior works.

Click for PDF Notes on Mortars

2. Cement mortar. The kind of mortar used for important works or higher quality works. The strength of the mortar comes from cement, thus the amount of cement in the mortar maintains the strength of the mortar.

courtesy of CivilBlog.Org

3. Surki mortar.  The type of mortar from the combination of cement or lime with surki. Surki works as sand in this case. Surki is the powderized leftovers from overburnt bricks.

4. Blended mortar. This type is the introduction of cement into the lime mortar. The process is known as ganging or blending. The presence of cement improves the quality of lime mortar.

CONST. MTRL & TESTING: CEMENT

With the manufacture of cement, structures have been made stronger compared when they were made with clay. Cement is a vital ingredient in manufacturing of concrete along with coarse and fine aggregates mixed with the right proportions of water.

courtesy of the Master Builder

The chemical components of good quality ordinary cement should consist of Lime (62%), Silica (22%), alumina, calcium sulphate, iron oxide, magnesia, sulphur, and alkalies at lesser proportions.

Pozzolanic cement is a kind which is manufactured by mixing fly ash, volcanic ash, silica fumes and calcined clay, all of which are Pozzolanic materials. Portland cement, on the other hand, is manufactured with limestone mainly.


Click here for Lecture Notes on Cement

As per ASTM C150, there are five different specifications for Portland cement. 

Type I is for general use.
Type II is used more specially for environments with moderate sulphate resistance.
Type III is high early strength.
Type IV is for low heat of hydration.
Type V is for high sulfate resistance.

courtesy of Union Cement Company

Special purpose cement is classified into two:

1. Ordinary Portland-based cement

2. Non-ordinary Portland based cement

CONST MTRL & TESTING: LIME

Although it is not much heard of these days, lime was widely popular as a construction material before.These days, it is not much used as it is, however, it is still the main component in the production of cement. 

Click here for Notes on Lime

courtesy of limebase.co.uk

courtesy of the constructor

CONST MTRL & TESTING: CLAY PRODUCTS

Clay products are another natural construction material used until these days but minimally compared to the ancient times. Clay products cover three categories:

A. Roof tiles

Although so many roofing materials have evolved over the times, some houses still prefer roof tiles. Besides their massive appearance, these tiles are truly heavy for roofing, they can be un-anchored and fall off easily.

Roof tiles can be further categorized according to their shapes:

1. Flat tiles have rectangular shape although carry different size variations. They are laid in overlapping rows by nailing them on horizontal reapers or battens.

courtesy of OpenClipArt

2. Interlocking tiles have corrugations which keep the tiles interlocked. 

courtesy of EBay

3. Curved tiles are those in half a cone shape. Not necessarily cylindrical for the purpose that the ends of these tiles are overlaid to each other.

courtesy of ColourBox

Click here for Lecture Notes on Clay Products

B. Floor tiles

These tiles are still used until present. Floor tiles differ from bricks or other paving materials due to their slim thickness. 

There are two types of floor tiles although they are closely related to each other. Both of these types are vitrified and they just differ in the level of pororsity and water absorption.


1. Vitrified tiles are processed to keep very low porosity.

courtesy of Buykemadrin.pw

2. Marbonite tiles are fully vitrified which means it contains very less water absorption. Marbonite tiles look similar to natural marble.

courtesy of Johnson India

C. Wall tiles

Wall tiles have the same composition as floor tiles although they have lesser thickness.

CONST. MTRL & TESTING: BRICKS

Bricks are more used these days for face works unlike when they were used to build massive walls when concrete was yet to be popularized. However, there are still places which prefer using bricks over concrete. This may depend on the availability of the resources and cost.

courtesy of TTV Hitech Chambers and Earth Movers

The word "brick" signifies earth bricks, but there are also different materials making bricks such as fly ash bricks. Clay is the main ingredient in making bricks and it takes a long process to manufacture this construction material.

Good quality clay should be used free from organic matter and pebbles. More ingredients are added to the blending of clay like iron oxide, lime, silica and others. These ingredients help to improve the qualities of clay to be made into sturdy bricks.

Click here for PDF Notes on Bricks

Moulding of bricks can be done in two ways - ground and table.

1. Ground moulding uses the ground as the platform when clay is moulded into bricks.Most of the time, this method employs handmade bricks.

courtesy of ThoughtCo

2. Table moulding is equipped with a platform which looks like a table about 2m x 1m. machine moulding with table method is used for huge quantities. machine moulding is helpful for moulding hard and string clay.

Bricks can be manufactured by air drying or burning, although the latter process is more recommended. There are different kinds of kilns used to burn bricks. A kiln is a large oven used to burn bricks.

1. Intermittent kilns operate by being loaded, fired, cooled, and unloaded.
2. Continuous kilns work by loading, firing, cooling and unloading just the same by in a more simultaneous manner.

CONST. MTRLS. & TESTING: SAND

Although sand is a major component in the fabrication of concrete, its main purpose is to be a filler for the voids created between the coarse aggregates. The quality of coarse aggregates dictates the strength of concrete while cement glues the aggregates together. However, using cement alone will be very costly for the construction. 

courtesy of India Today

Click for PDF Notes on Sand


Another purpose is to increase workability of concrete. Imagine placing high amounts of aggregates in concrete thinking that cement will be bonding these particles together. With coarse aggregates alone, small spaces between reinforcing bars and intersections of sections will make it hard to be filled with concrete (that is, smaller spaces will be poured of cement alone without any kind of aggregate). Thus, the need for sand.

From the three general classifications of stones, long processes of sedimentation and deposition of these create sand. Natural sand is further classified as:

a. Pit sand which is deposited with soil.
b. River sand obtained from river banks or beds.
c. Sea sand are those found in seashores.

