Civil Engineering Board Licensure Examination (CELE) Reviewer

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering MSTE (Transportation/Management), HGE (Hydraulics/Geotechnical), and PSAD (Structural Design) terms for the Civil Engineering Board Exam.

Arcs

The line segment (path) joining two nodes in a graph; the number is denoted by 'A'.

Alligator cracking

A series of interconnected or interfaced cracks caused by fatigue failure of the asphalt concrete surface under repeated traffic loading.

Amplitude

The height between the trough and the crest of a wave.

Asphaltic Concrete

A layer consisting of a properly designed mix of coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, a filler, and a bituminous binder.

Basic capacity

The maximum number of passenger cars that can pass a given point on a lane or roadway during one hour under the most nearly ideal roadway and traffic conditions.

Bathymetry

The physical configuration of the seabed, the measurements of depths of water in the ocean, and information derived from such measurements.

Beuforts Scale

An instrument used to measure intensity of wind.

Bleeding or flushing

The exuding of bitumen onto the pavement surface causing a reduction in skid resistance.

Breaking waves

Waves where forward velocity of crest particles exceeds propagation velocity; occurs in deep water when $L < 7H$ and in shallow water when $d \approx 1.25 H$.

Breakwater

A structure that protects a harbor from stormy waves and permits calm in the harbor.

Breasting dolphins

Dolphins designed to take the impact of a ship when docking and to hold the ship against a broadside wind; provided with fenders.

Capacity

The maximum sustained 15-minute rate of flow, expressed in passenger cars per hour per lane, accommodated by a uniform freeway segment.

Continuously reinforced concrete pavements

A type of rigid pavement with no transverse joints except construction or expansion joints; used on high-volume, high-speed roadways.

Density

The number of vehicles per unit distance occupying a section of roadway at a given instant, usually in vehicles per mile or kilometer.

Design speed

The maximum safe speed that can be maintained over a specified section of highway when design features govern.

Emotion

In the PIVIE process, the time linked with perception and intellection based on a traffic situation like fear or anger which influences the final decision sent to the muscle.

Fetch

The distance that the wind blows over the sea in generating waves.

Flexible pavement

A pavement structure that maintains intimate contact with the subgrade and depends on aggregate interlock, particle friction, and cohesion for stability.

Freehaul

The distance within which excavated material is moved without extra compensation.

Groin

A shore protection structure usually built perpendicular to the coastline to retard littoral transport of sedimentary materials.

Headway

The reciprocal of flow; the average time separation in the traffic stream usually measured in seconds.

Joint or crack spalling

The breakdown or disintegration of slab edges at joints or cracks resulting in the loss of sound concrete.

Mass diagram

The calculation used for optimum haul strategies and determining earthwork costs.

Nodes

Points in a graph where at least one path starts or reaches; named by capital English letters and denoted by the number 'N'.

Passing sight distance

Minimum distance required on a two-lane, two-way highway to permit a driver to complete a passing maneuver without colliding with an opposing vehicle.

Raveling

The wearing away of the pavement surface caused by the dislodging of aggregate particles and binder.

Significant wave

A hypothetical wave with height and period equal to the average values of the largest 1/3 of all waves in a train.

Storm Surge

An abnormal rise of sea level occurring when a typhoon passes, caused by atmospheric pressure reduction and wind stress.

Tack coat

An application of hot bitumen material given to an old surface to provide adhesion between the old and new road surfaces.

Wind rose

A graphical representation of the direction, frequency, and intensity of winds at a particular location over a period of time.

$$0.074\,mm$$

The largest grain size that may pass through a No. 200 sieve.

$$4^{\circ}C$$

The temperature at which liquid water has its highest density.

Soft cohesive soil

A soil deposit where the unconfined compression strength is between $0\text{ to }24\,kPa$.

Archimedes Principle

A body immersed in a fluid is subjected to an upward force called buoyant force equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.

Bernoulli's Principle

In any stream flowing steadily without friction, the total energy contained is the same at every point in its path of flow.

Effective stress

Stress resulting from weight and pressure that keeps sand grains stuck together via static friction; also called intergranular stress.

Froude Number

A dimensionless value describing different flow regimes of open channel flow.

Liquefaction

A phenomenon where soil strength and stiffness are reduced by earthquake shaking, causing water-saturated sediment to act as a fluid.

Reynolds Number

The ratio of inertia force to viscous force; differentiates between laminar and turbulent flow.

Water hammer

A pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly.

Column

A structural member with a ratio of unsupported height to least lateral dimension of not less than 3, used to support axial load.

Creep

The phenomenon where a structure subjected to a load for a long period continues to deform until sudden fracture occurs.

Ductility

The ability of a material to deform in the plastic range without breaking.

Modulus of rigidity

The ratio of shear stress to shear strain.

Poisson's ratio

The ratio of lateral strain to axial (longitudinal) strain.

Resonance

Large amplitude vibration of a system when it is given impulses at its natural frequency.

Soft Story

A story in which the lateral stiffness is less than $70\%$ of the stiffness of the story above.

Stiffness

The ability of a structure to resist changes in shape.

Varignon’s Theorem

States that the moment at any point of a force acting on a body is equal to the moment of the resultant at that same point.

Young's Modulus

The constant of proportionality defining the linear relationship between stress and strain.