Civil Engineering Photos

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Seen here is a concrete pour crew in the middle of placing a mat foundation. The process that is happening here is the beginning of leveling the slab of concrete to the final depth. The tool the man in maroon is using is a called a screed and is basically a gas powered leveler. The two workers behind the screed move excess concrete out of the way and add concrete to areas that are lacking to allow the screed to make a relatively flat surface. Other finishing methods are then used to make a final slab that is within a tolerance of the specified depth.

Photo Credit: Karl Jansen

(Click on above photo to see the video)
This is a video taken during the demolition of an old clubhouse in Livonia, MI. Demolitions like this are quite common today, as old buildings and infrastructure must be replaced with new and updated versions. Most people think of a wrecking ball when they think of demolition, but as can be seen above, a standard excavator is the only equipment needed for this building. Look closely near the excavator and a water stream can be seen spraying the debris to keep the dust down. Dust control during demolition is of high concern to keep visibility clear for safety and to keep dust from covering adjacent land.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

When pouring concrete contractors cannot simply begin or end placing concrete at any given location in a structure during a given pour. Due to many reasons, including rebar placements and concrete’s inability to stick to itself once dry, pours need to be done in a manner that completes a predetermined structural element. In some cases, this means pouring thousands of yards of concrete in one continuous operation for hours and even days. Pictured above is a concrete pumper’s boom working into the night on a 2 000 yard pour, comprised of approximately 200 trucks, that lasted more than 12 hours. In the background of the photograph is the job’s tower crane silhouetted against the setting sun.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Featured here is a free standing jib crane (the yellow column and beam assembly). Cranes like this one are permanent pieces of equipment found in factories, fabrication shops, or adjacent to loading docks. The main advantage of a free standing jib crane is its ability to pick up a load, rotate the load, extend the reach of the jib, and deposit the load all in a very controlled and predetermined motion. This crane is in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the University of Michigan Power Plant. It is used to unload trucks from the visible loading dock.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Pictured above is a drill rig used for constructing auger cast piles. On this machine a few features are very obvious that make it different than a traditional boom-lattice crane. First, the large green box on the back is an engine that powers the auger. The auger, encased in the frame hanging on the front of the crane, is then used to excavate the soil where the piles will be poured. Once the auger reaches the desired depth, concrete is pumped through the auger like a straw to fill the hole as it is pulled out. A resteel cage can then be lowered into the hole to add tensile strength to the auger cast pile.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Why is the front of that building covered in a tent of plastic? This construction technique is used to raise the temperature of the work space within the plastic and to block the wind. Inside that scaffolding and plastic encasement the temperature is much warmer than the single digit temperatures experienced outside. This warmer space allows for the construction of masonry finishes which would be nearly impossible in the freezing temperatures of winter.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

This machine is used to build the civil engineering infrastructure on which society dependents. It is called a trencher, or in some circles, the ground or soil chainsaw. One use of a trencher is to bury pipes or cables. Trenchers are good at excavating long and narrow openings in the earth which pipes and cables are then laid in to deliver the water, gas, electricity, and other resources needed by the recipients of the cable or pipe from the distribution grid.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Featured in this photograph is a worker placing tiebacks for an auger cast retaining wall system. Such retaining wall systems are designed to resist all the lateral loads imposed by the sides of an excavation. To place tiebacks the worker first drills into the earth behind the wall using the machine shown, and secures cables with grout in the hole. After the grout has cured and the cables are secure they are pulled tight using jacks and fastened to the wall to hold it in place. Excavation then continues deeper until the next layer of tiebacks is needed. The process is then repeated until the desired depth of the excavation is reached.

Photo Credit: Alex Mead

Featured in this picture is a complicated erection of scaffolding. Scaffolding configurations like this, and far more complicated systems, are used to gain access to the entire outside of buildings for renovation and repair purposes. In this photograph it can be seen that the outside of this church is being refinished for architectural reasons. The advantage of using scaffolding over a cherry picker or other means of access is the ability to have many workers at different parts of the structure at the same time. Scaffolding also allows for waves of work to move up or down the structure concurrently as is common with many construction schedules. If you look close you can see workers near the top of the steeple!