For construction, the most ideal sand grade is river sand which can be checked with fineness modulus between 2 and 3. The perfect sand for construction should be free from salt deposits, soil, or vegetable matter.

According to grade, concrete works require gravelly sand. This type has the average diameter size which is suitable to work as a smaller size aggregate in concrete. Coarse sand, on the other hand, which is about 3.175mm in size is more used for brick laying. And finally fine sand is best used for plastering work as this kind of job would require minute sizes of sand.

CONST. MTRL. & TESTING: STONES

The most basic construction material is the stone. Basic in the sense that this is the natural material directly used in construction. Besides being used as aggregates (CA), stones are used in different kinds of construction works such as:

1. Face works  - stones being cut and chipped to be place as walls of structures. Face works are used to define a massive appearance on some places of the structure. Most often in residences, face works are used in fire places, dens and those places intended to feel cozy and warm.

2. Paving stones - stones which are also cut and chipped, however, laid out on the pavement or foot paths. Paving stones are usually noticed in foyers or garages to bring out the massive appearance of the ground.

Rocks are also used in forming railways ballasts, or even blocks in abutments. In foundations or excavations, rocks are used as retaining walls and with its density, these walls need no or little amount of concrete.

Rocks are also crushed into smaller pieces to be part of the concrete. This is known as coarse aggregates or aggregates. Good coarse aggregates are limited in size and used most often in the concrete building structure from foundation, columns, beams to slabs and even roofs.

Click for Lecture Notes in Stones

And yet the smaller pieces of rocks are converted as basic materials in fabricating other construction materials such as cement, hollow blocks, etc.

Artificial stones are those which are reconstructed. The common types of these stones are:

1. Terrazo              - cement and marble chips combined
2. Mosaic tiles        - pre-cast concrete tiles which are surfaced with marble chips
3. Cement concrete- reinforced cement concrete

Terrazo (courtesy of Color My World)

Mosaic Tiles (courtesy of IndiaMart)

CONST. MTRLS AND TESTING: FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES

Structures are built based on the engineers' or the architects perception of the project. From structures made from clay in the ancient times, steel and glass structures are built nowadays. Furthermore, with the global idea of saving the planet even much more innovations on different materials used in construction are being developed. Construction materials are divided into six general categories:

1. Metals and alloys    - this includes ferrous and non-ferrous materials and the combination of metals.
2. Ceramics                - tiles, bricks, roof and floor times and also certain kind of pipes
3. Polymers                - a combination of materials with a large amount of similar units bonded together, such as plastics, resins and synthetic materials.
4. Composites            - materials which are made up of different materials consisting of different properties such as cement.
5. Wood                     - timber
6. Advanced materials - these are the newly innovated kinds of materials which are made mostly from recycled materials or those materials scientifically studied to be alternative sources to make up a new, more eco-friendly construction material.
Click for Notes on Fundamental Properties of Construction Materials

Not only is the aesthetic property to be looked for and studied but more importantly the physical, mechanical, thermal, chemical and even the economic properties. These are the main parameters to check the suitability of a material for a structure.

Moreover, another major concern of the course is the availability of the materials, this holds the threshold if the material is to be considered as a good material or not. The study of availability of the materials includes the traces and economics in producing them.

BASIC GEOMATICS: TRAVERSE AND TRAVERSE COMPUTATIONS

Traversing is the surveying method to determine stations by using traverse lines observed using the different methods in determining angles, directions and distances.

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The two kinds of traverse are closed traverse and open traverse. Closed traverse is further identified as those which have the last remaining station with known information which means the surveyors would have a definite idea on the discrepancy in cases when errors are observed. Closed traverses are those commonly employed when checking the boundary lines of a property and when surveying routes for pavement or roads with the end station of known angle.

Open traverse, on the other hand, is similar with the traverse used for roads but the only difference is that this kind of traverse have an unknown last station. Surveyors have no basis to check the angles observed in the procedure.

Traverses are measured by the following methods:

A. Interior / Exterior Angle

B. Angle to the Right / Left

C. Deflection Angles

D. Bearings

E. Azimuths

BASIC GEOMATICS: MEASUREMENT OF ANGLES AND DIRECTIONS

Although the compass is already included in topics involving the transit, introductory discussion about measurement of angles focusing on its use should be discussed.

Compasses have different units although the most common is using the degrees. In technical subjects, one has already been introduced to radians where 2 radians would equal to 360 degrees. The other units to learn in this chapter are the:

A. Grads

B. Mils

Furthermore, the meridians ( the invisible circle line passing at certain specified places at the terrestrial poles on the surface of the earth) are categorized according to how they are observed:

A. True meridian

B. Magnetic meridian

C. Grid meridian

D. Assumed meridian

With these kinds of meridian, it is easy to follow that there would also be 4 different ways to designate the north points.

Notes on Measurement of Angles and Directions

This discussion covers the horizontal angles and there are different kinds to measure them.

1. Interior angles - as long as it is clear on where the target area is, interior angles will be considered in observing the area of a lot. Traversing or working on the bouNdary lines would always consider he angles included inside the area. The opposite procedure for this method is the Exterior angles. Both have similar procedures and only differ in computation of angles.

2. Angles to the right considers the movement of traversing. The clockwise movement of proceeding with the traverse is followed while moving counterclockwise signifies Angles to the left method.

3. Deflection angles is a totally different method from the two previously discussed. This method works with the immediately previously observed traverse line, and checks on the deviation of the next direction with this line.

4. Bearings are a common method used in surveying where the four quadrants of the coordinate system is considered. This is a method imploring the use of the directions North, South, East and West with the angles.

5. Azimuths are similarly often used by surveyors as the bearings. The only difference is azimuths work on the full revolution of 360 degrees using either the reference North or South. Thus this method only gives the angles without directions.