Civil engineering has always been a vital branch of engineering for ages. Going back to the ancient Hindu mythology, the Ravana’s palace in Lanka was a great piece of civil engineering built by Lord Vishwakarma 7000 years ago. Consider that time when civil engineering was so advance, just visualize the advancement in today’s time. It has grown immensely. Buildings like Burj Khalifa, Statue of Liberty have been a clear example of this miracle engineering prospect.

Now as you have put the final nail in the coffin by completing your graduation in civil engineering. You are been tagged as a Civil engineer. Stepping out in the practical world is your next step now. Here some very important and practical forms of terms that will come in handy while you work on-site with a new tag. Have a look –

Practical terms in a life of on-site engineer

1. Anchorage length– It is that extra portion of length from the development length, that is been provided to enhance the bonding strength between the beam and the column. When we connect the beam with the column using iron bars. Generally, the length of that iron bar remains the same as of beam. In such a case, due to bending loads of beam, it might fail under bending stress. So, it becomes vital to provide that extra length of the iron bar into the column which is equivalent to more than the diameter of the column. The total length of that extra portion that is been penetrated the column is called development length.

          But, to provide that locking strength between enjoining beam and column, some portion of the development length is bent in a form of any degree as per the designing concept. The further length of the right-angled bend of the development length is called the anchorage length. Its main function is similar to the marine anchor that holds the vessels by digging into the sea bed when the vessel needs to be stopped at the sea-shore. While development length transfers the load from the beam to the column but anchorage length nullifies the failure due to various loads acting on the beam.

       There is a specific anchorage length formula that is

Anchorage length= Ld+10d-bend

For,

45 degree= 4d

90 degree= 8d

135 degree= 12d

180 degree= 16d

Here ‘d’ is the diameter of the iron bar and Ld is the development length.

• Lapping length– it is the length of the overlapping iron bar when it is joined to each other. Generally, it’s been provided on the iron bar to enhance more strength and durability to the joint as shown below.

• Crank bar– It is the most important term for every site engineer in everyday use. Every professionalised civil engineer should have a basic knowledge about crank-bar

As shown in the above figure, it is the term associated with the structure made to withstand any bending moment. Let’s assume a slab, with the column fixed on both its end. Assume slab to be the floor.  When the occupants walk over, or any heavy object is placed over then the slab is subjected to multiple stresses. But one stress will be dominant, that stress is the bending stress. While due to the weight of the heavy object, the slab will bulge downwards creating a positive bending moment but then the development length iron bar inside the column will tend to move upwards, that is the negative bending moment.

This situation can be hazardous in intense environments as certain failures might occur that can damage the whole structure. To prevent such happening or failure, a mechanism is been created which is shown above in the picture. That is called the crank bar. It nullifies the positive bending moment as well the negative bending moment thus provide that sturdiness and modified strength to the whole structure. To know more about the crank-bar, just visit civilera.com, one of the premium civil engineering course online platform for passionate civil engineering aspirants. Here, you will get the customized civil engineering courses at affordable rates.

Joggle– While we create the lap length joint over the metal bar, it’s not always feasible to join two lapping bars parallel to each other. The reason being in such a case when we use it in the column, sometimes it cannot provide that added uniformity of strength over the entire column. So, what we do, we bend the metal bar slightly the way it can act as the butt joint. The bending can be in form of any angle depending on the diameter of the metal bar. That slight bend is known as the joggle. It the most important term for civil engineers in a practical way. It is shown below.

JOGGLE

Gunia checks– It is the term associated to ensure that the adjoining beam and column or any two vertical and horizontal structures should be at 90 degrees to each other. Suppose, we have a floor that is connecting two columns. In that case, the orientation should be right-angled to each other. Reason being that itcan result in an unstable structure which can rupture the entire structure. To ensure its right-angled structure being maintained, a gunia check is been done by using the small portion of the vertical as well as the horizontal part in the ratio of 4:3. Here to calculate the hypotenuse that is the imaginary slanting line connecting vertical and horizontal parts into the right-angled structure, we use the Pythagoras theorem in a ratio of 4:3.

Final thoughts

Summarizing the entire content, in brief, I want to conclude that these practical terms should be kept in mind for every aspiring civil engineer. You will encounter these terms in your everyday professional life. Crank-bar is more theoretical but immensely vital for your use and its applications are quite wide.