ABSTRACT

A structure is an assembly that serves an engineering function. Civil structures refer to civil engineering structures or structures in civil engineering. Typical examples of civil structures are buildings, bridges, towers, stadiums, tunnels, dams, roads, railways and pipelines. Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of civil structures to fulfil different functions. Civil structures are omnipresent in every society, regardless of culture, religion, geographical location or economic development (Glišić and Inaudi 2007). It is difficult to imagine a society without buildings, roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, dams and power plants.