Assignments: CEL301 Foundation Engineering

Q1. A retaining wall of 6m height having a 05

smooth back retains a backfill made of
two strata as shown in the figure.
Construct the active earth pressure
diagram and find the magnitude and
point of application of the resultant
thrust. Assume the backfill above water
table remains dry.

Q2. 05

Calculate the factor of safety of the embankment when the reservoir is filled up to
a depth of 18m as shown in the figure. What will be the factor of safety when the
reservoir is completely emptied? The embankment consists of a saturated soil for
which the angle of shearing resistance φu = 0 and the undrained cohesion c u =
70kN/m2.

Q.3. (a) Summarize a list of ten different ground improvement methods and mention 3+2+2
the types of soils or ground conditions to which these methods are applicable.
(b)Write down the effective depth of treatment for each of the methods.
(c) For residential development in an area of say 2 hectares of land that consists of
cohesive soil with low bearing capacity and extending upto a depth of 8m below
the grounds surface, which ground improvement techniques you will recommend
and why?

Q.4. Briefly write about the possible sources of errors while conducting the following 3+3
tests in field: (a) Plate load test (b) Standard Penetration test
Q.5. Based on the site investigation for a particular project, the field data obtained from subsurface
exploration and the laboratory test results on the collected soil samples are presented below. Give your
opinion on the types of foundation, its depth and the bearing capacity that can be recommended for
construction of (a) light structures (b) heavy structures on this site. Justify your answers with proper
calculations based on your knowledge gained from the soil mechanics and foundation engineering courses.
You can refer books and other literature and suitably assume any data that may be required. [12]

Field data obtained from borehole drilling

Laboratory test results