Addis Ababa University

Addis Ababa Institute of Technology

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering II (CEng2142)

Fx-Examination Question Paper Set

Full Name

ID No. Section

Signature Exam Date: 07.03.2020

Instruction:
1) This examination is closed book and constitutes 100% of your final grade.
2) The time allowed for this exam is 2 hours.
3) Please read the questions carefully and make sure you understand the facts before
you begin answering. Write as legibly and concisely as possible.
4) Use the provided space properly to present you answer in a neat manner.
Question # Weight [marks] Score [marks]
1 10

2 35

3 10

4 15

5 15

6 15
 QUESTION 1: Introduction to Soil Mechanics
1.1 Karl Terzaghi once said “Soil Mechanics arrived at the borderline between science and
art. I use the term ‘art’ to indicate mental processes leading to satisfactory results without
the assistance of step-for-step logical reasoning”.
Reflect as to why he would refer to Soil Mechanics as art.
To acquire competence in the field of earthwork engineering one
must live with the soil. One must love it and observe its performance
not only in the laboratory but also in the field, to become familiar
with those of its manifold properties that are not disclosed by boring
records…”
(2%)
1.2 What happened about 10,000 years ago on the Earth? What are some of the consequences
for soil and rock behavior today?
An ice age occurred about 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the
Holocene period. At that time, glaciers about 100 meters thick covered
the earth from the North Pole down to about the 40th parallel and
loaded the soil. This very heavy loading increased the density,
stiffness, and strength of the soils below the glaciers. When the
glaciers melted, they left behind these very dense, overconsolidated
soils, called glacial tills. These soils do not settle much if the pressure
does not exceed the pressure exerted by the Ice-Age glacier. (The
glaciers also carried within them very large and heavy rocks, and
deposited these boulders along their paths when they melted.) When
the glaciers melted, the soil surface rebounded, and in some places
this movement still goes on today at a rate of about 10mm per year.
An example of this is the landmass in England.
(4%)
1.3 Soil mechanics is refered to as the study of both solid and fluid mechanical characteristics
of soils. Mention at least two issues from both branches of mechanics that are relevant to
soils.
Solid Mechanics Issues Fluid Mechanics Issues
 How much soil will deform  How does water flow
when it is loaded? through soil? (how fast?)
 When loads are applied, on
what rate does soil deform?  How can fluid flow through
 How much load can we soil cause it to fail?
apply to soil before it fails?
(4%)

Page 2 of 8
 QUESTION 2: Simple Soil Properties
2.1 The mass of a chunk of moist soil is 20 kg, and its volume is 0.011 m3. After drying in an
oven, the mass reduces to 16.5 kg. Determine the water content, the density of moist soil, the
dry density, void ratio, porosity and the degree of saturation. Take Gs= 2.70.
(12%)

2.2 Consider the following grain size distribution curve.

Page 3 of 8
 2.2.1 Determine the percentage of gravel (G), sand (S), silt (M) and clay (C).

%G = %M=

% S= %C=
properties that are not disclosed by boring
records…”
(8%)

2.2.2 Comment on the gradation nature of the soils based on the shape of their respective
GSD curves.

Soil Nature of Gradation Reasoning

C
(3%)

2.2.3 Determine the uniformity coefficient Cu and the coefficient of gradation Cc for soil
A.

Soil D10 D30 D60 Cu Cc

A
(7%)

2.3 Briefly describe the relationship between variation of water content and volume of a sample.
Support your answer with graph and clearly label the boundaries of the state of the soil.

(5%)

Page 4 of 8
 QUESTION 3: Soil Classification and Field Identification
3.1 Classify soil A in Question 2.2 according to Unified Soil Classification System.

(2%)

3.2 Which of the following statements are true justify your answer

i) In AASHTO classification system,A-2 soil is better than A-3

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

ii) A group index of zero indicates a soil has a very poor quality in terms of subgrade material.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

(2%)

3.3 Briefly discuss how you would identify clay soils from silt on field.

(2%)

3.4 Upon retrieval of the soil A referred to in Question 2.2, the geotechnical engineer in charge
has noted that the soil does not exhibit any signs of the presence of organic matter.

Mention at least two signs of the presence of organic matter?

(4%)

Page 5 of 8
 QUESTION 4: Soil Water, Permeability & Seepage
4.1 How much does the capillary water rise above the water table in a very fine sand (d=0.1mm)
if the surface tension force is To=0.064 N/m with an α=3◦.

(3%)

4.2 A test boring was performed at an elevation of 925 m above m.s.l. where the water table
was found 8 m below the ground surface. A piezometer installed 3.3 km downstream showed
the phreatic surface to be at an elevation of 907 m above m.s.l. An aquifer of almost uniform
thickness of 15 m was observed between these two points. If the quantity of flow was measured
to be 3mm3/s per unit width, compute the coefficient of permeability.

(7%)

4.3 Write down faults you observe (if any) with the flow nets given below.

(5%)
Page 6 of 8
 QUESTION 5: Soil Compaction
5.1 The compaction (RC) of a sandy road base in the field is 90%. The maximum and
minimum dry unit weights of the sand are γd(max) = 20.4 kN/m3 and γd(min) = 13.9 kN/m3.
Determine the values of:

a) dry unit weight in the field

b) relative density Dr

(5%)

5.2 What is the range of water volume (in m3) need to construct a street at 95% RC of a soil
with a Standard Proctor Compaction curve given below? The street is 300 m long, 7.5 m wide
and 0.5 m thick.

(10%)
Page 7 of 8
 QUESTION 6: Stress in Soils
6.1 At what depth would the vertical effective stress in a deep deposit of clay be 100 kPa, if e =
1.1? The groundwater level is at 1 m below ground surface and S = 95% above the groundwater
level. Neglect pore air pressure.

(5%)

6.2 Find the stress at the point A shown below, at a depth of 3 m below the edge of the footing.
The plan of the square footing has been plotted on the top of the Newmark graph to a scale of
AB = 3 m and placed in such a way that point A falls directly over the center of the chart.

(10%)
Page 8 of 8