A rising era of Civil engineering - Personal insights

 Article by Anup D Shirhatti Dtd. 06.06.2021



It all started in spring of 2004 in Dharwad, with Namaskarams to Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara and blessings of Lord Shree Ram, parents  Lecturers and Professors of SDM College and SDMCET Management. Civil engineering was that link I could connect to the creation. Creation has so many aspects like temporary or permanent, luxurious or economic , sturdy or lean, Safe and only safe. Our perspective of civil engineering should be safety such that nothing in the structure   should not behave in  unintended manner during the life span of structure.


           Those times were Golden days of Civil engineering new challenges had appeared on horizon like Bhuj earthquake that occurred in 2001 which destroyed 3,40,000 buildings led to increased emphasis on earthquake engineering. The Tsunami that occurred in 2004 with a wave height upto 100 ft killed  lakhs of people in 14 countries lead to Disaster management act 2005.The collapse of world trade centre in 2001, led to increased research on Blast resistant structures. Also due to advent of IT and resurgent economy there was increased demand for multistoried buildings and due to the increase in vehicles due to initiatives like golden
quadrilateral, expressways ,etc lead to infrastructure development was a time when demand for civil engineering was gradually growing.

                Before joining civil engineering, whenever I used to see bare walls I always used to wonder why the bricks are staggered and not placed one over the other, Why when we put water on sand its volume increases, Why do we sieve  the sand while making concrete, why bricks are soaked before constructing wall,  Why buildings made from stone like brihadeshwara temple stand tall thousands of years but our buildings life is only 100 years.

          Let me answer these questions the bricks are placed in staggered manner because if the bricks are placed linearly one over other the failure plane will occur and the wall will fail along the joint so inorder to break the continuity  and make the wall stable and increase its strength the bricks are staggered and there are many types of bonds like English, Flemish etc used to construct wall. The sand  volume increases with increase in water this phenomenon is called bulking after a specific water content the volume decreases. Bricks are soaked in water so as to when mortar is applied to brick while constructing wall it does not absorb water. And yes durability of buildings is important aspect the steel we use in buildings corrode over time and hence it is difficult to take buildings upto 100 years where as The lofty temples which are constructed from stone are very very durable.

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    Preface This is an overview of construction industry by Anup D Shirhatti and and an attempt is create an alternative perspective of of civil engineering and how it effects and what we can learn from it. Also to Convey thoughts about construction which are there but it is is needed to be explore. to create a knowledge reference point of construction of current era. Also in this book an attempt is made to dwell on personality development and problem solving aspects of civil engineering. The various standpoints with a scope to introduce to students concurrent view points. I would like to thank, My Parents, wife, daughter for helping me devote my time in this endeavour. I would like to thank my friends , teachers and all the fellow professional colleagues who have contributed directly or indirectly helping me with technical aspects. Finally I would like to Dedicate it to Lord Vishnu for his blessings for making the content possible. Anup D Shirhatti Contents 1. A rising era of...
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