Assessment Exam 04

Geotechnical Engineering
INSTRUCTION: READ EACH QUESTION and φ = 27°, while in the dense state, the
CAREFULLY, CHOOSE THE BEST ANSWER corresponding values of void ratio and φ
OUT OF THE CHOICES. are 0.36 and 45° respectively. Determine
the ratio of active earth pressure in the two
DURATION: 4 HOURS cases (dense to loose state), assuming G =
2.64.
WARNING: FORMS SUBMITTED LATER THAN A. 0.50 C. 0.55
5:15PM WILL NOT BE RECORDED. B. 0.64 D. 0.47
7. The foundation soil at the toe of a masonry
REMINDER: PREPARE ALL THE THINGS YOU dam has a porosity of 40% and the specific
NEED BEFORE YOU CONTINUE TO THE NEXT gravity of grains is 2.70. To assure safety
PAGE (QUESTIONNAIRE) against piping, the specifications state that
the upward gradient must not exceed 25%
1. Given a 9m cut slope is shown, with a unit of the gradient at which a quick condition
weight of soil is 17kN/m3. Friction angle occurs. What is the maximum permissible
and cohesion along the rock surface are 20 upward gradient?
degrees and 24kPa respectively. The slope A. 0.500 C. 0.255
makes an angle of 30 degrees from B. 0.522 D. 0.200
horizontal and the failure plane is at 15 8.  There is clay layer 8 m thick with a layer of
degrees. Determine the force tending to sand on either side. An undisturbed sample
cause sliding. 2.5 cm thick of the clay when tested in the
A. 1318.67 C. 709.66 laboratory require 25 minutes to reach 50%
B. 356.40 D. 965.40 consolidation. It is proposed to construct a
2.  Given a 9m cut slope is shown, with a unit building at the above site. Estimate the
weight of soil is 17kN/m3. Friction angle time required for 90% consolidation to take
and cohesion along the rock surface are 20 place in days.
degrees and 24kPa respectively. The slope A. 7867 C. 7778
makes an angle of 30 degrees from B. 7768 D. 7678
horizontal and the failure plane is at 15 9. It is the total effective stress at a given
degrees. Determine the developed depth due to the weight of overlying soil or
frictional force along the failure plane. * rock.
A. 130.84 C. 225.55 A. Overburden Pressure
B. 484.11 D. 834.56 B. Total Vertical Pressure
3. Given a 9m cut slope is shown, with a unit C. Preconsolidation Pressure
weight of soil is 17kN/m3. Friction angle D. Initial Pressure
and cohesion along the rock surface are 20
Situation (10-12)
degrees and 24kPa respectively. The slope
A uniform soil deposit has a dry unit weight of
makes an angle of 30 degrees from
15.6kN/m3 and a saturated unit weight of
horizontal and the failure plane is at 15
17.2kN/m3. The ground water table is at a
degrees. Determine the developed
distance of 4m below the ground surface. Point A
cohesive force.
is at a depth of 6m below the ground surface.
A. 834.56 C. 130.84
10. Compute the effective stress at A.
B. 225.55 D. 484.11
A. 72.87 kPa C. 77.18 kPa
4. It is also called skin friction.
B. 67.25 kPa D. 56.47 kPa
A. Rear shear C. side shear
11. If the water table rises by 3.5m, find the
B. Back shear D. upper shear effective stress at A
5. What is the minimum limiting value of the A. 72.87 kPa C. 48.45 kPa
lateral earth pressure at a depth of 3
B. 67.25 kPa D. 56.47 kPa
meters in a uniform sand fill with a unit
weight of 20 kN/m3 and a friction angle of 12. In comparison to items 1 and 2, what will
35°? The ground surface is level.  happen to the effective stress at A if the
ground water level will rise up to the
A. 23.389 C. 221.410
ground surface?
B. 16.260 D. 65.580
A. increase C. decrease
6. A wall, 5.4 m high, retains sand. In the
B. no change D. maximum
loose state the sand has void ratio of 0.63
13.  A saturated specimen of cohesionless
sand was tested under drained conditions
in a triaxial compression test apparatus
and the sample failed at a deviator stress
of 482 kN/m2 and the plane of failure made
an angle of 60° with the horizontal.
Determine the magnitudes of the deviator
stress for another identical specimen of
sand if it is tested under a cell pressure of
200 kN/sq.m?
A. 400 kPa C. 200 kPa
B. 320 kPa D. 236 kPa
14. The results of two drained triaxial test on a
saturated clay are shown below on the
table. If the deviator stress used in the test
is 150kPa used in the same sample, what
would be the chamber pressure
A. 52.70 kPa C. 25.32 kPa
B. 36.35 kPa D. 38 kPa
15. The data shown in the table were obtained
in tri – axial compression tests of three
identical soil specimen. Compute the shear
strength at a depth of 6m below the ground
if a ground water table is located 2m below
the ground surface and the soil has a dry
unit weight of 16 kN/m3 and a saturated
unit weight of 20 kN/m3.
A. 88.1 kPa C. 56.55 kPa
B. 23.65 kPa D. 36.35 kPa
16. A conventional consolidated drained tri –
axial test is conducted on a sand. The cell
pressure is 100 kPa and the applied axial
stress at failure is 200 kPa. Calculate the
factor of safety on the plane of maximum
shear stress.  head permeability test setup involves a
A. 2.5 C. 2.33
B. 1.15 D. 1.8
17. Soils having size larger than 75 mm.
A. Gravel C. Loam
B. Rock D. Boulders and Cobbles
18. If the specific gravity of soil is 2.7 and has
a water content of 15%, compute the zero
air void unit weight in kN/m^3.
A. 18.85 C. 20.79
B. 16.85 D. 21.65
19. The following are results of a field unit
weight determinate test using sand cone
method: Vol. of hole = 0.0014 m^3 Mass of
moist soil from hole = 3 kg Water content =
12% Maximum dry unit weight from a
laboratory compaction test is 19 kN/m^3.
Determine the relative compaction in the
field.
A. 98.8% ` C. 99.8%
B. 102.5% D. 92%
20. A soil sample has the following properties:
Sp.gr. = 2.67 Void ratio = 0.54 Water
content = 11.2% Compute the air void ratio.
A. 0.165 ` C. 0.145
B. 0.156 D. 0.176
21. A cone penetrometer test was conducted
on a sample of soil and the shrinkage limit
was determined to be 12%. If the shrinkage
ratio is 0.081, determine the specific gravity
of the soil sample.
A. 2.65 C. 2.70
B. 2.60 D. 2.75
Situation (22-24)
After 24 hours of pumping at 50 liters/sec, the
water level in an observation well at a distance of
100m from the test well is lowered 0.5m. At
another observation well located 50m from the test
well, the water level dropped by 1.0m. 22.
22. Estimate the rate of flow in cubic meters
per day.
A. 4320 ` C. 5130
B. 4890 D. 4560
23. Evaluate the coefficient of permeability of
the aquifer in meters per day.
A. 36.3 ` C. 44.5
B. 20.1 D. 58.3
24. Compute the transmissibility of the aquifer
in square meters per day.
A. 1140 C. 1080
B. 953 D. 1260
25.  An experiment to determine the
permeability of a soil sample was
conducted. The permeameter in a falling
cylindrical soil sample 100 mm in diameter
and a height of 200mm. The hydraulic head
in the 10mm diameter standpipe through
which the test water passed dropped from
1 meter to 600mm in one minute of
observation. In that duration the water
collected in the graduate was recorded at
2.0 liters. From these data, evaluate the
coefficient of permeability of the soil
sample, in cm/sec
A. 0.000224 C. 0.001910
B. 0.00170 D. 0.001890
26. In accordance with the Unified Soils
Classification System, a soil grain having a
size greater than No. 200 sieve opening
 (0.074 mm) but less than that a No. 4 sieve
(4.75 mm opening) is called
A. Gravel C. Cobble
B. Pebble D. Sand

