Civil Engineering

The Department of Civil Engineering organized a professional talk on "Details of Construction and Quantity Surveying" on Tuesday, February 11, 2025, in room 2A06 at Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST). Mr. Md. Tajul Islam, Senior Manager, Product Management and Innovation, Sales and Marketing at Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd. (BSRM) Group of Companies was the keynote speaker. The event was graced by honorable Treasurer, Prof. Dr. Sharmin Reza Chowdhury, honorable Head of the Department, Prof. Dr. Md. Shahid Mamun, course instructors of "Details of Construction" and "Quantity Surveying" for the Spring 2024 semester, along with faculty members and second-year students.

At the beginning, Prof. Dr. Md. Shahid Mamun inaugurated the program by welcoming the speaker of the talk and introducing him to the faculty members, and students. After the speech of Prof. Dr. Md. Shahid Mamun, Prof. Dr. Sharmin Reza Chowdhury delivered his speech on the resource person and different new technologies that have been introduced in concrete in recent years. Then, they gave the floor to Mr. Md. Tazul Islam to conduct the whole session. The speaker welcomed all the students and introduced himself as well to the students. He worked a long time with concrete, cement & construction industry, especially worked with materials, quality control in construction of bridges & buildings. He graduated from BUET in 1993. And then, he completed his MBA and M.Sc. in 2015 and 2025, respectively. Professionally he is a certified engineer and worked in different organizations such as Hyundai, and a construction company in Germany.

Firstly, he showed a slide titled “Building the Future: The Journey of a Civil Engineer”. The key person said that he would cover some interesting topics in different segments such as the History of Civil Engineering, Foundation Engineering, Construction Materials, Concrete, Steel in Construction, Construction Management and Quantity Survey and Estimation.

After that, he started to give his speech on the History of Civil Engineering. He questioned the students on their knowledge of the background of civil engineering. Students answered this question as their own way. Then, he discussed key structures from different periods, starting with the Great Pyramid of Giza (2300 BC), showcasing early advancements in stone masonry and engineering. He then highlighted the Roman aqueducts (1st century AD) like the Pont du Gard, Notre-Dame Cathedral (12th century), St. Peter’s Basilica (16th century), and the Eiffel Tower (1889), showing how engineering evolved through innovations in materials and design, culminating in modern feats like the Burj Khalifa (2010).

Then he started to share his slides on Foundation Engineering to the present students. He started to discuss on super-structures, sub-structures, load distribution path of structures, types of building, load bearing capacity of soil, parameters to be considered while designing a foundation, types of soil, soil tests (SPT-N value), classification of foundation, detailed about the shallow and deep foundation, etc.

After that, he started to talk about construction materials. He told about the Composition of R.C.C (Reinforcement, Cement, Coarse Aggregates, Fine Aggregates, Water, and Admixtures), Parameters to be considered while designing concrete (Physical properties, Mechanical properties, chemical properties, Durability, and SDG). Then, he started to talk about concrete. He started to discuss on Cement: grain size, color, and classification; Aggregates: classification, gradation curve, fields, and laboratory tests; different types of Admixtures and their uses; Fiber-reinforced concrete; Recycled concrete Aggregates. He also discussed which types of cement, aggregates, and admixtures are preferable for which types of structures. Next, he mentioned the importance of concrete workability, curing and particularly the field experience of concrete handling, slum test for concrete workability in construction site. He asked the student how the procedure of concreting is done in construction site. One of the students shared his experience. Then the discussion was carried out on the compaction of concrete in the construction site and its related issues in the construction site, the methods of curing, where the curing is required and where it is not necessary.

The next topic was on the Steel in Construction. He started to discuss on the construction procedure of steel step by step, stress-strain curves of mild steels. Many more details discussed about different types of steel structures in Bangladesh. Then, the discussion was carried out on Construction management. He told about key aspects of construction management, cost management, contract management, resource management, risk management and safety management.

After a 5 minutes break, Mr. Tazul starts his session for quantity surveying. At first, he asked the students why it is important to know the quantity survey for a civil engineer. One of them answered his question properly. He appreciated the student for sharing his knowledge. Then the discussion was carried out on the necessity of quantity surveying, estimation of materials, accurate cost planning, efficient resource allocation, tendering assistance, risk management, legal compliance, accurate budget, types of quantity estimation, detailed estimation, and thumb rules applied for estimation.

Lastly, he ended the presentation with a question answering session. After that, snacks were provided to all the participants in the training.