Civil engineers have a very particular set of skills and techniques that they have acquired over a long time in their engineering school.

Skills and techniques that make them the cream of the society and an integral part of city planning and construction, ranged from the mega projects of dams, bridges and highways to our dream homes.

In this article, I'll present to you some basic tips and technical terms, every civil engineer must be apprised of.

This information will benefit not only civil engineers working on site but also the students pursuing their engineering programs plus it will help those who are preparing for civil engineering job interviews.
Now let's get started

1) The grade of concrete is denoted as cement:sand:aggregate.
Example: For M15 grade of concrete the ratio used is 1:2:4 i.e, 1 part of cement is mixed with 2 parts of sand and 4 parts of aggregate.
2) Water having a PH value of less than 6 should not be used for construction purpose. This is because if this acidic water (PH <6) is used there will be noticeable degradation and surface damage as the cement loses its ability to bind the concrete together. If left unattended, it will continue to become more acidic and that will eventually result in the concrete losing all structural integrity and needing to be replaced.

3) For casting any structural member (RCC member) the concrete should not be thrown from a height of more than 1m.

4) The initial setting time of concrete is minimum 30 minutes and the final setting time has been found out to be 10 hours.

5) The minimum thickness of slab should not be less than 5 inches. 

6) The compressive strength of bricks is 3.5N/mm2
7) C/C means centre to centre distance between structural members. 

8) DL means the development length. 
9) The self weight of structure is known as the dead load of the structure. 

10) The sand which has a moisture content of greater than 5% should not be used for concrete mix. 

11) The full form of DPC is Damp Proof Course whuch is provided in load bearing structures or brick structures to prevent moisture rising by capillary action i.e, to prevent the effect of water rising from ground into the property and it's thickness should not be kept less than 2.5cm. 

12) Cube tests are carried out per 30m³ usage of concrete. It's purpose is to determine the compressive strength of concrete. This test is enough to do the quality check on the type of concrete work at site.