Table of Contents (PDF)

Sample Pages (PDF)

Real World Civil and Construction Materials – Properties, Testing and Methods – 1st Edition introduces the student to the fundamental materials that architectural, engineering and construction communities use in planning, design, and construction. The student will learn about important material properties as well as standard testing methods that are commonplace to ensure that the products we use meet the requirements of our project. In addition to introducing aspects of quality control, the book also delves into how the materials are most used on the construction project. Although a career could be spent learning about the chemistry and atomic structure of popular civil/construction materials, this textbook will serve as a robust introduction to this topic and provide students in civil/architectural engineering, construction management, and civil/construction technology pathways with the “must-have” information on the properties, testing, and building methods for an array of materials including steel, concrete, wood, masonry, and asphalt.  

Students and readers will find this text to be user-friendly with real-world examples presented in each chapter highlighting the linkage of project specifications to specific requirements of civil/construction materials and how national standards are used to make sure all parties are “speaking the same language.” To emphasize this, Real World Civil and Construction Materials includes numerous examples of “sample specification language” to reinforce the importance of understanding the nature of the language that we use in the built environment.

It is important that students gain knowledge early in the curriculum on the construction materials that they will see on the typical project. Most construction materials courses are situated early in the curriculum, long before most students have an idea on where their career might lead. Real World Civil and Construction Materials provides the “nuts and bolts” on material composition and properties with laboratory coverage on standard testing methods. Whether the reader is engaged in design or other parts of the project, they will be able to coherently “speak the same language” after using this textbook.