UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS

College of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Civil Engineering Name: _________________________________

Second Trimester, A.Y. 2019 – 2020
Midterm Plate
CE 335 - 2015 – Geotechnical Engineering 2

I. INSTRUCTIONS: Use long bond papers to present your solutions. Your solutions are expected to be presented in
a neat and organized manner. Elaborate on every important mathematical procedure along your solutions.

1. The footing for a bridge pier is founded on sand underlain by a

normally consolidated clay in turn underlain by sand and gravel (Figure
1). Determine the factor of safety for the given footing against bearing
capacity failure. Determine also the primary consolidation settlement.
*Do take note that the soil supporting the foundation is layered. Some of you
might assume that since B = 3 meters and there is an allowance of >3 meters
from the base of the footing to the top of the clay layer that the, the bearing
capacity equations discussed are applicable. This may hold true for some cases
however a quick check can be made comparing Hcr and the distance of the
base of the footing to the top of the succeeding soil layer. If Hcr is less than said
distance, then it may be assumed that the failure surface will remain on the layer
in question.
𝐵 ′ ɸ′ Figure 1 - Bridge pier foundation, taken from "Soil
𝐻𝑐𝑟 = 𝑒 𝐴𝑡𝑎𝑛(ɸ ) ; 𝐴 = (45 − )
ɸ′ 2 Mechanics and Foundation", Muni Budhu, 2011
2 cos (45 + )
2

2. Two adjacent foundations rest on clay layers of different thickness but with the same properties. Foundation 1
imposes a stress increment of 100 kPa to a 3 m thick layer while pier 2 imposes a stress increment of 150 kPa to a
5 m thick layer. Compute for the differential settlement if mv = 0.0003 m2/kN.

3. A covered steel tank (Gs = 8.15), 15 m in diameter and 10 meters high with 20 mm wall thickness, is filled with
water up to a height of 9.5 m. The tank sits on a concrete foundation (Gs = 2.55), 15.1 m in diameter and 0.65
meters thick. The foundation rests on the surface of a 5-m thick soft, normally consolidated clay above a thick
layer of gravel. Consider Cc at 0.6 and Cv at 10 m2/year. Water assume that the soil is fully saturated and that
water content is 43 percent with soil Gs equal to 2.56. Compute for the difference in settlement between the
edges and the center of the foundation. Determine also the time in days for 50% of the primary consolidation
settlement to develop.

4. A circular foundation of diameter 8 m situated at the surface supports a tank. The base of the foundation is at
1 m from the ground surface. The vertical load is 20 MN. The tank foundation is supported by a soil with undrained
shear strength equal to 80 kPa and saturated unit weight of 19 kN/m3 and dry unit weight of 17.6 kN/m3 and angle
of internal friction equal to 25°. Ground water table is 4 meters below the surface and assumed to be stable.
Fourteen months after the tank was constructed, during a week of intense rainfall, the foundation failed. It was
speculated that failure occurred by bearing capacity failure. Establish whether this is so or not.

5. The foundations supporting two columns of a building are

presented in Figure 2. Unfortunately, an extensive soil
investigation was not carried out, and it was initially assumed
in the design of the foundation that the clay layer had a
uniform thickness of 1.2 meters. Two years after the
construction, walls of the building began to crack. It was found
out that this was caused by a differential settlement of 10 mm.
To avoid further issues with the serviceability of the building,
inspections were made ultimately leading to the conclusion
that the differential settlement must not exceed 31 mm.
Establish whether the building is still serviceable after 15 years.
*For analyses, considering the following equation for primary consolidation settlement might prove helpful:

𝑆𝑝𝑐 = 𝐻𝑚𝑣 ∆𝜎𝑧′

Figure 2 – settlement of non-uniform thickness clay layer,

taken from "Soil Mechanics and Foundation", Muni Budhu,
2011
Prepared by:
JTRICABLANCA, CE

UC-VPAA-CEA-TQ
OCT. 2014 Rev 00
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