GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING MODULE

SITUATION 1: A uniform soil deposit has a dry unit weight of 15.6 kN/m 3 and a saturated unit weight of
17.2 kN/m3. The ground water table is at a distance of 4 m below the ground surface. Point A is at depth
of 6 m below the ground surface.

1. Compute the effective stress at A.

a. 51.02 kPa b. 48.45 kPa c. 54.27 d. 42.39

2. If the water table goes up by 3.5 m find the effective stress at A.

a. 44.34 kPa b. 41.02 c. 47.46 d. 48.12

3. In comparison to 1 and 2, what will happen to the effective stresses at A if the ground water
surface will rise up the ground surface?
a. Increase b. Remain c. Decrease d. Cannot be determined

SITUATION 2: A soil sample was determined in the laboratory to have a liquid limit of 41% and a plastic
limit of 21.1%. If the water content is 30%,

4. Determine the plasticity index.

a. 21.1 b. 19.9 c. 9.9 d. 11.1

5. Determine the liquidity index.

a. 0.507 b. 0.608 c. 0.394 d. 0.447

6. What is the characteristic of soil?

a. Brittle b. Liquid c. Dense d. Plastic

SITUATION 3: A consolidated drained tri-axial test was conducted on a normally consolidated clay. The
results as follows:

Chamber confining pressure: 138 kPa Deviator Stress = 258 kPa

7. Compute the friction angle of the soil.

a. 32.55 b. 21.07 c. 28.89 d. 35.15

8. Compute the normal stress at failure.

a. 204.68 kPa b. 212.59 c. 278.87 d. 255.15

9. Compute the shear stress at failure.

a. 137.15 kPa b. 112.95 c. 108.53 d. 111.31

SITUATION 4: Refer to the figure. Given q1 = 300 kN/m, q2 = 260 kN/m, x1 = 4 m, x2 = 3 m and z = 3 m.

10. Find the vertical stress increase at point A due to first line load.
a. 1.75 kPa b. 1.61 c. 1.53 d. 1.44

11. Find the vertical stress increase at point A due to the second line load.
a. 13.79 kPa b. 14.44 c. 16.78 d. 12.31

12. Find the total vertical stress at point A.

a. 15.54 kPa b. 18.39 c. 15.32 d. 13.75

SITUATION 5: A certain soil deposit has a liquid limit of 47% and a plastic limit of 24%.

13. Compute the coefficient of earth pressure at rest of this soil deposit. Hint: Ko = 0.19 +
0.223log(PI)
a. 0.507 b. 0.447 c. 0.239 d. 0.319

14. Compute the total stress at rest lateral earth pressure a depth of 5 m. in a dense sand deposit
where this soil was obtained. Unit weight of sand is 18.4 kN/m3.
 a. 45.33 kPa b. 46.64 c. 48.33 d. 50.01

15. Compute the total stress at rest lateral earth pressure at a depth of 5 m in the same sand
deposit but a water table is located at a ground surface. Saturated unit weight of sand is 20.5
kN/m3.
a. 84.31 kPa b. 80.64 c. 76.15 d. 72.21

SITUATION 6: Specifications on a job required a fill using borrowed soil to be compacted at 95% of its
standard Proctor maximum dry density. Tests indicate that the maximum is 19.5 kN/m3 with 12% moisture.
The borrow material has a void ratio of 0.60 and a solid specific gravity of 2.65.

16. Compute the dry unit weight of the compacted soil.

a. 17.216 kN/m3 b. 18.525 c. 15.132 d. 19.761

17. Compute the wet unit weight of the compacted soil.

a. 21.2 kN/m3 b. 20.7 c. 19.6 d. 18.5

18. Find the required minimum volume of borrow soil required to fill one cubic meter.
a. 1.38 m3 b. 1.65 c. 1.14 d. 1.29

SITUATION 7: The laboratory apparatus shown in the figure maintains a constant head in both the upper
and lower reservoirs. The soil sample is a silty sand with hydraulic conductivity of K = 5 x 10^-3 cm/s
and a moisture content of 18.5%. The specific gravity of the soil is 2.70.

19. Compute the void ratio.

a. 0.40 b. 0.50 c. 0.65 d. 0.90

20. Compute the seepage velocity.

a. 0.011 cm/s b. 0.007 c. 0.026 d. 0.034

21. Compute the discharge.

a. 0.353 m3/s b. 0.215 c. 0.247 d. 0.287

SITUATION 8: Answer the following terms in Geotechnical Engineering.

