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48310 Introduction to Civil Engineering.

Drawing in Civil Engineering

What is a drawing in Civil Engineering?


A picture is worth a thousand words Drawings in Civil Engineering are to communicate your design intent. Types of drawings Pictorial artistic or freehand to convey ideas or a general impression of an engineering artefact. Sketch to scale drawing in pencil or ink using drawing instruments such as straight-edge and scale rule to produce small drawings. Technical a drafted drawing made up of lines, symbols and text to represent the civil engineering artefact to be constructed or produced. Nowadays, technical drawings are almost universally produced by Computer Aided Drafting (CAD).

Drawing sizes in Civil Engineering


In Australia, standard Engineering drawing sheet sizes are standard A series International Standards Organisation (ISO) sizes, based on A0 at 1.000 m2 size as the original size, based on the Golden Rectangle relative dimensions of the ancient Greeks, then the other formats are sequential half-sizing of the previous size. A0 1189 x 841 mm. Rarely used nowadays because the large size is too unwieldy on site. My last experience of A0 was with Darling Harbour in 1988! A1 841 x 594 mm. The most common original size for Civil Engineering Drawings but often reduced for printing out for use on-site. Generally, the best size for use as Civil Engineering drawings for definitive use on-site for the proper communication of design intent. A2 594 x 420 mm. Rarely used as an Civil Engineering drawing size as it is a size that is actually at an inconvenient size for printing and use.

Drawing sizes in Civil Engineering.


A3 420 x 297 mm. Suitable for small scale jobs with few details. Often, larger A1 CAD drawings are printed out at A3 size, for ease in using on site when looking at details. However, the text is usually too small to read so reference must be made to the original A1 drawing as the reference document. A4 297 x 210 mm. Suitable for sketching and for drawing one or two details. Also the standard sheet size for text documents. Margins: A0 and A1: 20 mm top and bottom, 20 mm on left, 20 mm on right A2, A3 and A4: 20 mm top and bottom, 20 mm on left, 10 mm on right

Types of lines.
Types of lines: Continuous, dashed, chain. Line thicknesses: Thick, medium, thin. On engineering drawings, generally use thick and thin only. Standard line thicknesses are 0.18, 0.25, 0.35, 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 mm. The thinnest line that can be confidently reproduced is 0.18 mm.

The actual thickness for thick, medium and thin lines depends on the
sheet size: A0 Thick 0.7, (medium 0.5), thin 0.35 mm. A1 Thick 0.5, (medium 0.35), thin 0.25 mm. A2, A3, A4 Thick 0.35, (medium 0.25), thin 0.18 mm

Line types.
Examples of line types: Continuous thick: Visible outlines, general details, structural steel elements in a stick diagram. Continuous - thin: Dimension lines. Dashed - thick: Hidden outlines. Chain thin: Grid lines, centre-lines. See HB7-1993 Engineering Design Handbook, Table 3.1, page 29 for examples of the standard line types and their applications.

Text.
Text type: All upper case in a Sans Serif font. Orientation: To be read from the bottom or from the right side of the sheet. A0 Titles and drawing numbers 7 mm. Sub-titles, headings, view and section descriptions 5 mm. General notes and text, material lists, dimensions 3.5 mm. Titles and drawing numbers 5 mm. Sub-titles, headings, view and section descriptions 3.5 mm. General notes and text, material lists, dimensions 2.5 mm. Text size, in terms of minimum height of characters:

A1, A2, A3, A4

What to expect on a Civil Engineering drawing.


Title block: Job name. Drawing title. Drawing number. Engineers company name and address. Clients name and address. Scale(s). Date of first issue. Current issue number. Designed by name/initials. Drawn by name/initials. Revision/amendment list. If a structural drawing, construction notes (at least on first page).

References.
These are some references on (Civil) Engineering drawing. There is NO need for you to buy nor download any of them. There will be a copy of each available in the Learning and Design Centre 2 (LDC 2), John Heine Suite - Room CB02.06.640. HB7 - 1993 Engineering drawing handbook, 3rd ed, Standards Australia International (SAI), Sydney. AS 1100.101 - 1992 Technical drawing Part 101: General principles, SAI, Sydney AS 1100.301 - 2008 Technical drawing Part 301: Architectural drawing, SAI, Sydney

References.
AS 1100.401 - 1984 Technical drawing Part 401: Engineering survey and engineering survey design drawing, SAI, Sydney AS/NZS 1100.501 - 2002 Technical drawing Part 501: Structural engineering drawing, SAI/Standards New Zealand, Sydney Concrete Institute of Australia, 2011 Reinforcement detailing handbook, 4th ed, Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA), Sydney Syam, AA (ed) (1995) A guide to the requirements of engineering drawings of structural steelwork, Steel Construction (Journal of the Australian Institute of Steel Construction, now Australian Steel Institute (ASI)). 29 (3): 2 -14

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