ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the prior knowledge required to study civil engineering or construction engineering materials, their properties, characterization methods, and standard laboratory methods of testing. It also reviews the knowledge of strength of materials. The strength of materials is commonly used as prerequisite knowledge for the current subject area. Civil engineering or construction engineering is involved with, to some extent, the planning, design, construction, maintenance, and recycling of roads, bridges, tunnels, canals, dams, buildings, airports, pipelines, etc. Different structures are made up of different materials, are exposed to different environments, and must support different loads. There has been tremendous growth in the use of innovative, new, and recycled materials in civil engineering. There are hundreds of materials available for use in civil engineering. Most materials fall into one of four broad classes, based on the atomic bonding forces. These are: metallic, ceramic, polymeric, and composite.
