1.

The maximum contact pressure on a rigid footing on a cohesionless soil occurs at

the:
a.) Center of the footing
b.) 2 meters away from footing
c.) Left corner of the footing
d.) Right corner of the footing

2. The figure represents:

a.) Limit state of cohesionless soil

b.) The equilibrium state of chohesion soil
c.) Limit state oh cohesion soil
d.) The equilibrium state of cohesionless soil

3. Internal friction angle and the cohesion are used to evaluate:

a.) Underground water pressure
b.) The bearing capacity of foundation soil
c.) Foundation height
d.) Settlement

4. The main mechanical properties of a soil are:

a.) Extension and compression strength
b.) Permeability and compression strength
c.) Compressibility and failure strength
d.) Plasticity limits and compressibility
5. The notation C.D. means:
a.) Undrained consolidated
b.) Undrained-unconsolidated
c.) Consolidated undrained
d.) Consolidated drained

6. The bearing capacity of the foundation soil depends on:

a.) Seismic zone
b.) The base foundation dimensions
c.) Climatic zone
d.) The vicinity to other buildings/constructions

7. The optimal compaction humidity value determines:

a.) The calculation of the settlement
b.) The improvement of the foundation soil
c.) The design of a retaining wall
d.) The foundation dimension

8. Poncelet graphical construction is useful for the determination of only the active
thrust on a wall and not the passive resistance of the soil:
a.) True
b.) False

9. The cohesionless soil are:

a.) The sandy clays
b.) The sands
c.) The loesses
d.) The clays
 10. Activity is a property typical of………..soils:
a.) Gravel
b.) Silt
c.) Clay
d.) Sand

11. During the construction of a building , the porosity of the soil:

a.) Remains constant
b.) Remains constant in the case of cohesive soil
c.) Increases
d.) Decreases because of particles rearranging

12. In the technical calculus, the characteristic volumetric unit of the water has the
value:
a.) 24 kN/m3
b.) 25 kN/m3
c.) 10 kN/m3
d.) 15 kN/m3

13. A soil characterized is sensitive to humectation when :

a.) has supplementary settlements to humectation

b.) its volume grows to water contact
c.) its volume decreases/reduce along with the humidity decrease
d.) its skeleton unit weight modifies

14. The limit state of the bearing capacity of the foundation soil can be avoided only if :

a.) the effective settlement is below the limit value

b.) the lateral pressure of the soil to base foundation is active
c.) the safety factor is positive
d.) the transmission loads is lower than the bearing capacity of the field
15. The loesses are :

a.) sands
b.) mixture soils
c.) sensitive to humidity soils
d.) insensitive soils

16. Fellenius method is used for :

a.) retaining walls stability

b.) slope stability analysis
c.) bearing capacity of soil foundation
d.) calculus of the foundation settlement

17. The process of compaction of a soil involves :

a.) none of the answers

b.) expulsion of pore air
c.) expulsion of pore water
d.) expulsion of both pore air and pore water

18. Passive resistance cannot be evaluated by Culmann’s method .

a) False
b) True

19. If the wall (retaining wall) is moved away from the soil it supports, then at failure the
ratio K reaches its minimum value, referred to as :

a) the coefficient of active earth pressure Ka

b) the coefficient of passive earth pressure Kp
c) the coefficient of earth pressure at rest K0
d) overconsolidated coefficient
20. The test that characterize the soil deformation are:

a) the triaxial test

b) laboratory compressibility tests (oedometer) and in situ test (plate loading
tests)
c) Casagrande method and the cylinder soil method
d) the direct shear test

21. The stability slope analyses are used for :

a) determining the failure strength

b) calculating safety factor
c) calculating the plasticity pressure
d) calculating the slope settlement

22. A slope failure occurs when :

a) the intrinsic shear forces that the soil possesses are exceeded
b) different unit weight of soil layers
c) low compressibility of soil
d) excessive porosity

23. The figure represents :

a) apparition of plastic zones

b) plastic zones at deep foundation
c) stressed in elastic state
 d) plastic zone at shallow foundation

24. The representative moisture/ humidity’s of a soil sample ( both cohesion and cohesion
less ) are :

a) natural humidity state, plasticity limits, the saturation humidity state

b) natural humidity state, the optimal compaction humidity state, the saturation
humidity state
c) natural humidity state, the saturation humidity state
d) natural humidity state, plasticity limits, the optimal compaction humidity state

