The most dangerous and destructive part of a tropical cyclone isn’t the wind or rain; it’s the storm surge of water moving inland. This landward shift of ocean takes place Keep reading
Tag: civil engineering
Coastal Erosion
The same dynamic forces that make coastlines fascinating create perennial headaches for engineers trying to maintain coastlines against erosion. This Practical Engineering video discusses some of the challenges of coastal Keep reading
Permeable Pavement
Controlling storm water is a major challenge in urban environments, where many surfaces are impermeable. In a city, rain cannot simply soak into the ground and filter into the water Keep reading
Preventing Flooding
The Dutch have been exceptional water engineers for centuries, a necessity in a country where more than a quarter of its territory lies below sea level. After a devastating flood Keep reading
How Canal Locks Work
For thousands of years, boats have been a critical component of trade, efficiently enabling transport of goods over large distances. But water’s self-leveling creates challenges when moving up and downstream Keep reading
The Engineering of Culverts
Manmade infrastructure often interferes with natural waterways, which is one reason civil engineers turn to culverts, those pipes and concrete tunnels you often see beneath roadways. As simple as they Keep reading
Michigan Dam Failure
Last week Michigan’s Edenville Dam failed, triggering catastrophic flooding. While the exact causes of dam’s failure are not yet clear, this video of the collapse provides some interesting hints. As Keep reading
Holding Pipes in Place
Newton’s 3rd law states that any action has an equal and opposite reaction. Often engineers use this to our advantage; the thrust from expelling propellants is what lifts our rockets Keep reading
How Spillways Work
Human infrastructure like dams have the challenge of standing up to whatever nature can throw at them. It’s expensive, if not outright impossible, to build to every single contingency, so Keep reading
Hydraulic Jumps
Chances are that you’ve seen plenty of hydraulic jumps in your life, whether they were in your kitchen sink, the whitewater of a river, or at the bottom of a Keep reading