Complete Soil Mechanics Marathon Quiz for ESE & GATE CE Exams

Question 1

The footing which is usually provided when the column are so closely spaced such that their individual footing will overlap is known as

Question 2

The type of footing in which two isolated footings are connected together by means of a rigid beam is known as

Question 3

Which of the pairs are correctly matched?

P: Net safe bearing capacity =

Q: Net ultimate bearing capacity =

R: Ultimate bearing capacity =

Question 4

What will be the ultimate bearing capacity (assuming general shear failure) of a strip footing 1.65 m wide resting on a cohesionless soil (ϕ = 32˚, γ = 17.65 kN/m³). Take N_c = 45.4, N_q = 48.7 and N_γ = 28.8.

Question 5

A soil sample is subjected to a hydrostatic pressure,

The Mohr circle for any point in the soil sample would be

Question 6

The flow lines and equipotential lines in a flow net are in the shape of

Question 7

Determine the ultimate bearing capacity of a square footing of size 1.56 m in a cohesive clay having undrained cohesion value 18.76 kN/m², unit weight 19.45 kN/m³ and the depth of the footing is 1.2 m using Skempton’s method.

Question 8

The discharge velocity of a soil sample is 3.89 × 10^-3 cm/sec. If the specific gravity and saturated unit weight of the soil sample is 2.63 and 19.45 kN/m³ respectively, the seepage velocity through that soil would be

Question 9

A layer of saturated clay 5 m thick is overlain by sand 4 m deep. The water table is 3 m below the top surface. The saturated unit weights of clay and sand are 18 kN/m³ and 20 kN/m³ respectively. Above the water table, the unit weight of sand is 17 kN/m³. Calculate the increase in the effective pressure at 9 m depth, if the soil gets saturated by capillary, upto a height of 1 m above the water table? Take

Question 10

What are the essentials required to draw a flow net?

Question 11

The laboratory tests on a soil sample gave the following results:
1). Natural water content, w_n = 25%
2). Liquid limit, w_L = 60%
3). Plastic limit, w_p = 35%
4). Percentage of particle less than 2μ = 20%
The value of activity number is

Question 12

The major stress and minor stress acting at a point in a bar are 160 N/mm² and 80 N/mm² with shearing stress of 40N/mm². Calculate the maximum shearing stress and the corresponding normal stress.

Question 13

A square footing (1.2 × 1.2 m) is placed in a soil (c = 28.6 kN/m², ϕ = 35˚, γ = 18.65 kN/m³) up to a depth of 0.95m. If the square footing is to be replaced by the circular footing, determine the diameter of footing required for the same bearing capacity. Assume general shear failure and take N_c = 57.8, N_q = 41 .4 and N_γ = 42 .4

Question 14

A direct shear test was conducted on a cohesionless soil (c = 0) specimen under a normal stress of 200 kN/m². The specimen failed at a shear stress of 100 kN/m². The angle of internal friction of the soil (degrees) is (round off to 1st decimal place)

Question 15

A foundation trench is to be excavated in a stratum of stiff clay, 8m thick, underlain by a bed of sand. The groundwater table is present at a depth of 2m below the ground surface. The specific gravity of clay particles is 2.72 and void ratio of 0.72. If excavation is to be carried out safely to a depth of 6m, how much should the water table be lowered (in m) in the vicinity of the trench?

Question 16

To present failure due to erosion and piping, which of the following methods can be used?

(i) By providing cut-off wall at downstream side.

(ii) Increasing flow path by providing impervious blanket

(iii) Use of protective filter.

Question 17

The following data are given for the laboratory sample.
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If thickness of the clay specimen is 25 mm, the value of coefficient of volume compressibility is _______ × 10^–4 m²/kN

Question 18

A drained triaxial compression test on a saturated clay yielded the effective shear strength parameters as c' = 15 kPa and ϕ' = 22o. Consolidated Undrained triaxial test on an identical sample of this clay at a cell pressure of 200 kPa developed a pore water pressure of 150kPa at failure. The deviator stress (expressed in kPa) at failure is _________ .

Question 19

At a foundation site, there is an impervious stratum at 30m and water table at 3m below ground surface. If γ_sat = 18.84 kN/m³, then what can be the maximum depth of excavation without the possibility of a blow?

Take γ_w = 9.81 kN/m³.

Question 20

A soil mass contains 40% gravel, 50% sand and 10% silt. This soil can be classified as

Question 21

A cylindrical specimen of saturated clay, 4 cm in diameter and 9 cm in overall length is tested in an unconfined compression test and the change in length of specimen at failure is 1 cm. The shear strength of clay, if the specimen fails under an axial load of 465 N, is _____ kPa.

Question 22

The void ratio of clay A decreased from 0.572 to 0.505 under a change in pressure from 120 kg/m² to 180 kg/m². The void ratio of clay B decreased from 0.612 to 0.597 under the same increment of pressure. The thickness of clay A was 1.5 times that of B. Nevertheless the time required for 50% consolidation was three times longer for clay B than for clay A. The ratio of the coefficient of permeability of A to that of B is ------------.

Question 23

A drained triaxial compression test on a saturated clay yielded the effective shear strength parameters as c' = 15 kPa and ϕ' = 22^o . Consolidated Undrained triaxial test on an identical sample of this clay at a cell pressure of 200 kPa developed a pore water pressure of 150kPa at failure. The deviator stress (expressed in kPa) at failure is _________ .

Question 24

A sample of soil was prepared by mixing a quantity of dry soil with 15% by mass of water. What is the mass of this wet mixture, require to produce a cylindrical compacted specimen of 10 cm diameter and 10 cm deep, having 5% air content if specific gravity is 2.65?

Question 25

A soil sample has 36 g of soil solids, 14 cm³ of voids, 11 g of water and specific gravity of soil grains is 2.6 . Consider the following statements in this regard:

a) The water content is 30.56 %

b) The void ratio is 1.01

c) Degree of saturation is = 42.31%

d) The porosity is 0.50

Which of these statements are correct?