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Department of Technical Education and Training

NVQ Level 06 Written Examination – July 2023 (December 2023) (Semester II)

Higher National Diploma in Construction Technology

Advanced Soil Mechanics 6S2NVQ 1521 Three Hours

Instructions:  This paper contains 06 questions on 03 pages.

 Answer only five (05) Questions.
 Equal Marks for All Questions (20 Marks × 5)
 It you have any doubt as to the interpretation of the wording of a question, make
own decision, but clearly state it in the answer script.

1. A site investigation or soil survey is an essential part of the preliminary design work or any
important structure in order to obtain information.

(i) What type of information is expected to obtain from site investigation? Briefly explain.
(03 Marks)

(ii) As per the Standard code of Practice what are the main objectives of site investigation.
(03 Marks)

(iii) First stage in a site investigation is carrying out the Desk Study. What are the type of information
collected at the Desk Study Stage? (06 Marks)

(iv) What are site exploitation methods? Briefly explain each method (to elaborate the answer you
may use neat diagrams) (08 Marks)

2. (i) What are the different type of foundations; Briefly explain each type (to obtain

full marks student need to write at least 5 types of foundations) (04 Marks)

(ii) What are the different analytical methods available for a structural engineer to determine
ultimate bearing pressure of a foundation; Briefly explain. (04 Marks)

(iii) A continuous footing is 2.0 m wide and is found at a depth of 1.25 m in a clay soil of unit weight
20 KNm-3 with øu = 00 and Cu = 32 KNm-2. The foundation is to carry a vertical line load which
will act at a distance of 0.75 m from the center. The weight of the footing will exert a uniform
pressure of 10 KNm-2 on to the soil. Determine the value of safe bearing capacity for the footing,
taking F=3.00 and determine a sate value for the line load. Given; Nc= 4.95, Nq = 1.0, Nr= 0
(12 Marks)

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3. (i) Define the term “Compaction of Soil” (02 Marks)

(ii) What are the objectives of “Soil Compaction”? (05 Marks)

(iii) What are the factors affecting “Degree of compaction”? (05 Marks)

(iv) The laboratory test data for “Standard Proctor Compaction Test” are given below.

Test Number 1 2 3 4 5 6

Mass of wet sample (kg) 1.76 1.81 1.92 1.96 1.9 1.95

Water Content (%) 8.0 10.5 12.4 16.5 18.2 22.0

Volume of the mold used = 944 CC

Find the maximum dry unit weight and optimum moisture content of soil. (08 Marks)

4. (i) How do you define a “Shallow Foundation “according to “Terzargi’s theory”? (03 Marks)

(ii) A square footing foundation is shown in the above figure. Using factor of safety of 2.4 and
given parameters determine the size of footing.
Given;
 µ= 16.5 KN/m2
 C’= 20 KN/m2
 Ɵ’ = 300
 ᵞsat =20 KN/m3 (07 Marks)
(iii) A footing 3m x 3m is located at a depth of 1.75 m in a sand. The shear strength parameters to
be used in design is C’ =0 and y1 =290. Determine the ultimate bearing capacity
a) If the water table is well below the foundation level
b) If the water table is at the surface

The unit weight of sand above the water table is 19 KN/m2

The saturated unit weight of sand above the water table is 19.8 N/m2. (10 Marks)
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5. (i) List various earth retaining structures used in Civil engineering. (03 Marks)

(ii) Describe various types of concrete retaining walls according to using suitable heat sketched
different requirements. What are the different aspects, consider by the design engineer in selecting
the type of wall? (04 Marks)

(iii) Name the 3 important stability aspects (04 Marks)

(iv) What are the forces acting on a retaining wall show above forces with a neat diagram?
(03 Marks)

(v) It is very important to take into account the forces acting on a wall due to the pore water pressure
and surcharge load to design a retaining wall.

Draw water pressure and surcharge pressure diagrams with value for the give figure. (06 Marks)

6. (i) Draw a complete and clear three phase diagram of soil mass. (03 Marks)

(ii) With reference to above diagram the following are volumetric relationships.
Using standard symbols, define following.
a) Void ratio
b) Porosity
c) Bulk density
d) Dry density
e) Degree of saturation
f) Air contort (09 Marks)

(iii) A sample of weighing 28.5 Kg had a volume of 0.0175 m3. When dried
out in an oven it’s weight was reduced to 25.1kg. The specific gravity was
found to be 2.65 Determine the following.
a) Void ratio
b) Porosity
c) Bulk density
d) Dry density
e) Degree of saturation (08 Marks)
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