Exercise Book

Construction Materials &

Management
For

CE
By

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 Preface to First Edition
Dear Student,

With great pleasure we present THE GATE ACADEMY’s Exercise

Book. It is a comprehensive book designed for GATE Exam and definitely
useful for other job oriented technical exams such as BARC, ISRO, NTPC,
DRDO, RRB JE, SSC JE, Water Supply Boards, Electricity Boards and other
State level Public Service Commission exams.

4000+ questions per stream, designed and handpicked by toppers from IITs/NITs and GATE experts
to give competitive edge to your job oriented technical exam preparation. This book also contain
best of questions from other competitive exams like IES, ISRO etc. and excellent reference books.

Structure of the Book:

For any particular stream, there is one exercise book per subject. In the book, the questions are at
chapter level. The questions of each chapter are then categorized into three levels of difficulty, viz.
Level I, Level II and Level III. This ensures success at different levels of learning.

Level I: These questions are relatively easier and examines the concept clarity. Level I type
questions are common across GATE, SSC JE, RRB JE and other competitive exams.

Level II: Fairly tricky to solve as compared to Level I, the questions at Level 2 are at par with
majority of GATE, ESE Prelims, RRB, TRANSCO and PSU questions. Solving these questions will help
you to
a. Reinforce the concepts learned
b. To identify the areas of strengths and weaknesses
c. Fill learning gaps if any
d. Practice exam level questions

Level III: These are high order thinking questions, designed to cover multiple concepts, are tricky
and prompts students to apply, analyze and evaluate their knowledge and technical aptitude. These
are a must solve, to earn a perfect score in exams like GATE, ISRO, BARC etc.

Level III questions also help students to solve subjective questions of competitive exams like ESE
[IES] and others. These questions are tough questions and hence one should not feel disheartened if
she/he is unable to solve the question. In such instances, one can approach their teachers, friends
and initiate some interesting discussion on the same which will have long lasting benefits.

You make best out of the book by simply choosing the best approach that suits you. Listed below are
two best approaches.

a. While preparing a subject, solve L1, L2 questions of a chapter and then move on to the next
chapter. Once L1 and L2 questions are completed for all chapters, and if you feel confident
then start solving L3 questions. If you feel more practice is needed, just revise L1, L2
questions again to build confidence. Not to forget, Revision is one of the important keys to
unlock the GATE. Do not start solving L3 questions unless you are confident in the subject.
 This approach is recommended for students who score average in any subject. Further,
college going students and working professionals are also recommended to use this
approach to save time and ensure maximum benefit.

b. Solve L1, L2 and L3 questions in the same order for any chapter and then move on to the
next chapter. This approach is recommended to those who are into full time GATE and
competitive exam preparation.

Last but not least, we take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of following faculty
members of THE GATE ACADEMY

 Mr. Mukesh Rai, Faculty, 5+ years of Experience, M. Tech, NITTTR-Bhopal

 Mr. Mukul Trivedi, Faculty, 3+ years of Experience, M. Tech, VNIT-Nagpur
 Mr. Abhijin Sreekantan, Faculty, 3+ years of Experience, M. Tech, NIFFT-Ranchi

We also acknowledge the hard-work done by our Academic Team, Publication team and other non-
teaching staff for their direct or indirect support in materialising this project.

A great deal of effort has gone in ensuring the quality at all levels in the making of this book. We, at
THE GATE ACADEMY, want you to completely utilize these exercise books and take the benefit of
efforts involved. All suggestions to improve them further, are most welcome. Your useful feedback
and suggestions shall help future GATE & PSU aspirants in achieving their goal.