22. Rocks can be classified in three basic categories EXCEPT:

a. atmospheric b. sedimentary c. metamorphic d. igneous

23. It is a line along which a water particle will travel from upstream to the downstream side in
the permeable soil medium.
a. Stress line b. equipotential c. impervious line d. flow line

SITUATION 9: Results from liquid and plastic limit tests conducted on a soil are given in the table.
 24. Assuming the plastic limit is at 13.4% , determine the plasticity index of the soil.
a. 13.7 b. 15.6 c. 16.6 d. 18.3

25. Determine the liquid limit of the soil sample.

a. 32 b. 29 c. 25 d. 19

26. Determine the liquidity index if the water content is 32%.

a. 1.54 b. 1.66 c. 1.19 d. 1.05

SITUATION 10: A confined aquifer underlies an unconfined aquifer as shown in the figure.

27. Compute the equivalent horizontal coefficient of permeability.

a. 34.17 m/day b. 36.25 c. 38.19 d. 40.01

28. Compute the hydraulic gradient.

a. 0.0075 b. 0.0080 c. 0.0100 d. 0.0075

29. Compute the flow rate in cu m per day per meter.

a. 13.76 b. 11.65 c. 10.83 d. 12.91

SITUATION 11: A saturated clay layer has a thickness of 8 m with a water content of 50% and a specific
gravity of 2.78.

30. Compute the saturated unit weight of the clay.

a. 17.12 kN/m3 b. 15.69 c. 18.37 d. 20.45

31. Determine the total stress at the bottom.

a. 157.44 kPa b. 136.96 c. 141.27 d. 147.84

32. Find the effective stress at the bottom.

a. 64.19 kPa b. 58.48 c. 39.12 d. 46.79

SITUATION 12: A dense silt layer has the following properties:

Void ratio e = 0.40

Effective diameter d10 = 10 micrometers
Capillary constant C = 0.20 sq cm

Free ground water level is 8.0 m below the ground surface.

33. Find the height of the capillary rise in the soil.

a. 4 m b. 7 c. 5 d. 8

34. Find the vertical effective stress in kPa at 5 m depth. Assume sat = 26.5 kN/m 3 and that the
soil above the capillary action rise and ground surface is partially saturated at 50%.
a. 134 kPa b. 150 c. 162 d. 177

35. Find the vertical effective stress at 10 depth. Assume unit weight of saturated soil and
capillary rise in (34).
a. 277.55 b. 261.18 c. 239.46 d. 205.29

SITUATION 13: Answer the following terms for the geotechnical engineering instruments.

36. This test is described as follows: The water supply at the inlet is adjusted in such a way that
the difference of head between the inlet and the outlet remains constant during the test
period.
a. Falling head b. Vane Shear c. Constant Head d. Pumping Head
 37. It is a device by which a 60 cone that is used to allow independent determination of the cone
resistance and frictional resistance of the soil above the ground.
a. Sand cone b. Pyncnometer c. Penetrometer d. Rubber balloon

38. These are pushed or driven into the soil that can be used in permeability tests.
a. Porous probes b. Permeameter c. Pump well d. Head pump

SITUATION 14: A sample of sand above the water table was found to have a natural moisture content of 15%
and a unit weight of 120 pcf. Laboratory tests on a dried sample indicated values of emin = 0.50 and
emax = 0.85 for the densest and loosest states respectively.

39. Find the void ratio.

a. 0.587 b. 0.609 c. 0.645 d. 0.788

40. Find the degree of saturation.

a. 67.7 b. 70.4 c. 77.6 d. 81.5

41. Find the density index.

a. 0.50 b. 1.00 c. 0.60 d. 0.75

SITUATION 15: For a normally consolidated clay, it has an angle of friction of 25. In a drained tri-
axial test, the specimen failed at a deviator stress of 180 kPa.

42. Compute the chamber confining pressure.

a. 176.54 kPa b. 186.17 c. 144.66 d. 122.96

43. Compute the max. stress of failure.

a. 296.96 kPa b. 302.96 c. 312.47 d. 318.39

44. Compute the shear stress at failure.

a. 88.79 kPa b. 85.29 c. 81.57 d. 80.16

SITUATION 16: A cut is a made in a stiff, saturated clay that is underlain by a layer of sand. The
saturated unit weight of clay is 19 kN/m3 and that of sand is 18 kN/m3

45. What should be the height of the water h in the cut so that the stability of the saturated
clay is not lost?
a. 1.75 m b. 1.26 c. 1.18 d. 1.09

46. What would be the total stress at A.

a. 37.33 kPa b. 34.38 c. 35.59 d. 32.74

47. What is the effective stress at B?

a. 11.71 kPa b. 15.44 c. 13.29 d. 16.38

SITUATION 17: A liquid limit test conducted on a soil sample in the cup device, gave the following
results:
Two determinations for the plastic limit gave water contents of 20.3% and 20.8%.
48. Determine the liquidity index if the natural water content is 27.4%.
a. 0.76 b. 0.57 c. 0.39 d. 0.50

49. Determine the void ratio if the sp gr is 2.70.

a. 1.03 b. 1.17 c. 1.21 d. 1.31

50. What is the characteristic of soil?

a. Brittle b. Dense c. Liquid d. Plastic