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Interview Question & Answers for Fresher Civil Engineer

Course Overview:
• This eBook is a comprehensive guide designed for fresh civil engineering graduates
preparing for job interviews. It covers 125 essential interview questions with well-
structured answers, focusing on key topics like construction, structural analysis, project
management, geotechnical engineering, and more. Each question is tailored to help
freshers understand core concepts, industry practices, and common challenges faced
in the field. With clear explanations and practical insights, this eBook is an ideal
resource to boost confidence and enhance interview readiness.

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Question & Answer for Civil Fresher Engineer

1. What is Civil Engineering?
• Civil engineering is a branch of engineering that deals with the design, construction,
and maintenance of infrastructure and buildings to improve the quality of life for
people.
• Site Engineering, these civil engineers work with surveyors and more specialised civil
engineers to design services such as drainage, dams, electrical supply infrastructure,
pavements, sewer services, communications infrastructures, and more. This type of
engineering is generally concerned with converting an area of land from one use to
another. This includes site visits, meetings with stakeholders, construction planning and
development, as well as assessing potential impacts, including for the environment.

Figure 1 Civil Engineering

2. Name the main areas of civil engineering.

The main areas of civil engineering include as

• Structural Engineering: This large sub-set of civil engineering works with the
structural design and analysis of buildings, bridges and towers as well as offshore
structures at oil or gas fields. Structural engineers will assess loads as well as forces and
stresses to ensure a structure is designed to withstand them. These loads can moving
or static and include those related to climate and weather as well as the weight of the
structure itself and anything placed upon or within it. Structural engineering has led to
the development of more specialised disciplines, like earthquake engineering.
Structural engineers need to also consider cost, ease of construction, safety,
environmental impact and sustainability, and aesthetics.
• Geotechnical Engineering: Often working with geologists and soil scientists, these
engineers investigate the rock and soil conditions for supporting structures,
foundations, and retaining walls. This is made more difficult by the variability of soil
behaviours.

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• Transportation Engineering: Designing, constructing and maintaining transport

infrastructure, transportation engineers are concerned with the movement of goods
and people safely and efficiently. They work with a range of transport infrastructure
including canals, roads, railways, ports, airports and mass transit.
• Water Resources Engineering: While hydraulic engineering is concerned with the
conveyance of fluids, water resources engineering covers the collection and
management of water as a natural resource, both above and below ground. As a result,
it take sin disciplines such as hydrology, resource management, conservation and
environmental science
• Environmental Engineering: This branch of engineering is the modern version of
what was once called sanitary engineering. It now includes hazardous waste
management and environmental remediation in addition to the treatment of chemical,
biological and thermal waste, recycling, and the purification of the air, land and water.
Environmental engineers are also involved in assessing the environmental
consequences of proposed actions.
• Coastal Engineering: This is concerned with the management of coastal areas,
including protection against flooding and coastal erosion. It is also sometimes known
as coastal protection, coastal defence and coastal management.
• Construction Engineering: Construction engineers are involved in the planning,
transportation and use of construction materials, using environmental, geotechnical,
hydraulic and structural engineering knowledge. This role often involves a lot of
contract drafting, logistics and supply monitoring to create plans that can then be used
by construction managers.

3. What are the roles and responsibilities of a civil engineer?

• Designing Structures
• Project Planning & Management
• Supervising the Construction of Projects
• Quality Control & Safety Assurance
• Maintenance and Rehabilitation
• Research and Development
• Project Reports and Site Investigation
• Project Specification and Procurement of Materials
• Environmentally Sustainable Infrastructure
• Communication and Collaboration

4. What are the different types of loads in civil engineering?

Vertical Loads

• Live Load or Imposed Load

• Dead Load
• Snow Load

Horizontal Loads

• Wind Load

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• Earthquake Load

Special Loads

• Load Combinations
• Accidental Load
• Thermal Load
• Settlement Load
• Soil and Fluid Load

Figure 2 Load transfer Mechanism

5. Explain Fatigue.
• Fatigue is described as the gradual damage to a structure that is likely to occur when
subjected to cyclic loading and unloading.

6. What is the standard slope of stairs?

• The standard angle of a staircase depends on the use case and application for the stair.
For most standard industrial stairs, the stair angle varies between 25 degrees and 40
degrees

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Figure 3 Staircase Slope

7. What is Cement, and what are the different types of cement?

• Cement is a fine gray powder mixed with water and other substances to make mortar
or concrete. This is one of the most important building materials used in both
residential and commercial construction work.
• There are many cement types such as Portland cement, high alumina cement, white
cement, sulfate resisting cement etc. But, generally, cement can be categorized into
the mainly following two types:

Ordinary Portland cement: This is available in 33, 43 & 53 grades.

Blended cement: This is available as PPC or slag cement.

Figure 4 Cement Bags

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8. What is the significance of the soil investigation in civil engineering?

• Soil investigation is essential to understand the soil's properties and behavior at a
construction site, ensuring that the foundation and structures are designed
appropriately to withstand loads.

Figure 5 Rock Samples

9. What is the purpose of a retaining wall?

• A retaining wall is built to restrain soil and prevent erosion. It is commonly used in
terrains with varying elevations to create level surfaces and prevent landslides.

