Lecture 1

Civil Engineering
Measurement Techniques
SBZ 321
Lecture 1 – Introduction
20 February 2023
Lecturer
Prof SW Jacobsz
Room 11-9, ENG 1
Tel 012 420 3124
Email [email protected]
Course organisation
• Study guide on Click-Up
• Check lecture time table in study guide
– Mondays 11h30 to 16h20
• Admission to the course: Exam admission for SWK210
• Assessment – Semester tests, Assignment & Exam
– First semester test on Monday 27 March at 09h30
(Rautebach Hall)
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Registered for course?
Measuring techniques
When you can measure what you are speaking about, and
express it in numbers, you know something about it. But when
you cannot measure it, your knowledge is of a meager and
unsatisfactory kind. You have scarcely advanced to the stage
of science. - Lord Kelvin (1891)
Msikaba River Bridge
Mtentu River Bridge
Tower of Pisa
Segmental block retaining walls
Why measure?
• To manage assets.
• To verify our designs – confirm that forces, pressures,
displacements, deformations, temperatures are
within expectation.
• To monitor forces, pressures, displacements,
deformations, temperatures during construction /
remediation.
• To monitor forces, pressures, displacements,
deformations, temperatures acting on structures in
distress.
• For research and development purposes.
Gautrain Rosebank Station
Numerical analysis
Measured prop forces
Prop 21
1800 150
1600 130
± 400kN
1400 110
1280kN design load
1200 90
Prop temperature (°C)

Axial load (kN)
1000 ± 15°C air temperature ± 30°C prop temperature 70

variation variation
800 50
600 30
400 10
200 -10
0 -30
18-Jan 15-Feb 14-Mar 11-Apr 09-May 06-Jun 04-Jul 01-Aug
-200 -50
Date
Recommended TV viewing
YOUTUBE
BBC: Precision, The Measure of All Things
Measuring stuff
The science of measurement is called metrology
Measurement standards are managed internationally

by Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM),
International Bureau of Weights and Measures
https://www.bipm.org
Measuring units
The SI system:
1. the meter (m), for length.
2. the kilogram (kg), for mass.
3. the second (s), for time.
4. the kelvin (K), for temperature.
5. the ampere (A), for electric current.
6. the mole (mol), for the amount of a substance.
7. the candela (cd), for luminous intensity.
Einstein said:
“the speed of light in a vacuum is the most constant
quantity in the universe”
The speed of light in a vacuum (c) is
exactly 299 792 458 m/s and we can
measure it extremely accurately.
c is a universal constant which does

not change anywhere in the
universe.
We try to define all units of measure

in terms of universal constants.
Unit of time
The second (for time)
The second is defined as the time taken for 9 192 631 770 vibrations of the
caesium (Cs) 133 atom in its unperturbed ground-state.
To learn more about caesium watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m55kgyApYrY
Caesium (Cs)
Unit of length
The metre (for length)
Spelling: metre (Commonwealth), meter (American spelling)
Current definition: The distance travelled by light in a vacuum in exactly

1
299 792 458
of a second, i.e. the distance travelled by light during
9 192 310 770
= 30.66 vibrations of the Cs atom
299 792 458
In 1793: one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole
along a great circle
In 1799: the metre was redefined in terms of a prototype metre

bar (the actual bar used was changed in 1889).
In 1960 - 1983: the metre was redefined in terms of a certain

number of wavelengths of a certain emission line of krypton-86
Unit of mass
The kg (for mass)
Defined in terms of Planck’s constant h = 6.626 070 15 x 10-34
How can we get a definition of mass using Planck’s constant? See below:
Energy of a photon: E=hf

Dimensional analysis: [J] = [h] [f]
[N . m] = [h] [1/s]
[h] = [N] . [m] . [s] (1)
from F = M a [N] = [kg] [m/s2] (2)
Substitute (1) into (2): [h] = [kg] [m/s2] [m] [s]
[h] = [kg] [m]2 / [s]
from which [kg] = [h] [s] / [m]2
The kilogram is therefore defined using the previous definitions of time, length
and Planck’s constant (h), a universally constant number.
Measuring units
The SI system:
1. the meter (m), for length.
2. the kilogram (kg), for mass.
3. the second (s), for time.
4. the kelvin (K), for temperature.
5. the ampere (A), for electric current.
6. the mole (mol), for the amount of a substance.
7. the candela (cd), for luminous intensity.

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Civil Engineering

Prop temperature (°C)

1000 ± 15°C air temperature ± 30°C prop temperature 70

The science of measurement is called metrology

Measurement standards are managed internationally

c is a universal constant which does

We try to define all units of measure

Current definition: The distance travelled by light in a vacuum in exactly

In 1799: the metre was redefined in terms of a prototype metre

In 1960 - 1983: the metre was redefined in terms of a certain

Energy of a photon: E=hf

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