土木工程范围、建筑工程及其管理(英文).doc

附录B 外文原文The scope of civil engineering, construction and managementCivil engineering is the planning, design, construction, and management of the built environment. This environment includes all structures built according to scientific principles, from irrigation and drainage systems to rocket launching facilities. Civil engineers build roads, bridges, tunnels, dams, harbors, power plants, water and sewage systems, hospitals, schools, mass transit, and other public facilities essential to modern society and large population concentrations. They also build privately owned facilities such as airport, railroads, pipelines , skyscrapers, and other large structures designed for industrial, commercial, or residential use. In addition, civil engineers plan, design, and build complete cities and towns, and more recently have been planning and designing space platforms to house self-contained communities.The word civil derives from the Latin for citizen. In 1782, Englishman John Seaton used the term to differentiate his nonmilitary engineering work from that of the military engineers who predominated at the time. Since then, the term civil engineer has often been used to refer to engineers who build public facilities, although the field is much broader.Engineering is a profession, which means that an engineer must have a specialized university education. Many government jurisdictions also have licensing procedures which require engineering graduates to pass an examination, similar to the bar examination for a lawyer, before they can actively start on their careers. In the university, mathematics, physics, and chemistry are heavily emphasized throughout the engineering curriculum, but particularly in the first two or three years. Mathematics is very important in all branches of engineering, so it is greatly stressed. Today, mathematics includes courses in statistics, which deals with gathering, classifying, and using numerical data, or pieces of information. An important aspect of statistical mathematics is probability, which deals with what may happen when there are different factors, or variables, that can change the results of a problem. Before the construction of a bridge is undertaken, for example, a statistical study is made of the amount of traffic the bridge will be expected to handle. In the design of the bridge, variables such as water pressure on the foundation, impact, the effects of different wind forces, and many other factors must be considered. Because a great deal of calculation is involved in solving these problems, computer programming is now included in almost all engineering curricula. Computers, of course, can solve many problems involving calculations with greater speed and accuracy than a human being can. But computers are useless unless they are given clear and accurate instructions and informationin other words, a good program. Civil engineering project are almost always unique; that is, each has its own problems and design features. Therefore, careful study is given to each project even before design work begins. The study includes a survey both of topography and subsoil features of the proposed site. It also includes a consideration of possible alternatives, such as a concrete gravity dam or an earth-fill embankment dam. The economic factors involved in each of the possible alternatives must also be weighed. Today, a study usually includes a consideration of the environmental impact of the project. Many engineers, usually working as a team that includes surveyors, specialists in soil mechanics, and experts in design and construction, are involved in making these feasibility studies.Many Civil engineers, among them the top people in the field, work in design. As we have seen, Civil engineers work on many kinds of structures, so it is normal practice for an engineer to specialize in just one kind. In designing buildings, engineers often work as consultants to architectural or construction firms. Dams, bridges, water supply systems, and other large projects ordinarily employ several engineers whose work is coordinated by a system engineer who is in charge of the entire project. In many cases, engineers from other disciplines are involved. In a dam project, for example, electrical and mechanical engineers work on the design of the powerhouse and its equipment. In other cases, civil engineers are assigned to work on a project in another field; in the space program, for instance, civil engineers were necessary in the design and construction of such structures as launching pads and rocket storage facilities.Construction is a complicated process on almost all engineering projects. It involves scheduling the work and utilizing the equipment and the materials so that costs are kept as low as possible. Safety factor must also be taken into account, since construction can be very dangerous. Many civil engineers therefore specialize in the construction phase.Because it is so broad, civil engineering is subdivided into a number of technical specialties. Depending on the type of project, the skills of many kinds of civil engineer specialists may be needed. When a project begins, the site is surveyed and mapped by civil engineers who locate utility placementswater, sewer, and power lines. Geotechnical specialists perform soil experiments to determine if the earth can bear the weight of the project. Environmental specialists study the projects impact on the local area: the potential for air and groundwater pollution, the projects impact on local animal and plant life, and how the project can be designed to meet government requirements aimed at protecting the environment. Transportation specialists determine what kinds of facilities are needed to ease the burden on local roads and other transportation networks that will result from the completed project. Meanwhile, structural specialists use preliminary data to make detailed designs, plans, and specifications for the project. Supervising and coordinating the work of these civil engineer specialists. Based on information supplied by the other specialists, construction management civil engineers estimate quantities and costs of materials and labor, schedule all work, order materials and equipment for the job, hire contractors and subcontractors, and perform other supervisory work to ensure the project is completed on time and specified.Throughout any given project, civil engineers make extensive use of computers. Computers are used to design the projects various elements(computer-aided design, or CAD) and to manage it. Computers are a necessary for the modern civil engineer because they permit the engineer to efficiently handle the large quantities of data needed in determining the best way to construct a project. Computers also can be of assistance in many aspects of project planning and control. Estimating. Computer can help estimators in most phases of their work. For example, a good application of smaller computers is to help with partial automation of a quantity takeoff. An electronic image of the projects geometry can be built up and even displayed on graphical CRTs. Simultaneously, the computer can build a the bill of materials. In developing crews and evaluating the productivity of labor and equipment, computers can first provide data from files of past projects and second assist with specialized engineering programs for calculations such as cableway cycles, earthmoving