27. A 1.25 m layer of the soil (Gs = 2.65 and

porosity = 35%) is subject to an upward
seepage head of 1.85 m. Determine the
critical hydraulic gradient
A. 1.0725 C. 1.0572
B. 1.0275 D. 1.0527
28. Determine the theoretical length of the
required flow path.
A. 2.5 m C. 2.0 m
A. 3.24 m C. 3.38 m
B. 1.6 m D. 1.0 m
B. 3.05 m D. 3.45 m
34. Design a square footing that will carry an
29. What depth of coarse sand would be axial load of 61175 kg. The bottom of the
required above the soil to provide a factor footing is 2.5m below the ground surface,
of safety of 2.0 against piping assuming with the groundwater table located at the
that the coarse sand has the same porosity bottom of the footing. Compute the ultimate
and specific gravity as the soil and that bearing capacity of the soil in kPa.
there is negligible head loss in the sand?
A. 1.80 m C. 2.20 m
B. 1.99 m D. 2.13 m
30. From a hydrometer analysis to determine
particle sizes, it is found that 45 percent of
the sample consists of particles smaller
than 0.002 mm. The soil sample has a
liquid limit of 64% and plastic limit of 42%.
Determine the activity of the clay
A. 0.32 C. 0.54
B. 0.49 D. 0.68
31. All samples from Atterberg’s Limit Tests
shall pass sieve __
A. #10 C. #40
B. #200 D. #4
32. A saturated soil sample has a volume of 20 A. 535.6 C. 1748.7
cm3 at its Liquid Limit. Given LL = 42% , B. 2523.3 D. 1925.3
PL = 30% , SL = 17% , GS = 2.74. Find the 35.  Design a square footing that will carry an
minimum volume the soil can attain. axial load of 61175 kg. The bottom of the
A. 10.70 cm3 C. 13.63 cm3 footing is 2.5m below the ground surface,
B. 19.97 cm 3
D. 14.77 cm3 with the groundwater table located at the
33. Design a square footing that will carry an bottom of the footing. Compute the net
axial load of 61175 kg. The bottom of the allowable bearing capacity using FS=3 in
footing is 2.5m below the ground surface, kPa.
with the groundwater table located at the
bottom of the footing. Compute the
dimension of the footing using FS=3.
 B. 61.5% D. 52.3%
40. The particle size characteristics of a soil is
given in the table. Determine the
percentage of sand using USDA.

