Introduction to Infrastructure: An Introduction to Civil and Environmental Engineering

Preface

Intended Audience

The target audience for this textbook is freshmen and sophomore civil and environmental engineering students. It is assumed that the reader has not yet taken courses in Calculus or Statics.

Goals and Motivation

Over the 15-week period of a typical college semester, the population of the United States will increase by approximately 700,000 people. This is roughly equivalent to the population of Charlotte, North Carolina, the 18th largest city in the U.S. During this same period, the world population will increase by approximately 21 million people, which is greater than the population of New York State, the third most populous state in the U.S. These semester-long numbers correspond to an annual growth in U.S. population of 2million and an annual growth in world population of 90 million people. Imagine the new infrastructure (the “built environment”) that must be constructed and the existing infrastructure that must be modified or expanded to meet the demands of these additional people: roads, rails, hospitals, power supplies, drinking water treatment facilities, schools, bridges, etc. And, even if the population was not growing, the need to build new or maintain existing infrastructure would still be necessary, as people move, the infrastructure ages and deteriorates, standards and regulations change, and user demands change (e.g., vehicle use and water use, on a per person basis).

Albert Einstein said, “we can't solve problems by using the same kind of ...