ILSC FINAL ESSAY

Essay Title: Technologies used in Civil EngineeringCivil engineering is a well-known field of science and technology that is focused on design, exploration, maintenance, and repair of various technical events. The primary objective of civil engineering firms is the construction of a building that is considered as a final object of civil engineers. Due to the evolution of technology in the past few decades, the civil engineers are more focused on improving advance technology to make better structures. Moreover, civil engineers are using exploring various methods to improve methods and material used in the construction process.

Technological innovation in civil engineering as it helps the dealers to provide a safe environment for the workers and to meet fulfil customer requirement. In the current scenario, civil engineers are constantly adopting new technologies and methods to minimise the utilisation of resources and to influence eco-friendly construction. In relation to this, the essay focused on examining the latest technologies and innovations in the field of civil engineering.

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In the technological era, civil engineers can construct relatively tall, flexible, and light building structures in a short period. Moreover, these structures are more flexible to bear natural calamities such as flood, wind, and earthquake. The well-known examples of technological innovation in civil engineering can be seen from Taipei 101 in Taipei, Taiwan and Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The construction of such dynamic structures would not have been possible without the use of the latest technologies (Becerik-Gerber, Gerber and Ku, 2011). In this regard, technological advancement in civil engineering incorporates all the latest innovations material design, planning, and resource management.

The latest technological advancement in the field of civil engineering have been discussed below.Cracks in concrete is a common issue that may arise due to the low tensile strength. It is essential to control the width of cracks as the cost involved in the maintenance and repairing of cracks is much high. In order to resolve this issue, the engineers of the Netherlands have invented a concrete that involves bacteria to heal itself. The bacteria present in the concrete multiply itself and heals whenever creak occur. In this manner, healing technology eliminates the expensive maintenance of the buildings. In addition to this, self-healing protects the buildings from collapse. Self-healing concrete. Healing technology requires material like reinforced concrete, self-healing concrete, timber, masonry, and steel (Ghosh, 2009).3D printers are now recognised as a crucial aspect of the of civil engineering. It is used for the early design of models. Moreover, 3D printing models are most commonly used by civil engineers to fill gaps between construction planning and visual design. In relation to this cybercity3D (CC3D) is recognised as a geospatial modelling innovator that is used to design a smart 3D building model. It provides a digital 3D building map of construction sites, which can be used by the architectures and construction engineers to retrieve design data (Sampaio et al., 2010). The 3D design technology is considered as the more sustainable medium of construction, which can reduce the construction mistakes to a greater extent and speed up the overall construction process. The significant use of this technology by civil engineers has reduced the construction time from several months to a few weeks for small houses (Sampaio et al., 2010).In the current time, engineers are focused on findings alternative source of energy generation. In this regard, civil engineers have found that car driving, and pedestrians walking can also be used to generate a different form of energy that is kinetic energy. The engineers have also investigated various methods to collect the energy from footsteps and vehicles in the high traffic areas. The energy collected from these sources can be used to produce electricity, which can give power to the local electricity grid and street light. In addition to generating electricity, this cutting-edge technology can also be used to improve road safety and enhance the sustainability of road traffic (Becerik-Gerber, Gerber and Ku, 2011). Apart from this, engineers are also focused on using solar energy as permanent source energy for the buildings and houses by using PV building glazing. For this regard, solar panels are fixed in the building walks during construction like a skin. In this manner, building ceilings and walls can also be used to store and generate energy. This innovative technology can be used to build a net-zero energy building (Ching, 2014).Augmented and virtual reality technology is used to review the proposed structure before the construction begins. Augmented reality is used to visualise the building using the digital platform before construction starts. On the other hand, virtual reality is used by civil engineers to examine the utility placement of a building. AR and VR are increasingly growing technology in the construction industry to reduce the wasteful change order (Ong and Nee, 2013). This technology help construction managers and designers to access the real-time building maintenance data, which improve the collaboration among the team members and quality of work. AR technology provides exact measurements and details of building to all the team members, which help to reduce the construction waste to a greater extent. Apart from this, augmented reality process also accelerates the construction work as all the workers and construction managers have quick access to the virtual models (Ong and Nee, 2013).Modular construction is an environment-friendly construction method, wherein the buildings are constructed by using the same materials and standard in off sites. This method is most popular among civil engineers to reduce environmental disruption and vehicle movements (Lawson, Ogden and Bergin, 2011). In this technique, the construction sites are established in the locations, wherein construction material and component can be obtained in a shortest logistic exercise. This technology influences the just in time' manufacturing processes. It is successfully used in the UK and US to accelerate the construction process and to reduce the construction cost (Hu, 2016).The technological advancement as presented above reflects that civil engineering field always welcomes the innovative and creative ideas such as the use of the kinetic road, modular construction, 3D printing, self-healing concrete, and PV building glazing. These technological advancements in the civil engineering field can be considered as a game changer in many aspects. The significance of using advanced technology in the civil engineering fields are decreased construction cost and short construction time. Technological innovation in the civil engineering field is also reduced the labour cost to a greater extent. Moreover, technological innovation has reduced the unnecessary pressure from the builder's head as help to create a safe working environment for the construction workers. In addition to this, augmented and virtual reality help the builders to meet the customer requirements. Further, it has been identified that the major issue with the traditional concrete structure is cracking that is tackled by the self-heal concrete method. Apart from this, Kinetic walkways and pathways are used by civil engineers as a source of electricity, which in turn is beneficial for society. Thus, it can be concluded that technological advancement in the civil engineering field is cost and time effective that can be beneficial for the development of society.ReferencesBecerik-Gerber, B., Gerber, D.J. and Ku, K. 2011. The pace of technological innovation in architecture, engineering, and construction education: integrating recent trends into the curricula. Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon) 16(24), pp.411-432.Ching, F.D. 2014. Building construction illustrated. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.Ghosh, S.K. 2009. Self-healing materials: fundamentals, design strategies, and applications. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.Hu, L. 2016. Analysis on Technological Innovation of Civil Engineering Construction. Engineering 8(05), pp.287.Lawson, R.M., Ogden, R.G. and Bergin, R. 2011. Application of modular construction in high-rise buildings. Journal of architectural engineering 18(2), pp.148-154.Ong, S.K. and Nee, A.Y.C. 2013. Virtual and augmented reality applications in manufacturing. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.Sampaio, A.Z., Ferreira, M.M., Rosario, D.P. and Martins, O.P. 2010. 3D and VR models in Civil Engineering education: Construction, rehabilitation and maintenance. Automation in Construction 19(7), pp.819-828.