To give your valuable feedback scan the following QR Code. (Or goto bit.ly/tgaebfb)

Ritesh Raushan

Director, THE GATE ACADEMY

“Don’t let fear get the better of you. We believe in you and we believe you’ll excel.
Just believe in yourself and definitely you shall pass with flying colours. Good
luck…”
 Syllabus

Syllabus for Construction Materials & Management

Construction Materials: Structural Steel - Composition, Material Properties and Behaviour, Concrete
- Constituents, Mix Design, Short-Term and Long-Term Properties, Bricks and Mortar, Timber,
Bitumen.
Construction Management: Types of Construction Projects, Tendering and Construction Contracts,
Rate Analysis and Standard Specifications, Cost Estimation, Project Planning and Network Analysis -
PERT and CPM.

Previous Year GATE Papers and Analysis

GATE Papers with answer key

thegateacademy.com/gate-papers

Subject wise Weightage Analysis

thegateacademy.com/gate-syllabus

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 Contents

Contents

Chapters Page No
1. Structural Steel 1-4
 Level-1 1
 Level-2 1

2. Concrete 5-14
 Level-1 5
 Level-2 6
 Level-3 7

3. Bricks 15-20
 Level-1 15
 Level-2 16

4. Mortar 21-24
 Level-1 21
 Level-2 21

5. Timber 25-28
 Level-1 25
 Level-2 25
 Level-3 26

6. Bitumen 29-32
 Level-1 29

7. Project Planning and Network Analysis 33-47

 Level-1 33
 Level-2 34
 Level-3 36

8. Miscellaneous Topics 48-51

 Level-1 48
 Level-2 48
 Level-3 49

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 “Obstacles are those frightful things you can
see when you take your eyes off your goal."
… Henry Ford

1
CHAPTER

Structural Steel

Level-1 8. Every material obeys the Hooke’s law within its

(A) elastic limit
1. Structural steel normally has carbon content (B) plastic point
less then __________ (C) limit of proportionality
(A) 1.0% (B) 0.6% (D) None of these
(C) 3% (D) 5%
9. The stress at which extension of a material
2. Young’s modulus may be defined as the ratio of takes place more quickly as compared to the
(A) linear stress to lateral strain increase in load, is called
(B) lateral strain to linear strain (A) elastic point (B) plastic point
(C) linear stress to linear strain (C) breaking point (D) yielding point
(D) shear stress to shear strain
10. Stainless steel contains
3. The property of a material by which it can be (A) 18% of chromium and 8% nickel
drawn to a smaller section, due to tension is (B) 8% of chromium and 18% nickel
called (C) 12% of chromium and 36% nickel
(A) plasticity (B) ductility (D) 36% of chromium and 12% nickel
(C) elasticity (D) malleability
Level-2
4. The property of a material by which it can be
beaten or rolled in to thin plates, is called 1. Stainless steel resist corrosion due to
(A) malleability (B) ductility (A) carbon (B) sulphur
(C) plasticity (D) elasticity (C) vanadium (D) chromium

5. __________ is the resistance of a material to 2. The material which have the same elastic
plastic deformation by indentation properties in all directions, are called
(A) toughness (B) resilience (A) isotropic (B) brittle
(C) hardness (D) stiffness (C) homogeneous (D) hard

6. The total strain energy stored in a body (up to 3. Which point on the stress strain curve occurs
elastic limit) is termed as after yield plateau?
(A) resilience (A) Lower yield point
(B) proof resilience (B) Upper yield point
(C) impact energy (C) Ultimate point
(D) modulus of resilience (D) Breaking point

7. The ability of a material to deform plastically 4. Which factor increases the ductility of steel
and to absorb energy before fracture is known (A) cold working (B) annealing
as ____________ (C) inclusions (D) alloying
(A) toughness (B) resilience
(C) hardness (D) stiffness

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 Structural Steel
5. What is the S.I. unit of hardness?
( ) ( )
( ) ( )

6. The capacity of a strained body for doing work

on the removal of the straining force, is called
(A) strain energy
(B) resilience
(C) proof resilience
(D) impact energy

7. The area under load versus deformation curve

upto fracture point per unit volume is defined
as
(A) toughness
(B) modulus of toughness
(C) resilience
(D) prof resilience

