UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

GTE3601

Geotechnical Engineering III

Total mark: 30

Assignment no: 02

Assignment 02 due date: 03 October 2022

Module lecturer Mr M Makaleng

Instructions:

Honor Pledge: I have neither given nor received aid on the assignment.
Plagiarism is the act of taking words, ideas and thoughts of others and presenting it
as your own. It is a form of theft which involves a number of dishonest academic
activities.

• Answer all questions

• Write clearly using black ink
• Space your work out adequately
• Read the questions carefully
• Pay careful attention to the allocated marks
• Late submission will not be accepted
• Rule a line across any work you do not want marked.
• If the information available is not complete please assume,
specify the required value and continue with the questions
• Provide detailed calculations

1
QUESTION 1
A reinforced-concrete retaining wall is used to retain soil as shown. Drains are designed
throughout the wall so that water pressure does not affect it. With soil condition shown
below, draw the correct placement of reinforcement in the wall in figure 1. (5)

Natural
Ground Level

Figure 1: Reinforced-concrete wall

QUESTION 2
A retaining wall that has a soft, saturated clay backfill is shown in figure 2. For undrained
condition (  = 0 )of the backfill, determine the following values:
2.1 Construct the earth pressure diagram for active state (13)
2.2 The maximum depth of the tensile crack (4)
2.3 Pa before the tensile crack occurs (4)
2.4 Pa after the tensile crack (4)

1.
2.
Saturated Clay
3. kN/m3
ɣ (clay) = 18,4
7m
 = 0o 4.
C = 25 kN/m 5. 2
6.

Figure Q2(Retaining wall) [25 marks]

2
 TOTAL MARKS [30]
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