Unit 3. Civil construction
Vocabulary.
Industrial enterprises – промышленные предприятия
Railway – железная дорога
Highway - автомагистраль
Subway – разг. метрополитен
Sporting facilities – спортивные сооружения
Brick – кирпич
Site plan – план строительного участка
Above-ground part – наземная часть здания
Below-ground part- подземная часть здания
There are many branches of modern civil construction such as housing construction, construction of industrial enterprises, construction of railways, highways, subways, construction of bridges, dams, ports, canals, construction of different sporting facilities.
Since prehistoric times people have built different construction materials for example wood, bricks, concrete, steel and others. All modern houses must have modern services such as electricity, central heating, ventilation, waste dispose.
It’s very important to have a site plan for every building.
Construction of any building usually starts with excavation. It is a well-known fact that there exist different kinds of soil so it is very important to know the type of soil in advance. For example, if the upper stratum is organic it must be removed from the construction area in order to guard the foundation of the building against water and wind erosion. In colder climates the foundations should be placed below the level to which the ground freezes in winter.
There are three major parts of a building; superstructure, substructure and foundation. The superstructure is the above-ground part, the substructure is the below-ground part. The foundations keep the walls and the floor is from direct contact with the soil because the function of a foundation is to transfer the loads of a building into the soil.
Foundation design may by rather complex or very simple, it depends on the size of the building.
A foundation may support different kinds of loads, among them there dead loads and live loads. The dead load includes the weights of electrical, mechanical equipment and the weight of the foundation itself. The live load includes the weights of living beings, the furnishings, equipment they use and also snow, ice, water of the roof.
There are two basic parts of foundations: shallow and deep. Shallow foundations transfer the load to the earth while deep foundations transfer the load far below the structure. As to the price, shallow foundations are usually less expensive than the deep ones.
Answer the questions according to the text:
1. What branches of modern civil construction do you know?
2. What kind of services do modern people need and use?
3. What are the major parts of a building?
4. What does any construction start?
5. What is a function of a foundation?
6. Why must we know the type of the soil in advance?
Exercises:
1) Match the Russian and English equivalents. Make up the sentences with these words and word combinations:
| 1.branch 2.highway 3.subway 4.enterprise 5.dam 6.bridge 7.central heating 8.waste dispose 9.concrete 10.soil 11.in advance 12.foundation 13.dead load 14.live load 15.weight 16.upper stratum 17.to remove 18.furnishing | a.центральное отопление b.заранее c.верхний слой почвы d.динамический вес e.статический вес f.удаление отходов g.мебель h.фундамент i.вес j.мост k.шоссе, автомагистраль l.ветвь, отрасль m.метро n.дамба o.удалять p.промышленное предприятие q.почва r.бетон |
2) Combine and translate combinations:
For example: civil construction
| Sporting Industrial Military Dead Live Swimming Construction Turn key Modern Central Waste Well known Wind Living Above-ground | Pool Construction Materials Facilities Enterprises Branches Dispose Load Services Heating Fact Erosion Beings Part Load |
3) Complete the sentences:
The dead load includes…
The live load includes…
The foundations support…
Foundation design may be both…
Different sporting facilities are…
There exist two basic parts of foundations…
4) Study the examples and form the comparative and superlative degrees of adjectives, find them in the text. Translate from Russian into English:
Big-bigger-the biggest
Beautiful-more beautiful- the most beautiful
Important- less important-the least important
Cheap, simple, expensive, complex, shallow, modern, deep, cold, hot.
Проект фундамента может быть сложнее или проще, это зависит от размера фундамента.
Более глубокий фундамент стоит дороже, в то время как строительство неглубокого фундамента стоит дешевле.
Чем глубже фундамент, тем дороже его строительство.
В столице России находятся самые современные здания.
Самое важное при строительстве фундамента- это информация о типе почвы и климата.
References:
Adapted from Building Construction Principles and Practices by D.Walton.,pp.18-21.