8. Which of the following is a proper sequence

(A) proportional limit, elastic limit, yielding,
failure
(B) elastic limit, proportional limit, yielding,
failure
(C) yielding, proportional limit, elastic limit,
failure
(D) None of the above

9. What is the factor of safety?

(A) The ratio of stress to strain
(B) The ratio of permissible stress to the
ultimate stress
(C) The ratio of ultimate stress to the
permissible stress
(D) The ratio of longitudinal strain to stress

10. For an isotropic, homogeneous and elastic

material obeying Hooke’s law, the number of
independent elastic constants is ____________
(A) 2 (B) 3
(C) 9 (D) 1

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Answer keys and Solutions
Level-1
1. [Ans. B]
Structural steel normally have a carbon
content less than 0.6%. Carbon content
increases hardness, yield strength and tensile
strength of steel but it decreases ductility and
toughness.
2. [Ans. C]
Young’s modulus or modulus of elasticity is
defined as the ratio of linear stress to linear
strain up to proportionality limit.
3. [Ans. B]
Ductility is the physical property of a material
associated with the ability to be hammered in
to thin section or stretched into wire without
breaking. A ductile substance can be drawn
into a wire.
4. [Ans. A]
Malleability is a physical property of metals
that defines their ability to be hammered,
pressed, or rolled into thin sheets without
breaking. In other words, it is the property of
a metal to deform under compression and
take on a new shape.
5. [Ans. C]
Hardness is the property of a material to resist
indentation.
6. [Ans. A]
Resilience is the ability of a material to absorb
energy when elastically deformed and to
return it.
7. [Ans. A]
Toughness is defined as the ability of a
material to deform plastically and to absorb
energy in the process before fracture.
8. [Ans. C]
The Hooke’s law is valid only when the stress
is proportional to the strain that is only in the
proportionality limit. That’s why every
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Structural Steel
material obeys Hooke’s law up to proportional
limit.
9. [Ans. D]
Beyond yield point, the material start flowing
plastically without any significant increase in
the stress and material goes large
deformation. So this part is basically plastic
part, it means it flow like plastic and without
any increase of the stress, the strain increases.
10. [Ans. A]
Stainless steels are the most corrosion
resistant and typically have 18% Cr, 8% Ni
with minor additions of other elements to
maintain their corrosion resistance if welded.
These steels are non-magnetic and softer than
the second category.
Level-2
1. [Ans. D]
Stainless steel is protect from corrosion by a
thin layer of chromium oxide.
2. [Ans. A]
The materials having same elastic properties
in all directions are called isotropic.
3. [Ans. C]
After the yield plateau the curve will go up to
its maximum limit of stress which is its
ultimate point.
4. [Ans. B]
Annealing process reduces stress inside the
structure. Thus ductility of material increases.
Cold work, alloying and the presence of
inclusions reduces the ductility of steel.
5. [Ans. D]
The hardness number is determined by the
load over the surface area of the indentation.
Thus the unit is and (in CGS
system).
6. [Ans. B]
The ability of a material to absorb energy
when deformed elastically and to return it
when unloaded is called resilience. This is
usually measured by the modulus of
3
 Structural Steel
resilience, which is the strain energy per unit
volume required to stress the material from,
zero stress to the yield stress.

7. [Ans. B]
Area under load versus deformation curve
upto fracture point is known as toughness
whereas toughness per unit volume is known
as modulus of toughness

8. [Ans. A]
The points on the curve comes in the given
order,
A. proportionality limit
B. elastic limit
C. upper yield point
D. lower yield point
E. yield plateau
F. ultimate point
G. breaking point

9. [Ans. C]
Factor of safety is the ratio of ultimate stress
to the permissible stress.

10. [Ans. A]
Only Young’s modulus “E” and Shear modulus
“G” is independent elastic constants.

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