53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Fall 2005 Semester

The University of Iowa

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
53:030 SOIL MECHANICS
Final Examination
Fall Semester 2005
200 points

Question #1: (40 points)

A 6m vertical cut has been excavated from a dry cohesive loess soil deposit. For the
plane shown passing through the vertical cut face, estimate whether or not a shear failure
is likely. Show all of your work to receive credit.
a. Estimate the average normal stress and shear stress along the plane;
b. Based on these values, determine whether or not shear failure is likely.

4m

dry loess soil; 4m

d=15kNm-3;
c=10kPa;
=11;

before excavation
after excavation

Question #2: (40 points)

Consider the reservoir, a portion of which is shown in the diagram below.

a. In your exam booklet, draw the flow domain to scale and then draw a good, neat
flownet that satisfies all of the necessary requirements.
b. Based on your flownet and the soil properties, what is the rate of fluid seepage out of
the reservoir, per unit length in the out-of-plane direction?
c. Based on your flownet, compute the fluid pressure at a point X midway along the
base of the retention structure.
d. Based on your flownet, what is the factor of safety against liquefaction in the critical
region of the flow domain?
e. What depth of water in the reservoir would be necessary to cause liquefaction in the
critical region?

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53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Fall 2005 Semester

20m
Note: This diagram is
not drawn to scale.
6m

4m 8m
X

silty sand
16m
e=0.75; Gs=2.74;
k=2.510-5 ms-1

Question #3: (40 points)

To raise the ground level for a roadway surface, a one-kilometer long embankment whose
cross-section is shown below will be constructed out of compacted fill. The relevant
construction codes require that the fill soil (Gs=2.68) be compacted to a minimum dry
unit weight of 18 kNm-3. In the borrow pit, the loose soil has e=0.85, and w=0.10.
a. How many 100 ton truckloads of moist soil will need to be brought to the
embankment construction site from the borrow site?
b. If the target moisture content at which the soil will be compacted is w=0.13, how
much water will have to be added to each 100 ton load of the fill soil?
c. At w=0.13, what will be the estimated degree of saturation of the compacted fill?

20m 20 m 20m

compacted fill embankment 5m

soft, saturated, NC clay 4m

pervious sandy soil

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53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Fall 2005 Semester

Question #4: (40 points)

Consider the embankment of Question #3 built on a soft, saturated, normally consolidated

clay soil. The clay has the following properties: Cs=0.02; Cc=0.48; e0=0.90; Gs=2.60;
cv=1.6m2yr-1
a. Estimate the average stress increase in the clay layer beneath the center of the
embankment.
b. Calculate the ultimate consolidation settlements that will occur beneath the center of
the embankment.
c. How long will it take for 90% of this consolidation settlement to occur? (Use one
dimensional consolidation theory to answer this question.) The nondimensional time
constant for 90% consolidation is T90 = 0.848.

Question #5: (40 points)

The figure below shows a homogeneous, sandy soil deposit with a horizontal ground
surface. Before the strip load is applied, the stresses at point P are as follows: vertical
stress v=90 kPa; horizontal stress h=45kPa.
a. Compute the maximum shear stress at point P before the surface pressure is applied.
b. Using the information provided in the figure below, compute the major and minor
principal stresses at point P after the uniform strip load is applied.
c. What are the respective orientations of the principal planes at point P after the surface
pressure is applied?

5m 3m
q=30kPa

5m
q
zz = [ +sin() cos( + 2)]
P
q
xx = [ sin() cos( + 2)]

q
z xz = [sin()sin( + 2)]

x

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53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Solution Fall 2005 Semester

The University of Iowa

Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
53:030 SOIL MECHANICS
Final Examination Solution
Fall Semester 2005
200 points

Question #1 Solution:

A free-body diagram of the potentially unstable portion of the cut is shown below:
2
W=*V=15kNm-3*8m3 120 kN *
2
n = N / A = = 15 kPa
W
( )
= 120 kN
T N=Wcos(45)=84.85 kN 4 m * 2 *1m
T=Wsin(45)=84.85 kN 2
N 120 kN *
2
=T / A= = 15 kPa
(
4 m * 2 *1m )
max = c + n tan ( ) = 10 kPa + 15 kPa * tan (11o )
= 12.92kPa
Since the actual average shear stress on the plane exceeds the average shear
strength of the soil on the plane, shear failure is highly likely.

Question #2 Solution:

a. A proper flownet on the domain drawn to scale is shown in the figure below.
b. The flownet has Nf=7 and Nd=17. The overall flow rate beneath the structure is:
Nf 7
q = kH = 2.5 10 5 m s 1 * 6m * = 6.2 10 5 m 3 / s / m
Nd 17
c. Taking the mudline at the reference datum, the head at the upstream mudline is 6m,
and the head at the downstream mudline is 0m. The headloss between any two
adjacent equipotentials is thus:
H 6m
h = = = 0.353m
N d 17
The head at point X is: h X = 6m 6.5h = 6m 6.5 * (0.353m) = 4.21m
The fluid pressure at X can be obtained from the head as follows:
p X = w (h X (hz ) X ) = 9.81kN m 3 * (4.21m (6m) ) = 100.16kPa
d. In the critical region, the flow is almost straight upward, and the approximate upward
hydraulic gradient in that region is as follows:
n d h 12 (4 + 7) ) * 0.353m
iave = = = 0.243
D 8m

