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Civil Engineering

How the bridges, buildings, roads, dams, pipes and water a society runs on are designed to stand up, last and keep people safe.

For: anyone starting the degree, anyone who works on construction or infrastructure, anyone who has wondered why a skyscraper doesn't fall over.

Shaped by the ASCE Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge (3rd ed., 2019) and the classic sub-disciplines taught by every civil programme: structural, geotechnical, water, environmental, transportation and construction.

22readings
4.5 hoursof reading
4stages
22 reads
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Stage 1

Year 1 · The language

5 readings · 56 min
  1. 01ReadInteractiveQuiz10 min

    Calculus I: Slopes, Totals and the Bridge Between Them

    Loads, flows and settlements change across space and time: calculus describes them.
  2. 02ReadInteractiveQuiz10 min

    Physics I: Mechanics — Three Ways to Keep the Books

    Every structure is Newton's laws standing still.
  3. 03ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Linear Algebra: Machines That Move Space

    A building frame has thousands of joints; matrices solve them together.
  4. 04ReadInteractiveQuiz11 min

    Programming Fundamentals: Instructions, State and Taking Things Apart

    Civil engineers model in code and spreadsheets long before they pour concrete.
  5. 05ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Engineering Drawing & CAD: The Contract Between Designer and Maker

    Drawings are the contract between engineer and builder.
Stage 2

Year 2 · Forces and matter

6 readings · 1.2 hours
  1. 06ReadInteractiveQuiz10 min

    Multivariable Calculus: Calculus on a Landscape

    Wind, water and soil pressure vary over surfaces and volumes.
  2. 07ReadInteractiveQuiz11 min

    Differential Equations: Laws Written as Rates

    Settlement, flow and cooling are differential equations.
  3. 08ReadInteractiveQuiz11 min

    Statics: Why Things Stand Still

    Nothing that stands still has unbalanced forces; that one rule designs bridges.
  4. 09ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Mechanics of Materials: Why Things Bend, Buckle and Break

    Why beams bend, columns buckle and parts crack, and how to size them so they don't.
  5. 10ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Materials Science & Manufacturing: Why Things Are Made of What They Are

    Concrete, steel, timber and asphalt: why each is used where it is.
  6. 11ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Probability & Statistics: Reasoning with Uncertainty

    Loads, floods and material strengths are random; codes are built on statistics.
Stage 3

Year 3 · The sub-disciplines

5 readings · 1.1 hours
  1. 12ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Fluid Mechanics: Why Air and Water Push Back

    Water pushes, flows and erodes; fluid mechanics is the rulebook.
  2. 13ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Structural Analysis: How Forces Find Their Way to the Ground

    How forces find their way down through a structure to the ground.
  3. 14ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Geotechnical Engineering: Everything Stands on Soil

    Everything stands on soil, and soil is the least predictable material there is.
  4. 15ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Hydraulics & Water Resources: Moving Water Where People Need It

    Rivers, floods, pipes and dams: moving water where people need it, and away from where they don't.
  5. 16ReadInteractiveQuiz12 min

    Vibrations: Everything Is a Spring and a Mass

    Earthquakes and wind shake structures; resonance is the danger.
Stage 4

Year 4 · Designing for society

6 readings · 1.4 hours
  1. 17ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Structural Design: Concrete & Steel That Bend Before They Break

    Turning forces into real beams, columns and slabs, under the codes that keep them safe.
  2. 18ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Environmental Engineering: Clean Water In, Clean Water Out

    Clean water in, clean water out: the engineering behind public health.
  3. 19ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Transportation Engineering: Why Traffic Jams Form Out of Nothing

    How roads, junctions and transit move people, and why new lanes fill up.
  4. 20ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Construction Management: Why Big Projects Run Late

    Scheduling, cost, contracts and safety: how a design actually gets built.
  5. 21ReadInteractiveQuiz13 min

    Corporate Finance: The Price of Time and Risk

    Should we build it? Engineering economics is finance with a long horizon.
  6. 22ReadInteractiveQuiz14 min

    Systems Engineering & the Capstone: Many Parts, One Product

    A project is many subsystems and stakeholders agreeing; that's the capstone.
When you finish

MIT OpenCourseWare's Civil and Environmental Engineering course list, free; then the textbooks named at the end of each subject.

Next path →

Mathematics

What is true for certain, why, and how far the structures of number, space and change reach.