As a specialist civil engineer, you will be given responsibility. You will install stable foundations for heavy building structures, suited to the load-bearing capacity of the subsoil. Your foundations will support high-rise buildings, bridges, roads or tunnels. Specialist civil engineers use anchoring and pile foundation to make the subsoil stable enough to support the weight of these structures.
Specialised structures such as bridges need to be anchored very firmly into the ground so that they can withstand the huge loads they are subjected to. Before construction begins, specialist civil engineers test the load-bearing capacity of the soil using deep test borings.
Specialist civil engineers use excavators to dig construction pits following the plans of the civil engineers and install dewatering systems to keep the pits dry. They secure the walls with reinforcement and anchor systems, and anchor the structural foundations with bored piles or diaphragm walls filled in with concrete and rebar. Specialist civil engineers anchor slopes to prevent landslips, and are also involved in tunnelling.