Why civil engineers should study hydraulic engineering? A gist of what I teach and what I miss
by Prof. Arpita Mondal originally published in March 6th, 2020 on GROW's website . I am into fourth year of my teaching Applied Hydraulic Engineering to Civil Engineering BTech students at IIT Bombay – and this experience gives me some confidence to attempt to explain what hydraulic engineering is and why civil engineers should study it. Loosely put, hydraulic engineering is fluid mechanics put to engineering use. However, it is worth noting right at the outset that much of hydraulic engineering historically developed as empirical science. What is empirical science? Science that is based on observed data and that works for our practical purpose. Therefore, right from the outset of modern, urban-and-industry centric civilization, out of necessity more than anything else, engineers proudly continued to build water systems such as conduits, canals, dams or reservoirs based on empirical relationships derived from real-life observations without bothering too much about the physics of ...