A. 685.3 C. 426.2
B. 1253.2 D. 579.8
Situation
Three specimens of clay having a small air-void
content were tested in the shear box. Shear
loading was started immediately after the
application of the normal load and was completed A. 16.9% C. 26.3%
in 10 minutes. The results are tabulated as shown. B. 15.2% D. 12.0%
41.  The particle size characteristics of a soil is
given in the table. Determine the
percentage of sand using USCS.
36. Find the apparent cohesion of the clay.
A. 81.5 kPa C. 61.5 kPa
B. 71.5 kPa D. 51.5 kPa
37. Find the angle of shearing resistance of the
clay.

A. 8.4° C. 6.4°
B. 7.4° D. 5.4°
38. What unconfined shear strength would be
obtained from an unconfined compression
test on the same soil?

A. 94 kPa C. 74 kPa
B. 84 kPa D. 64 kPa
39. The particle size characteristics of a soil is A. 25.2% C. 8.5%
given in the table. Determine the B. 16.3% D. 11.5%
percentage of silt using AASHTO. 42. A circular pile having a diameter of 0.35 m
is embedded through a layer of 4.5 m thick
of clay layer into a dense sand having a
bearing capacity factor of 78. Unit weight of
clay is 16 kN/m3 and saturated unit weight
of sand is 18 kN/m3. Water table is located
at the top of the sand layer. Lateral
pressure factor of compression K = 1.20
and coefficient of friction of concrete pile is
0.42. The allowable capacity 600 kN. Using
a factor of safety of 3. 
A. 16.37 m C. 17.88 m
B. 15.25 m D. 14.23 m
43.  Figure shows a braced cut in stratified
A. 20.6% C. 75.1% soils. Given γ sand = 16 kN/cu.m , c = 0
 and Ф = 36⁰, γ Clay = 19 kN/cu.m , c = 38 A. 200.2 C. 182.3
kN/\m2 , n = 0.9. Assuming the struts are B. 225.0 D. 165.3
spaced 1 m center to center. Compute the 47.  Find location of the horizontal thrust
section modulus of wale at B if the measured from the bottom? 
allowable stress is 0.6 fy where fy = 248
MPa.  A. 2.70 m C. 2.30 m
B. 2.01 m D. 2.51 m

48. A footing of a structure is shown below.

Solve for the overburden pressure in the
clay layer

A. 67210.36 mm3 C. 80940.86 mm3

B. 55498.78 mm3 D. 91238.36 mm3
44. A long trench was excavated in medium
dense sand for the foundation of a
multistory building. The sides of the trench
are supported with sheet pile walls fixed in
place by struts and wales as shown in
figure. The wales are braced at every 4 m
center to center. Determine the reaction of
the strut B

A. 71.97 kPa C. 124.95 kPa

B. 101.40 kPa D. 95.52 kPa
49. A footing of a structure is shown below.
Find average increase of effective pressure
in clay layer using 2:1 method

A. 585.598 kN C. 703.541 kN
B. 612.387 kN D. 506.889 kN
Situation
A smooth, vertical wall retains a 7-m high granular
backfill with the ground level being horizontal. The
water table lies at a depth of 3 m from the top. The
friction angle of the backfill is 32°. The bulk and
saturated unit weight of the soil are 16.5 kN/m3
and 18.0 kN/m3 respectively. Assuming the soil is
in active state,
45. What is the active earth coefficient?
A. 0.703 C. 3.255
B. 0.307 D. 1.422
46. What is the magnitude of the horizontal
thrust on the wall, kN? 
 A. 63.6 kPa C. 16.5 kPa
B. 32.2 kPa D. 8.6 kPa
50. A footing of a structure is shown below.
Determine the settlement of the clay layer.

A. 22 mm C. 26.5 mm
B. 36 mm D. 28 mm