25. Montmorillonite is :

a) the most common mineral of the montmorillonite group

b) the most common mineral of the illite group
c) the most common mineral of the kaolinite group
d) a halloysite mineral

26) Wall friction can never be negative

a) true
b) false

27) Generally, a soil presents the following phases

a) solid and gaseous phases

b) liquid and gaseous phases
c) solid, liquid and gaseous phases
d) solid phase

28) The void ratio of a soil sample

a) can be practically any value

b) can exceed unity but practically may not be to high
c) can be more than 1
d) will be between 0 and 1 (0≤e≤1)
29) The value of the active coefficient according to coulomb theory is a function of

a) f(θ, β,ϕ,δ)≥1
b) f(θ, β,ϕ,δ,c)≥1
c) f(θ, β,ϕ,δ) ≤1
d) f(θ, β,ϕ,δ,c) ≤1

30) Coulomb theory is used for

a) the analysis of the geological pressure

b) the analysis of the stability of retaining walls through the use of slip plane collapse
mechanisms
c) the analysis of the stability of foundations through the use of slip plane collapse
mechanisms
d) retaining walls design

31) The internal friction angle and the cohesion soil values are used to determine

a) the settlement
b) the water content
c) the heigh of the foundation
d) the bearing capacity of the foundation soil

32) If the saturation coefficient of a soil is Sr=1 than

a) the soil is practically saturated

b) the soil is humid
c) the soil is unsaturated
d) the soil is dry

33) The liquid limit WL is

a) determined in laboratory with analysis method

b) the moisture content of the soil as it changes from plastic state to a slurry type
material
c) known permeability
d) the water content when the soil changes from the plastic to friable state
34) Soil texture can be defined as

a) the property of a soil

b) the color of a soil
c) visual appearance of a soil
d) the weight of a soil

35) Coulomb`s theory does not satisfy the static equilibrium condition

a) true
b) false
36) Sigma gz represents

a) vertical stress
b) horizontal stress
c) geological pressure
d) compressive stress

37) The stress state of the soil is evaluated

a) dimension the reverse filters

b) determining the conventional pressure of the soil on the base foundation
c) classifying the soils with special behavior
d) calculus estimation of the settlement

38) The figure represents

a) the phenomenon of the surface tension

b) capillary rise and capillary menisc
c) gaphic representation of Darcy`s law
d) steady state seepage

39) For over consolidated soil the value of OCR is

a) equal to one
b) greater than one
c) smaller than one
 d) can`t be measured

40) Consolidation

a) is a function of the total stress

b) is a function of the neutral stress
c) does not depend upon the present stress
d) is a function of the effective stress

41) The compressibility of a field deposit is

a) not at all related to that of a laboratory sample

b) the same as the shown by a laboratory sample
c) somewhat greater than that shown by a laboratory sample
d) somewhat smaller than the shown by a laboratory sample

42) The failure strength parameters are

a) the internal failure angle and the cohesion

b) the void ratio
c) the plasticity and the cohesion
d) the cohesion

43) Explain the relation Ka<K0<Kp

a) the coefficients of active and passive earth pressure represent respectively the
lower and upper limits of the coefficient of earth at rest
b) .
c) .
d) .

44) The best method for the compaction of cohesionless soil is

a) None of the answers

b) Vibration
c) Consolidation
d) Compressibility
45) The relation ml(ϒ*B*N1+q*N2+c*N3) is used for calculating

a) The critical pressure Pcr

b) The conventional pressure Pconv
c) The plasticity pressure Ppl
d) The effective pressure Pef
e)
46) what are the soil granulometric fractions?

a) Sand, silt, clay

b) Sand, clay
c) Sand, silt
d) Gravel/ ballast, clay

47) Capillary height is dependent upon the shape of the capillary tube

a) True
b) False

48) The active and passive earth pressure can be evaluated graphically using

a) None of the answers

b) Poncelet or Culmann methods
c) Coulomb and Rankine methods
d) Bishop and Boussinesq methods

49) Cohesion

a) Increases both active pressure and passive resistance

b) Decreases both active pressure and passive resistance
c) Decreases active pressure and increases passive resistance
d) Increases the active pressure and decreases the passive resistance

50) A slope is

a) An earth dam
b) A retaining wall
c) A ground construction(building)
d) An artificial inclined surface which borders a soil mass