PE Exam (Civil) Study Guide
Comprehensive coverage of every major sub-topic on the PE Exam (Civil), free.
Read the rule, the named traps, and the worked examples. Then drill the same sub-topic adaptively in the app.
Construction
- Construction Operations and Equipment Productivity
- Earned Value Management: CV, SV, CPI, SPI
- Earthwork: Excavation, Embankment, Mass Haul
- Estimating: Quantity Takeoff and Unit Costs
- Health and Safety: OSHA Subparts M, P, R Fall Protection / Excavation / Steel Erection
- Material Quality Control and Concrete Production
- Project Administration: Contracts, Claims, Change Orders, RFIs
- Scheduling: CPM, Resource Leveling, Delay Analysis
- Temporary Structures: Formwork, Shoring, Falsework, Bracing
Geotechnical
- Consolidation and Settlement: Primary, Secondary, Time Rate
- Deep Foundations: Driven and Drilled Pile Capacity, Group Effects
- Effective Stress, Pore Pressure, and Seepage
- Ground Improvement: Compaction, Dewatering, Grouting, Soil Mixing
- Lateral Earth Pressure: Rankine, Coulomb, At-rest
- Retaining Structures: Gravity, Cantilever, Anchored, MSE Walls
- Seismic Geotechnical: Liquefaction, Site Coefficients
- Shallow Foundations: Bearing Capacity (Terzaghi, Meyerhof, Hansen)
- Shear Strength: Mohr-Coulomb, Undrained vs Drained
- Site Investigation and Lab Testing: SPT, CPT, UU/CU/CD Triaxial
- Slope Stability: Limit Equilibrium, Infinite Slope, Bishop, Janbu
- Soil Classification: USCS, AASHTO, Atterberg Limits
Structural
- Concrete Development and Serviceability: Anchorage, Deflection
- Construction Administration: Submittals, Observation, Special Inspection
- Lateral Systems: Wind (ASCE 7) and Seismic (ASCE 7 / ASCE 41)
- Load Combinations: ASCE 7 LRFD and ASD
- Masonry Design: Strength and Allowable Stress (TMS 402)
- Prestressed Concrete: Pretensioned and Post-tensioned Design
- Reinforced Concrete: Flexure, Shear, Axial, Columns (ACI 318)
- Steel Connections: Bolted Shear/tension and Welded Fillet/groove (AISC)
- Steel Design: Flexure, Shear, Axial, Beam-column Interaction (AISC 360 LRFD/ASD)
- Structural Analysis: Equilibrium, Reactions, Shear and Moment Diagrams
- Structural Mechanics: Deflection, Virtual Work, Influence Lines
- Wood Design: Sawn Lumber and Engineered Wood (NDS)
Transportation
- Highway Capacity: Basic Freeway, Multilane, Two-lane (HCM)
- Horizontal Alignment: Simple, Compound, Spiral Curves; Superelevation
- Intersection Design: Geometric, Sight Triangles, Turn Lanes
- Pavement Design: Flexible (AASHTO) and Rigid (AASHTO/PCA)
- Signalized Intersections: Signal Timing, Webster Delay, Capacity
- Traffic Control Devices and Work Zones: MUTCD, Temporary Traffic Control
- Traffic Flow Theory: Q = U·k, Time-mean vs Space-mean Speed
- Traffic Safety and Accident Analysis: Crash Modification Factors
- Transportation Drainage: Inlet Capacity, Gutter Flow, Culverts
- Unsignalized Intersections: Gap Acceptance, Two-way Stop Control
- Vertical Alignment: Crest and Sag Curves; Stopping/passing Sight Distance
Water Resources & Environmental
- Closed Conduit Flow: Darcy-Weisbach, Hazen-Williams, Minor Losses
- Drinking Water and Discharge Regulations: SDWA MCLs, Clean Water Act NPDES
- Environmental Risk and Contaminant Transport: Advection, Dispersion, Retardation
- Groundwater: Darcy Flow, Well Hydraulics, Dupuit
- Hydrology: Rational Method, NRCS Curve Number, Unit Hydrograph
- Open Channel Flow: Manning's Equation, Normal/critical Depth, Hydraulic Jump
- Pump Systems: System Curves, NPSH, Parallel/series Pumps
- Stormwater Management: Detention, Retention, BMPs, MS4
- Wastewater Collection: Gravity Sewer Hydraulics, Pump Stations
- Wastewater Treatment: Primary, Activated Sludge, Nutrient Removal, Disinfection
- Water Distribution: Demand, Fire Flow, Network Analysis (Hardy Cross)
- Water Treatment: Coagulation, Sedimentation, Filtration, Disinfection (CT)
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