Retaining
Wall

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10. What is the critical path method (CPM) in project scheduling?

• CPM is a project management technique used to identify the sequence of activities
that must be completed on time for the entire project to be completed within the
shortest possible duration.

Figure 6 MSP Critical Path

11. What are the different types of construction materials used in civil
engineering?
• Common construction materials include concrete, steel, wood, bricks, asphalt, and
aggregates like sand and gravel.

Figure 8 Cement Figure 7 Sand

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Figure 12 Aggregates Figure 9 Water

Figure 11 Concrete Figure 10 Steel

12. What is the purpose of a survey in civil engineering?

• To determine the relative position of any objects or points on the earth.
• To determine the distance and angles between various objects.
• To prepare a map or plan to represent an area on a horizontal plane.
• To define control points and boundaries of an area, for example, a cadastral survey.

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13. What is the role of cement in construction?

• In any construction, we have to use sand, bricks, jelly, water, steel and many other raw
materials. Cement is used to bind these elements together to provide strength and
durability to the construction.

14. What is the difference between a bridge and a culvert?

• A bridge is a structure built over a water body or a depression, while a culvert is a
tunnel-like structure used to allow water to pass under a road or railway

Figure 13 Bridge Figure 14 Culvert

15. What is the unit weight of concrete?

• The unit weight of concrete can vary depending on the type of aggregates and the
number of voids.
• According to the IS, the unit weight of concrete is 2406.53 kg/m3 or 25KN/m3, and the
unit weight of RCC is 2500 kg/m3 or 25KN/m3.

16. What is the unit weight of steel?

• The unit weight of steel is 7850 Kg/m3. It is also known as the density of steel.

17. What is the role of a civil engineer in construction management?

• Civil engineers in construction management oversee the planning, design, and
execution of construction projects, ensuring they are completed efficiently and within
budget.

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18. How can you find the weight of the steel bar used in reinforcement?
d²
• Unit weight of Steel Bars (in Kg/m) = 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒅 =
𝟏𝟔𝟐
𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒂𝒓 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒎

Figure 15 1m Bar Samples

Unit weight of Steel Bars

Diameter of Bar in mm Unit weight of bar in Kg/m

8mm 0.395

10mm 0.617

12mm 0.89

16mm 1.58

20mm 2.47

25mm 3.86

32mm 6.32

40mm 9.87

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19. Explain the concreting process in a step-by-step way.

Batching

• Batching refers to the process of measurement of the different materials used in

making concrete. There are two possible ways for this-Volume batching and weight
batching

Mixing

• This step involves mixing the materials to create good concrete, first in dry condition
and then wet. There are generally two ways of mixing- Hand Mixing and machine
mixing.

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Transportation and Placing of Concrete

• After the mixing, concrete is to be transported to its final location. The concrete is
placed on form works and should be dropped in its final location as closely as possible

Compaction of Concrete

• The process compaction involves reducing the air bubbles entrapped in the concrete
which can reduce its strength by about 30%. It is a crucial step.

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20. What is a septic tank, and how does it work?

• A septic tank is an underground chamber that collects and treats wastewater from a
building. It allows solids to settle at the bottom and lets clarified water flow into the
soil through a drain field.

21. What are the different methods of concrete curing?

The process of maintaining the moisture and temperature conditions for freshly deployed
concrete is referred to as curing. It allows the hardening of concrete. The methods involved
in this process are:

• Spraying of water

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• Ponding

• Wet covering of surface

• Steam curing
• Application of curing compound

Figure 16 Curing Compound

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22. What are the different types of foundation systems used in civil
engineering?
• Foundation systems include shallow foundations (e.g., spread footings, mat
foundations) and deep foundations (e.g., piles, piers) used to transfer building loads to
the soil.

Types of
Foundation

Shallow Deep
Foundation Foundation

Isolated
Spread / Pile
Individual Foundation
Footing

Wall Footings
Pier
/ Strip
Foundation
Footings

Combined Caisson
Footings Foundation

Cantilever or
Strap Footing

Raft of Mat
Foundation

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23. What is a traffic impact study?

• A traffic impact study (TIS) or also called a traffic impact analysis (TIA) is a document
prepared by qualified traffic engineering firms to assess the potential effects of a
proposed development on the surrounding roadway network.

24. What is the significance of traffic signals and signs in civil

engineering?
• Traffic signals and signs are essential for managing traffic flow, ensuring safety, and
providing information to drivers and pedestrians.

25. What is the purpose of compaction in soil engineering?

• Soil compaction is done to increase soil density, improving its strength and load-
bearing capacity.

26. Explain why Steel Plates are inserted inside barings in Elastomeric
bearings
• To make an elastomeric bearing function as a soft spring and to induce the tensile
stresses of the bearings into the steel plates, it should necessarily be made to bulge
laterally, and additionally, the stiffness compression can be expanded by increasing the
limiting amount of the lateral bulging. Upon inserting the steel plates, the bulge
movement gets restricted thereby reducing the deflection of the bearing.

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This eBook Contains a Total 125 Interview

Questions & Answers
For the Full PDF File / Course
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Thank You
From
Narendra Chainlal Patle

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