CIVIL ENGINEERING FINAL EXAM CORE
STRUCTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION
ENGINEERING CONCEPTS REVIEW 2026
◉ What happens when metals undergo elastic and plastic
deformation? What happens when unloaded?
Answer: Elastic - stretches bonds between atoms without
rearranging them (comes back)
Plastic - atomic bonds slip past each other and rearrange (doesn't
come back)
◉ How are elastic and viscous behaviors modeled?
Answer: Stress/strain graph
◉ What physical devices are used to model visco and elastic
behavior?
Answer: Rheological models
◉ What conditions cause materials to experience creep?
Answer: Duration of load, rate of loading, and temperature
◉ Why do materials experience creep?
,Answer: Long-term deformation under constant load
◉ What is the cause of stress relaxation?
Answer: When a material is held under constant strain or deflection
◉ How can stress relaxation affect components of civil engineering
structures?
Answer: The load generation is decreased
◉ How is metal toughness measured?
Answer: Impact fracture test
◉ What does toughness mean? How is it quantified?
Answer: The energy required to fracture; can be calculated through
an impact test
◉ What effect does temperature have on steel impact and load
toughness?
Answer: A low temperature creates a brittle steel. Brittle steel has
little plastic deformation before failure - need less energy to fracture
A high temperature creates a ductile steel. Ductile steel has lots of
plastic deformation before failure - need more energy to fracture
,◉ What is modulus of resilience?
Answer: Energy required to reach yield point
◉ What is the difference between failure and fracture of metals?
Answer: Failure is defined as a complete loss of load carrying
capacity caused by stiffness degradation whereas fracture refers to
the separation of material into several pieces
◉ What % of data is within 1, 2, and 3 standard deviations?
Answer: 34.1, 13.6, 2.2
◉ What are the three difference types of primary atomic bonding in
materials in civil engineering?
Answer: Ionic, covalent, and metallic
◉ How does each of the three bonds form? What properties
imparted by each?
Answer: Ionic: electrons transfer
Covalent: electrons are shared; very strong bonds and directional;
are good conductors of heat and electricity
Metallic: electrons are shared with atoms with few electrons;
extremely strong and tight packing; good conductors of heat and
electricity
, ◉ What is the basis for secondary bonding?
Answer: Forms from an imbalanced electric charge among atomic
arrangements
◉ How are van der Waals and hydrogen bonds different?
Answer: Van der Waals bonds are distance-dependent interactions
between atoms or molecules and are very weak
Hydrogen bonds easily form dipoles and can bond in chains with
many other atoms
◉ What are the three types of atomic lattice structures formed by
metals? Which types are Fe and Al?
Answer: Body center cubic (BCC), face center cubic (FCC), and
hexagonal close pack (HCP)
◉ How is the APF determined? What does it represent? What are the
values for 3 atomic lattice structures?
Answer: Vol of atoms in unit cell/vol of unit cell
◉ What are the 4 different types of defects in metal atomic
structures?
Answer: Point, line, area and volume
STRUCTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION
ENGINEERING CONCEPTS REVIEW 2026
◉ What happens when metals undergo elastic and plastic
deformation? What happens when unloaded?
Answer: Elastic - stretches bonds between atoms without
rearranging them (comes back)
Plastic - atomic bonds slip past each other and rearrange (doesn't
come back)
◉ How are elastic and viscous behaviors modeled?
Answer: Stress/strain graph
◉ What physical devices are used to model visco and elastic
behavior?
Answer: Rheological models
◉ What conditions cause materials to experience creep?
Answer: Duration of load, rate of loading, and temperature
◉ Why do materials experience creep?
,Answer: Long-term deformation under constant load
◉ What is the cause of stress relaxation?
Answer: When a material is held under constant strain or deflection
◉ How can stress relaxation affect components of civil engineering
structures?
Answer: The load generation is decreased
◉ How is metal toughness measured?
Answer: Impact fracture test
◉ What does toughness mean? How is it quantified?
Answer: The energy required to fracture; can be calculated through
an impact test
◉ What effect does temperature have on steel impact and load
toughness?
Answer: A low temperature creates a brittle steel. Brittle steel has
little plastic deformation before failure - need less energy to fracture
A high temperature creates a ductile steel. Ductile steel has lots of
plastic deformation before failure - need more energy to fracture
,◉ What is modulus of resilience?
Answer: Energy required to reach yield point
◉ What is the difference between failure and fracture of metals?
Answer: Failure is defined as a complete loss of load carrying
capacity caused by stiffness degradation whereas fracture refers to
the separation of material into several pieces
◉ What % of data is within 1, 2, and 3 standard deviations?
Answer: 34.1, 13.6, 2.2
◉ What are the three difference types of primary atomic bonding in
materials in civil engineering?
Answer: Ionic, covalent, and metallic
◉ How does each of the three bonds form? What properties
imparted by each?
Answer: Ionic: electrons transfer
Covalent: electrons are shared; very strong bonds and directional;
are good conductors of heat and electricity
Metallic: electrons are shared with atoms with few electrons;
extremely strong and tight packing; good conductors of heat and
electricity
, ◉ What is the basis for secondary bonding?
Answer: Forms from an imbalanced electric charge among atomic
arrangements
◉ How are van der Waals and hydrogen bonds different?
Answer: Van der Waals bonds are distance-dependent interactions
between atoms or molecules and are very weak
Hydrogen bonds easily form dipoles and can bond in chains with
many other atoms
◉ What are the three types of atomic lattice structures formed by
metals? Which types are Fe and Al?
Answer: Body center cubic (BCC), face center cubic (FCC), and
hexagonal close pack (HCP)
◉ How is the APF determined? What does it represent? What are the
values for 3 atomic lattice structures?
Answer: Vol of atoms in unit cell/vol of unit cell
◉ What are the 4 different types of defects in metal atomic
structures?
Answer: Point, line, area and volume
