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Practical Question All About Soil With Answer
Practical Question All About Soil With Answer
SOILS
1. Q- How will you prepare sample for proctor if there are soft particles in the sample?
A- By preparing 5 individual samples having different moisture content. Discard sample
every each test.
2. Q- What is the minimum surcharge weight place in doing a C.B.R. test ?
A- 10 lbs. (4.54 kg).
3. Q- How do you calculate actual surcharge weight for C.B.R ?
A- By equation : W=dxvxA
Where :A = AREA OF MOLD.
W = Actual surcharge weight
d = Density of material,
V = Thickness of Layers.
4. Q- What is the difference between a standard proctor test & a modified proctor test ?
A- Aside from the compactive energy which is 5 times greater than in the standard test, the
maximum density and optimum water content obtained from the two compaction test is
greater in fine-grained that for a coarse-grained soils.
5. Q- What is S.P.T. ? Describe the procedure of this test in detail.
A- S.P.T. or Standard Penetration Test:
The standard split-tube sampler, 18 inches in length and 2 inches in diameter is driven
into the soil, with a drive weight of 63.5 kg. At 30 inches free falling. The blow count
for the first 6 inches is not used, as this is to seat the sampler below the disturbed soil in
the bottom of the borehole. The number of blows to drive the final 12 inches is the
penetration resistance. If it is not practical to drive the sampler the full 12 inches
because of very dense, cemented hardpan, rock, etc., the boring log dense, cemented
hardpan, rock, etc., the boring log will indicate the blow count and penetration as ratio
i.e. 70:4 for 70 blows and 4 inches in penetration.
6. Q- Define liquid limit and plastic limit. How do you calculate plasticity index ? How many
strokes are specified for rolling the thread of soil when determining plastic limit ? and
How many revolution per second when determining liquid limit ?
A- Liquid limit is the % water content in which the soil mass has a capacity to flow as a
liquid. It is in between the liquid and plastic state. The rate is 2 revolution per second.
Plastic limit is the % water content in which the soil mass can be molded without
crumbling. It is in between the plastic and semi-solid state. The rate is 80 to 90 strokes
per minute.
7. Q- Could we used sand for embankment material ?
A- Yes, (by plating) it is a method of covering or confining of unstable fills with a suitable,
stable material.
8. Q- Why is wadi sand preferable to wind blown sand as a construction material ?
A- Because wadi sand are free from clay and other organic matters and also meet grading
requirements for fineness modulus.
9. Q- What are the test you run to determine the suitability of a sub grade material ?
A- a) Sieve analysis
b) Atterberg test
c) Proctor test
d) C.B.R. test
e) Field Density test.
10. Q- What are the basic test normally carried out to determine soil characteristics and
conditions ?
A- a) C.B.R. test
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b) Sieve analysis
c) Atterberg test.
11. Q- How do you determine the shear strength of a soil ?
A- By tri-Axial test: The basic principle is that a cylindrical soil specimen is first encased
in a thin rubber membrane and subjected to fluid pressure around the cylindrical
surface. The lateral pressure is held constant while an axial load is applied and
increased until failure occurs.
12. Q- Why and when C.B.R. value needs adjustment ? What is the rate of loading ?
A- When the curve is concave upward shape because of swell, adjustment is made by
adjusting the point of origin by extending the line of stress-strain curve downward until
it intersect the abscissa. Rate of loading is 0.05 inch per minute.
13. Q- How do you take a sand sample from a sand stockpile ?
A- Take sample at inner middle of stockpile at random.
14. Q- How would you carry-out in-situ density test on prepared subgrade ?
A- By sand cone method.
15. Q- How do you reduce the size of field samples ?
A- By splitting or quartering of samples.
16. Q- How will you distinguished A-1 and A-7 soil visually ?
A- A-1 materials is a well-graded gravel or sand or a mixture of sand and gravel with or
without non-plastic soil binder. Whereas, A-7 material is a clayey soil.
17. Q- What is C.B.R. ?
A- C.B,R, or California Bearing Ratio : It is a ratio of a force required to penetrate a
sample to a certain depth (with a 5 cm. piston) to a force required to penetrate the
sample of high quality crushed stone with the same depth and piston.
18. Q- Where will you fix the penetration gauge in C.B.R. test ?
A- In a plunger, to determine the accurate relationship between the load and penetration.
19. Q- How do you classify soils ?
A- Soils are classified as coarse-grained and fine-grained soils. Materials passing the 3
inches sieve and retained #4 sieve are considered coarse-grained while material passing
#4 sieve and retained #200 sieve are fine-grained soils.
20. Q- What is the pressure in pneumatic rollers ?
A- 80 psi.
