Prakash sharma
Civil engineer
As engineering
deals with principle of science and mathematics and their application for the
efficient use of resources with care for the environment, so we can clearly
develop an idea that knowledge on science (mostly on physics) is vital for any
engineering field.
Today the world
is growing rapidly in terms of innovative ideas, technology and there has taken
place number of construction which is better and bigger than the previous one. All these has been made possible through constant
research ,hard work and creative ideas
which in turn has been achieved only through thorough knowledge and
understanding of related subject matter. Considering the fact that there are
different engineering branches and each one differs from other in the terms of
subject matter and application of science principle (structural engineering
uses mostly mechanics, hydropower engineering uses basically principles of hydraulics
and so on) but nevertheless the theories of science studied by all the branches
are same, they differ only in the depth of knowledge they require and content
they are interested in.
Being a civil
engineer it would be wise to mention the dependency of civil engineering with
physics. Civil engineering is a professional
discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the
physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads,
bridges, canals, dams, and buildings.
Road network is the fundamental
construction for transportation and there is lots of physics in its design. Geometric
elements of road such as sight distance, overtaking sight distance, horizontal
curve etc are all designed according to physics based principles. Sight distance
which is length of road visible ahead to the driver at any instance uses Newton’s
laws of motion and energy conservation principles for its determination and
therefore designer is always orientated to provide sufficient sight distance
for stopping operation.
Physics principle are widely used
during horizontal curve design as when a vehicle traverses a horizontal curve , the centrifugal force acts
horizontally outward through the CG of the vehicle. The centrifugal force is
counteracted by the transverse frictional resistance developed between tires
and the pavement which enables the vehicle to change the direction along the
curve and to maintain stability of vehicle. In order to counteract the affect
of centrifugal force and to reduce the tendency of vehicle to overturn or skid
the outer edge of pavement is raised with respect to inner edge, thus providing
transverse slope throughout the length of horizontal curve, this transverse slope
is super elevation
e
+ f= V² / 127R
So whenever possible super elevation
is provided in the curve so that passenger in vehicle does not get jerked while
traversing the curve. These things are well taken care during road design.
Further
buildings analysis and design are completely based on mechanics principle. The
forces and deformation on the building elements are found by principles of
mechanics. Equilibrium equations are used to find the internal forces in any
building elements. The resultant of number of forces in equilibrium is zero and
the moment of resultant about any point is zero. It therefore follows that
algebraic sum of moments of all the force about any point is zero when these
forces are in equilibrium.
ΣFx=0 , ΣFy=0 ,ΣM=0
These three
equations form the basis of mechanics and structural engineering. Further
during the transfer of forces Newton’s third laws of motion are used. And hence all the structural elements are
designed such that internal stresses that develop are well within their
permissible limits and thus users can feel safe about their life and
properties.
So at this point
we have become quite aware of the fact
that physics forms the basis of the engineering and all these achievements that
has been made possible today by engineers
demands major credit to the physicists
who have developed the platform for the engineers to work..
References
·
SK KHANNA – CEG JUSTO, 1987,Highway Engineering
·
NELKON & PARKER,2001,Advance level physics
·
GOKARNA BAHADUR MOTRA,2006, Strength of materials
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