Construction Terms and Definitions

Seismic design is an area of architecture dedicated to the structural analysis of buildings, bridges, and roads, with the aim of making them resistant to earthquakes and other seismic activity.

Plenum refers to an air chamber in a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system or to the space above the ceiling or below the floor used for air circulation. In many buildings, the plenum space is often used to route conductors and cables.

Moling is a construction method for laying pipes with trenches or excavation. A pneumatically driven machine is driven in the pipe’s path to mole through the soil then pipes are laid.

HVAC, an abbreviation for heating, ventilation and air conditioning, is used to represent the heating, ventilation and cooling systems in a building.

The bill of quantities (BOQ) is a contract document that contains a list of materials and workmanship involved in a construction project. It is necessary for properly pricing a project.

A building information modeling (BIM) system is an extensive set of drawings, control systems, etc. that in total provide information about a building including the systems & equipment therein as well as mechanicals, architectural drawings, HVAC, MHE, bills of materials, control systems, dashboard status, etc

A water column is unit of pressure. One Standard Atmosphere is equal to 10.33 meters wc.

A unit of pressure often used to measure the outlet pressure of a pump. The amount of pressure exerted by a column of water of a specified height, for example 30 in. wg.

A unit of pressure equal to 1,000 PSI. Frequently used for compressive and tensile forces on structural steel members and concrete columns.

A vertical datum used for altitude and atmospheric pressure. The average sea level on Earth.