21. Q- How much thickness is allowed for rockfill ?
A- Maximum thickness Maximum unit of weight for
Of Free Layer (cm.) Vibrating (kg./unit of width,m.)
40 2,300 – 2,900
60 2,900 – 3,600
80 3,600 – 4,300
100 4,300 – 5,000
* For multi vibrating, unit of weighing shall be limited in accordance with unit of axial
weight.
22. Q- What is the construction procedure for preparing natural ground to receive the
embankment layers ?
A- Removal of undesirable materials such as logs, tress, stumps, weeds, heavy grass, etc.
23. Q- What is the allowable tolerance of the top of subgrade layer and how it can be measured
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?
A- Refer to Tolerance Table.
24. Q- What is A-3 soil ? can we used sand in subgrade and embankment ?
A- A-3 soil is a fine-beach or desert blown sand without fines or with a small amount of
non-plastic silt. This kind of material cannot be used for subgrade because of the
following reasons;
a) Poor load sustaining qualities
b) Highly permeable
c) Compressible under sustained loads
d) Subject to changes in strength and volume due to variation in water content, For
embankment yes, by method of plating.
25. Q- If water is not available for this kind of job, what will you do ?
A- Either by spraying sand stabilizer or by using vibratory roller with high frequency low
amplitude.
26. Q- How will you compact rockfill ?
A- As mentioned above (Q-21) – Refer to M.O.C. circular.
27. Q- What do you understand by the material of aggregate base coarse ?
A- This materials consist of clean, tough, durable, sharp angle fragments free of soft,
disintegrated or decomposed stone and free from any deleterious matter. Max. size of
agg. Is 2½”, LL = 25 max., P.I = 6 max. (Look Q-55).
28. Q- What types of soil are well suitable for subgrade ?
A- A-1-a, A-1-b, A-2-4.
29. Q- What do you mean my type A, AA, AAA in the compaction of soil ?
A- Type “A” : Compacted density of a soil shall be equal or greater that
90% of Maximum Density or 70% of Relative density.
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A- To meet the gradation requirements of the specification and yield a mix design to the
criteria of the design method. The gradation should be made up to the most economical
proper aggregates to be found.
34. Q- What is fineness modulus and how to determine it ?
A- It is a numerical number, which outlines the grain size of the material by fineness point
of view. It is determined through sieve analysis by adding total percentage retained on
sieve ¾, 3/8, #4, #8, #16, #30, #50, #100 and dividing the sum by 100.
F.M. = 3.58 is coarser than F.M = 1.63 Limit (2.3 – 3.1)
35. Q- In sand equivalent why the heavy particles goes down, what is the reason ?
A- Those particles whose specific gravity is heavier than water will go down and those
particles whose specific gravity is lighter than water will be in the upper portion due to
sedimentation process.
36. Q- What is uniformity coefficient and effective grain size ?
A- Uniformity Coefficient, is the ratio of the diameter corresponding to percent finer (P =
60%) and the effective grain size.
Effective Grain size, is the diameter of particles corresponding to percent finer ( P =
10%) on the grain size curve.
Sieve at 60%
U.C =
Sieve at 10%
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A- 1. Disturbed sampling
2. Undisturbed sampling.
49. Q- What is Soil Stabilization ?
A- It is the process which improve the properties of materials by additives to improve
strength, plasticity, workability and shrinkage.
50. Q- What do you know about Lime Stabilization ?
A- Lime stabilization is the most economic and effective with clay soils, where pH = 12.30
added to soil by about 3% to 7% by weight of dry material.
51. Q- What do you know about compaction of sand ?
A- Compaction is performed on sand in cases of;
1. Water content are between dry and saturated state.
2. Completely watered (saturated)
3. Completely dry (Unsaturated)
* Compaction in completely dry state give the highest dry density and layer thickness
can be increase by using of dry compaction.
Compaction should be made by roller “vibratory” with Low Amplitude and High
Frequency.
52. Q- What is the relation between modified and standard proctor ?
A- The standard and modified proctor test give result nearly closed together for granular
soil, but for plastic clay soil modified gives higher results than standard.
53. Q- What is the energy for compacted test ?
A- Energy is equal to the number of layer multiplied by the number of blows, Weight of
Hammer and height divided by the volume of the mold.
54. Q- What are the causes of sub-surface soil ?
A- 1. Jaw Hammer
2. Fan Hammer
3. Conical Hammer.
55. Q- Describe the Aggregate Base Course material.
A- Materials: (Crushed Stone or Crushed Gravel)
1. Hard
2. Durable
3. Free from dirt
4. Shall obtain not more than 85 of flat elongated, soft, disintegrated pieces.
5. 90% by weight of particles with at least two fractured faces and 100% by weight
of particles at least one fractured face.
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By hands:
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