MODEL QUESTION PAPER-1

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
ETCE 210
1. Answer the following questions.
a. What are the corrections applied to raw SPT value (N) to obtain the standard (N60)
SPT value? 2
b. Name four different techniques of grouting. 1
c. Define sensitivity and Activity of soil. 2
d. A clay layer of thickness 1.5 m takes 5 years to consolidate. Calculate the time
required for the same clay layer to consolidate, if the thickness is 0.5 m. 2
e. If the unconfined compressive strength of a clayey soil is found to be 20 kPa,
compute its undrained cohesion value. Also draw the Mohr’s circle for failure
condition. 2
f. If the flow is taking place through a non-homogeneous soil deposit from zone 1 to
zone 2 having permeability values k1 and k2, respectively, obtain the relationship
between incident angle (1) and deflection angle (2) of the stream lines. 2
g. Define RQD. 1
h. Derive the following expression wGs = Se, where w = water content, Gs = specific
gravity of the soil, S = degree of saturation, and e = void ratio 2
i. How compaction is different from consolidation? 3
j. Differentiate Relative Compaction and Relative Density 2
k. Define Cu and Cc and criteria for classifying well graded sand and well graded gravel
from GSD curve 3
l. Differentiate UU, Cu and CD tests performed in tri-axial apparatus. 3

UNIT – 1

2. An oven dry soil sample of volume 300 cc weighs 450 g. If the specific gravity of solids
is 2.65, what is the water content when the soil becomes fully saturated without any
change in its volume? What will be the water content which will fully saturate the soil
sample and also cause an increase in volume equal to 15% of the original dry volume?
Use phase diagrams. 10
OR

The values of liquid limit, plastic limit and shrinkage limit of a soil were reported as
follows: wL = 65%, wp = 35%, ws = 18%. If a sample of this soil at liquid limit has a
volume of 50 cc and its volume measured at shrinkage limit was 20 cc, determine the
specific gravity of the solids. What is its shrinkage ratio? 10

3. The undisturbed soil at a borrow pit has a water content of 20%, void ratio of 0.65 and
specific gravity of solids 2.65. The soil from the borrow pit is to be used for the
construction of an embankment with a finished volume of 40,000 cum. The specifications
for the embankment require a water content of 17% and a dry unit weight of 1.78 g/cc.
calculate the quantity of soil required to be excavated from the borrow pit for the
construction of the embankment . What would be its weight? What is the weight of the
embankment soil? 15
 OR
3
An airport runway fill needs 800,000 m of soil compacted to a void ratio of 0.78. There
are two borrow pits A and B from where the required soil can be taken and transported to
the site.
Borrow pit in-situ void ratio Transportation cost
A 0.85 Rs. 12/m3
B 1.01 Rs. 10/m3
Which of the two borrow pits would be more economical?
15
UNIT – II

4. For the subsoil condition shown in the following figure; what are the effective stresses
values at 1m, 2m and 4m depths? Assume w = 10 kN/m3. Soil above the zone of
capillary saturation can be taken as dry. 15

0 m Ground Surface

-1 m Capillary Saturation
Sand Layer (Gs = 2.70; e = 0.60)
-2 m GWT

Clay layer (Gs = 2.60; wn = 45%)

-4 m

OR

A 5 m thick clay layer with double drainage settles by 100 mm in 1.5 years. The
coefficient of consolidation for this clay layer was found to be 6×10-3 cm2/sec. calculate
the likely ultimate consolidation settlement and find out how long it will take to undergo
95% of this settlement. 15

5. How would you determine (derive expressions) the average permeability (kH & kV) of a
soil deposit consisting of 3 different layers of thickness H1, H2, H3 having coefficient of
permeability values k1, k2, k3, respectively? 10

OR

Determine the seepage discharge through the foundation of an earth dam if the flow-net
has 12 equi-potential drops and 5 flow channels. The length of the dam is 350 m and the
coefficient of permeability of the foundation soil is 4.5 × 10-4 cm/sec. The level of water
above the base of the dam is 15 m on the U/S side and 2.5 m on the D/S side.
10
 UNIT – III

6. The following results were obtained from a consolidated-undrained test on normally

consolidated clay. Plot the strength envelops in terms of effective stresses and determine
the soil shear strength parameters c and '. 15

Sample no. Cell pressure Deviator stress Pore pressure

(kPa) (kPa) (kPa)
1 250 152 120
2 500 300 250
3 750 455 350

OR

The following data refers to a compaction test (Volume of mould = 1000 cc) as per BIS
light compaction:

Water content (%) 10 12 14 16 18 20

Weight of wet soil sample (kg) 1.80 1.94 2.00 2.05 2.03 1.98

If the specific gravity of soil grains was 2.65, (i) plot the compaction curve and obtain the
maximum dry unit weight and the optimum moisture content; (ii) plot the 100%
saturation (or ZAV) line; (iii) if it is proposed to secure at least a relative compaction of
95% in the field, what is the range of water content that can be allowed; (iv) would 20%
air voids curve be the same as the 80% saturation curve? 15

7. A core cutter 125 mm high and 120 mm in diameter weighs 10.80 N when empty. It is
used to determine the in situ density of a compacted soil in an embankment. The weight
of the core cutter full of compacted soil is 30.10 N. The water content of the soil is
12.2%. Determine the in situ dry unit weight and void ratio. 10

OR

A vane 108 mm long and 72 mm in diameter was pressed into soft clay at the bottom of a
bore hole. Torque was applied and the value at failure was 45 N-m. Find the shear
strength of the clay on a horizontal plane. 10

UNIT IV

8. Answer the following:

a. A sample tube has an external diameter of 102 mm and an internal diameter of 100
mm. can the samples obtained from the sampling tube can be considered as
undisturbed. 5
b. The standard penetration resistance (N) value obtained for saturated fine sand below
the water table was found to b 28. Does the value represent the true N value? Explain.
5
 OR

In a seismic survey, the following readings were obtained:

Time (sec) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55
Distance (m) 40 80 120 160 200 240 280
Geophones are placed at a spacing of 40 m in a straight line and the time taken for the
last wave to be received at each geophone is given. What is the velocity of wave in soil
layers? What is the thickness of the top stratum? 10

9. What are the relative advantages and disadvantages of SPT and CPT tests? Compare and
discuss. 5
10. What are the methods of improving the in situ soil against liquefaction? Discuss in brief.
5
11. Discuss in brief the advantages of ground improvement. 5