Terminologies in Civil Engineering Page 4
I-Joist
An engineered structural floor or roof joist consisting of a top and bottom chord of dimension lumber and a web of oriented strand board. Also known as the Silent Floor.
Indeterminate Stress
Stress-induced by the use of a redundant member in a truss or an additional reaction in a beam rendering stress distributions unable to be determined by the principles of statics.
Initial Stress
In prestressed concrete, the stresses occurring in the prestressed members before any losses occur.
Inside Corner
The point at which two walls form an internal angle, as in the corner of a room.
Inside Drain
A roof drain is positioned on a roof at some location other than the perimeter. It drains surface water inside the building through closed pipes to a drainage system.
Inspection Ladders
Special devices or appliances designed to afford a safe and efficient means for making inspections and tests to determine the physical condition of a structure and to facilitate repair operations incident to its maintenance; to prevent displacement they will be, in general, rigidly fixed upon the structure, however, certain types of structures are adapted to the use of movable platform devices for suspension from the railings or other parts which are or may be adapted thereto.
Intercepting Ditch
A ditch is constructed to prevent surface water from flowing in contact with the toe of an embankment or causeway or down the slope of a cut.
Interior Girder
An innermost girder supporting the bridge floor.
Intrados
The curve defining the interior surface of the arch; also known as the soffit.
Invert
The bottom or lowest point of the internal surface of the transverse cross-section of a pipe.
Irma
Insulated (or Inverted) Roof Membrane Assembly. In this system the roof membrane is laid directly on the roof deck, covered with extruded foam insulation and ballasted with stone, minimum of 1000 Ibs. per square.
Isotropic
Have the same material properties in all directions.
Jack-Post
A type of structural support is made of metal, which can be raised or lowered through a series of pins and screws to meet the height required. Used as a replacement for an old supporting member in a building.
Jack/King Stud
The framing stud, some-times called the trimmer that supports the header above a window, door, or another opening within a bearing wall. Depending on the size of the opening there may be several jack studs on either side of the opening.
Jambs
The top and slide of a door, window, or other openings. Includes studs as well as the frame and trim.
Joist Hanger
A steel section is shaped like a stirrup, which is specially bent so it can be fastened to a beam to provide end support for joists, headers, etc.
Keene’s Cement
A white finish plaster that produces an extremely durable wall. Because of its density, it excels for use in bathrooms and kitchens and is also used extensively for the finish coat in auditoriums, public buildings, and other places where walls may be subjected to unusually hard wear or abuse.
Keystone
The symmetrically shaped, the wedge-like stone is located in a head ring course at the crown of the arch; the final stone placed, thereby closing the arch.
King-post Truss
Two triangular panels with a common center vertical; the simplest of triangular system trusses.
Klin
A furnace or oven for burning limestone to make lime; or a furnace for firing bricks.
K-Truss
A truss having a web system wherein the diagonal members intersect the vertical members at or near the mid-height; the assembly in each panel forms a letter “K”
Lacing
Small flat plates are used to connect individual sections of built-up members.
Landscape The area surrounding a home, which consists of grass, plantings, etc.
Lime Putty
The plastic material resulting after the lime hydration process stops and the semi-fluid mass cools off. In t his form the hydrated lime is ready to be added to masonry mortar mixes (as a plasticizer) or can be used by itself as either base-or finish-coat plaster, especially in historical restorations.
Link and Roller
An adjustable device or assemblage consisting of a hinged strut-like link fitted with a roller at its bottom end, supported upon a shoe plate or pedestal and operated by a thrust strut serving to force it into a vertical position and to withdraw it therefrom; when installed at each outermost end of the girders or the trusses of a swing span their major function is to lift them to an extent that their camber or droop will be removed and the arms rendered free to act as simple spans; when the links are withdrawn to an inclined position fixed by the operating mechanism the span is free to be moved to an open position.
Lintel
A horizontal piece of wood or steel over an opening such as a window or door to support the walls immediately above the opening. Lintels can also be steel or stone.
Liquated Damages
A monetary amount is agreed upon by two parties to a contract before performance under the contract that specifies what either party owes the other if that party defaults under the contract.
Liquid-Applied Membrance
Generally applied to cast-in-place concrete surfaces in one or more coats to provide fully-adhered waterproof membranes which conform to all contours.
Load Bearing Wall
A wall which is supporting its weight and some other structural elements of the house such as the joists.
Longitudinal Bracing
Bracing that runs lengthwise with a bridge and provides resistance against longitudinal movement and deformation of transverse members.
Lookout
A short wooden framing member used to support an overhanging portion of a roof. It extends from the wall to the underside surfacing of the overhang.
Low-Carbon Steel
Steel with 0.04 to 0.25% dissolved carbon; also called mild steel.
Lower Chord
The bottom horizontal member of a truss.
Macro
Meaning long, large, or expanded and is used often as a prefix to a term to point out the large, expanded use of the term.
Mansard Roof
A roof that rises by inclined planes from all four sides of a building. The sloping roofs on all four sides have two pitches, the lower pitch usually very steep and the upper pitch less steep.
Marina
A facility located on a body of water which provides docking, storage, maintenance, and other facilities for boats.
Median Strip
A strip of land between opposing lanes of highway traffic;
Model Home
A dwelling is built first by a developer to allow potential purchasers to see what the finished product will look like once the other homes in the development are completed.
Modular Housing
Known as “pre-fab” housing, any dwelling that is assembled cut of components (i.e. walls, floors, roof) constructed off-site and then brought to the building lot. Also known as manufactured housing.
Movable Bridge
A bridge in which the deck moves to clear a navigation channel: a swing bridge has a deck that rotates around a center point; a drawbridge has a deck that can be raised and lowered; a bascule bridge deck is raised with counterweights like a drawbridge, and the deck of a lift bridge is raised vertically like a massive elevator.
Mullion and Muntin
Mullions are the vertical dividers and muntins are the horizontal dividers found in the frames of windows, doors, or other openings.
Mullion
A vertical bar or divider in the frame between windows, doors, or other openings that supports and holds such items as panels, glass, sash, or selections of a curtain wall.
Muntins
Horizontal or vertical bars that divide the sash frame into smaller lights of glass. Muntins are smaller in dimensions and weight than mullions.
National Building Code
Published regulations and ordinances established by the Bureau of Indian Standards describing design loads, procedures, and construction details for structures. Usually applying to designated political jurisdiction (city, country, state, etc). Building codes control design, construction, and quality of materials, use and occupancy, location and maintenance of buildings and structures within the area for which the code was adopted.
Needle
A temporary beam used to support a section of masonry while lower sections are repaired or replaced.
Negative Bending
The bending of a member characterized by the downward curvature of the member ends.
Negative Moment
Bending moment in a member such that tension stresses are produced in the top portions of the member; typically occurs in continuous beams and spans over the intermediate supports.
Neutral Axis
The internal axis of the member in bending along which the strain is zero; on one side of the neutral axis in the fibers are in tension, on the other side, the fibers are in compression.
Newel Post
The post at the top and bottom of the handrails and anywhere along the stair run that creates a directional change in the handrails is called the newel post. The newel post is securely anchored into the underlying floor framing or the stair stringer to provide stability to the handrails.
Newel
A post to which the end of a stair railing or balustrade is fastened. Also, any post to which a railing or balustrade is fastened.
No-Fines Concrete
A concrete mixture in which only the coarse gradation (3/8” to 3/4″ normally) of aggregate is used.
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