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53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Solution Fall 2005 Semester

The critical hydraulic gradient for these soil properties is:

G 1 1.74
icr = b = s = = 0.994
w 1 + e 1.75
Therefore the factor of safety against liquefaction in the critical region is:
i 0.994
FS = cr = = 4 .1
iave 0.243
e. The required depth of water in the reservoir H crit to cause liquefaction in the critical
region can be computed as follows:
H
nd crit
n (h )crit Nd
icr = 0.994 = iave = d =
D D
N 17
Solving for H crit yields: H crit = iave * D * d = 0.994 * 8m * = 24.6m
nd 5 .5

Question #3 Solution:

a) Vembankment=2*(20m*5m)*1000m
= 200,000 m3
Wembankment= embankment*Vembankment = d*(1+w)*200,000m3
= 18kNm-3*(1.10)*200,000m3 =3.96*106kN
Note: 1 ton = 1000kg*9.81m/s2 = 9.81kN, so
100 tons = 981kN
No. truckloads = 3.96*106kN /(981kN/load)
= 4,037 truckloads
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53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Solution Fall 2005 Semester

b) In 981 kN of soil (1 truckload), the weight of solids is:

Ws=W/(1+w)=981kN/1.10=891.82kN
At w=0.10, the corresponding weight of moisture is:
Ww=w*Ws=0.10*891.82kN=89.182kN
If the moisture content of the soil were raised to w=0.13, then the
moisture weight corresponding to 891.82kN of dry soil would be:
Ww=w*Ws=0.13*891.82kN=115.94kN.
The increase in water weight is: 115.94kN-89.182kN=26.75kN
So, 26.75kN should be added to each 981kN truckload of soil to raise
the moisture content to w=0.13.
c)
In the compacted fill, the dry unit weight of the soil is 18kN/m3. The corresponding
void ratio of the soil is:

Gs w
2.68 * 9.81kN m 3
e= 1 = 1 = 0.4606
d 18kN m 3
wG s 0.13 * 2.68
S= = = 0.756 = 75.6%
e 0.4606

Question #4 Solution:

a) The moist unit weight of the compacted fill is:

=d*(1+w)= 18kNm-3*(1.10)=19.8 kNm-3
The corresponding stress increase beneath the center of the embankment will be
simply: v = h = 19.8kN m 3 * 5m = 99kPa.
b)
The consolidation settlements beneath the center of the embankment:

At the center of the clay layer, before the embankment is constructed:

( v )o ' = 2m( b )clay = 2m * w (Gs 1) = 2m * 9.81kN m * (2.60 1)

3

1+ e 1.0 + 0.90
= 16.52 kPa

After the embankment is constructed and the clay soil fully consolidates:

( v ) f ' = ( v )o '+ v = 16.52 kPa +

= 16.52 kPa + 99 kPa
= 115.52 kPa

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53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Solution Fall 2005 Semester

Since the soil is normally consolidated,

Ho Ho ( v ) f ' 4m 115.52
Sc = e = Cc log =
* 0.48 * log
1 + eo 1 + eo ( v )o ' 1.90 16.52
= 0.85m
c)
0.848 * (H dr ) 0.848 * (2m )
2 2
t 90 = = = 2.12 yrs
cv 1.6m 2 yr 1

Question #5 Solution:

1 ' = v ' = 90kPa

a)
3 ' = h ' = 45kPa
The resulting effective stress Mohrs Circle has a center at
c = 12 (90 + 45) = 67.5kPa , and a radius of r = 12 ( 1 ' 3 ') = 22.5kPa
max = r = 22.5kPa.

b)
3m 1 8m
= tan 1 = 0.5404 radians; + = tan = 1.0122 radians
5m 5m
= + = 0.4718 radians
30kPa
zz = [0.4718 + sin(0.4718) cos(0.4718 + 2 * 0.5404)] = 4.584 kPa

30kPa
xx = [0.4718 sin(0.4718) cos(0.4718 + 2 * 0.5404)] = 4.426 kPa

30kPa
xz = [sin(0.4718) sin(0.4718 + 2 * 0.5404)] = 4.339 kPa

zz = 90kPa + 4.584kPa = 94.58kPa
xx = 45kPa + 4.426kPa = 49.43kPa
xz = 4.34 kPa
1/ 2
zz xx 2
c = 12 ( zz + xx ) = 72.0kPa; r = + xz
2
= 22.99kPa
2
1 = c + r = 94.99kPa; 3 = c r = 49.01kPa;

c) Determination of the principal planes:

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 53:030 Soil Mechanics Final Exam Solution Fall 2005 Semester

The strip load does not change the stresses at point X appreciably, so we can expect that
the major principal plane will be close to horizontal, and the minor principal plane will be
close to vertical.

Nevertheless, a precise quantification of the principal plane angles should be carried out,
using the Pole Method as follows:

zz ' = 94.58kPa
4.34
xz = 4.34kPa 2 = tan 1 = 10.88
o

94.58 72.0
= 5.44 o

A xx '= 49.48kPa

(49.48,4.34)
the major princ. plane makes angle
=5.44 ccw wrt horizontal; 2
P
the minor princ. plane make angle =5.44 (94.58.-4.34)
ccw wrt vertical

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