fleet simulation, formwork calculations, and so on. Cost control. In large construction companies, computers were often first installed under the control of the accounting department. Therefore, it was not surprising that cost control systems were generally extensions of the payroll and accounting and finance people. Some of the more sophisticated systems apply the principles of engineer economy to include the time value of money in project decision making. Other advanced systems integrate with the schedule, again possibly through a data for cash-flow forecasting. An important aspect of any cost control system is to make the data available to management in a timely manner, so there is an increasing trend to interactive applications using terminals or microcomputers directly in the hands of managers and supervisors. Scheduling. Critical path scheduling was one of the earliest applications of computers in construction, but it took quite a long time for it to gain wide acceptance. Like cost control, this is an application that should be directly in the hands of management, so the slow acceptance may be a result of the fact that earlier computers were not easily used by non-data processing people. Powerful scheduling tools are now becoming available even on personal microcomputers, however. So the trend toward wider acceptance of quantitative scheduling methods can only be expected to accelerate in the future. Quality assurance. Quality assurance applications can begin with the online retrieval of specifications, codes, and standards. Quality assurance systems also assist the documentation of procedures and testing requirements and in the reporting of test result and completion of administrative steps to various interested agencies and parties. Some of the most advanced applications involve not only administrative procedures but direct production procedures. procurement. Simpler procurement systems are just extensions of the accounting departments accounts payable program. However, in larger organizations, materials and procurement systems can also include simple or sophisticated inventory control systems for job materials, tools, and supplies. When linked to a database, the procurement applications can interface to the quality assurance application for testing and documentation, to the accounts to assess the payable system for multiproject vendor correlations, and to the scheduling system to assess the impact of procurement delays on overall project status.During the past two decades, many civil engineering firms have grown substantially in staff size, disciplines, and geographic areas served. These conditions have created a demand for civil engineers with special skill in project management. Historically, an ambitious civil engineer interested in career advancement would enroll for a masters degree in structures, soils, or environmental studies. While many individuals still follow this traditional approach, a new and very exciting field has emerged called civil engineering management. Normally, when civil engineering firms are born, a bright entrepreneurial engineer would lean how to run his/her business by trial and error. If the engineer learned quickly, he/she would grow; if not, the firm would not survive. Managerial skills have become important because many of these civil engineering firms have grown substantially in recent years. Several have more that 5000 employees with over 500 projects and over 100 offices. Every large project requires a manager. Every standalone office requires a senior manager. A logical question is how are these managers, who require business skills, developed from a pool of civil engineers who are trained as technical experts? Obviously, most managers have had many years of on-the-job training. However, there is now a greatly increased demand and few firms have either the facilities or the staff to produce this training in-house. Therefore, firms are increasingly looking to the outside for management training of staff. A few of our universities have recognized the need and have developed curricula to promote development of the required skills. For example, at Northwestern University, one of the hottest new graduate programs in civil engineering is the masters in project management (MPM) and includes such subject as Financial issues for engineers；Bargaining and negotiations；Human resources management; Project scheduling；Accounting issues for engineers；Engineer law .The selection of these courses is based on an appraisal of the skills actually needed in civil engineering management. This is confirmed by the fact that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) journal is advertising for papers on various areas of management such as project, program, operations, personnel, financial, marketing, and legal issues, since all are now considered important facets of civil engineering management. If one examines the staffing requirements of the larger firms, it can be noted that they employ large staffs in the legal, accounting, marketing, financial, personnel and business management areas. When projects are primarily located in the United States, the necessary logistic support can be provided by temporarily transferring support staff from the home-office pool. When the projects are based in remote locations, particularly overseas, and when the client requires the design to be carried out locally, it becomes necessary to provide a project manager possessing not only well-honed engineering skills and good judgment, but other skills in contract management, such as those needed to negotiate in project scope and duration. While e-mail and fax machines have made it easier to get guidance from the home office, many decisions must still be made in the field. The local manager is frequently required by the client to have power of attorney, to ensure that all agreements made in the field are legally binding. If minor problems arise, the costs of overseas travel to remote areas such as Asia, and Latin America made it impractical to send out a home office specialist every time a legal, accounting, personnel, scheduling, or negotiating problem arises. Consequently, one must depend on the local manager to successfully address a wide range of issues and call for help only when a major emergency arises. While professional advancement in major companies can come either to those taking technical or managerial training, those following the managerial track generally end up with higher recognition and compensation, because good management is so important in getting projects finished on time, on budget, and to the abundant than civil engineering managers and compensation follows the laws of supply and demand.Construction engineering. Civil engineers in this field oversee the construction of a project from beginning to end. Sometimes called project engineers, they apply both technical and managerial skills, including knowledge of construction methods, planning, organizing, financing, and operating construction projects. They coordinate the activities of virtually everyone engaged in the work : the surveyors; workers who lay out and construct the temporary roads and ramps, excavate for the foundation, build the forms and pour the concrete; and workers who build the steel frame-work. These engineers also make regular progress reports to the owners of the structure.Construction engineering is a specialized branch engineering concerned wi