GATE CE Soil Mechanics PYQs & Answers — Page 2

Questions 11–20 of 103. Imported answers require independent review unless marked reviewed.

The standard plasticity chart for the classification of a fine-grained soil is shown in the figure. As per the Indian standard soil classification system, X represents

Diagram for Civil Engineering question 18

Your answerChoose one option.

inorganic clay with medium plasticity

inorganic silt with medium plasticity

inorganic clay with high plasticity

inorganic silt with high compressibility

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Which of the following statements is/are INCORRECT?

Your answerSelect all correct options. You can choose more than one.

As the depth of the ground water table from the ground surface increases, the effective stress in the soil decreases.

Bulking of the moist sand is due to the capillary action in the sand.

The effective stress in a liquified soil is almost zero.

The earth pressure at any point in the soil, under all conditions, is always smaller than the vertical effective stress at that point.

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From a flow-net diagram drawn under a concrete dam, following information are obtained: (i) The head difference between upstream and downstream side of the dam is 9 m. (ii) The total number of equipotential drops between upstream and downstream side of the dam is 10. (iii) The length of the field nearest to the toe of the dam in the downstream side is 1 m.

If the soil below the dam is having a saturated unit weight of 21 kN/m

and unit weight of water is 9.81 kN/m

, then the factor of safety against the quick condition will be _____ (round off to two decimal places).

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A 6 m thick clay stratum has drainage at both its top and bottom surface due to the presence of sand strata. The time to complete 50% consolidation is 2 years. The coefficient of volume change (m

) is 1.51×10

/kN and unit weight of water is 9.81 kN/m

The coefficient of permeability (in m/year) is _____ (round off to three decimal places).

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In an oedometer apparatus a specimen of fully saturated clay has been consolidated under a vertical pressure of 100 kPa and is at equilibrium state. Immediately on increasing the vertical pressure to 150 kPa, the effective stress σ′ and excess pore water pressure Δu will be

Your answerChoose one option.

σ′ = 50 kPa, Δu = 100 kPa

σ′ = 100 kPa, Δu = 50 kPa

σ′ = 150 kPa, Δu = 50 kPa

σ′ = 100 kPa, Δu = 150 kPa

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For a partially saturated soil deposit at a construction site, water content (w) is 15%, degree of saturation (S) is 67%, void ratio (e) is 0.6 and specific gravity of solids in the soil (Gₛ) is 2.67. Consider unit weight of water as 9.81 kN/m³. To fully saturate 5 m³ of this soil, the required weight of water (in kN) will be ________ (round off to the nearest integer).

Your answerChoose one option.

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In the context of shear strength of soil, which of the following statements is/are CORRECT?

Your answerSelect all correct options. You can choose more than one.

The unconfined compression test is a special case of the unconsolidated-undrained (UU) triaxial tests.

The shear strength parameters obtained from the consolidated-drained (CD) triaxial tests should be used to analyse rapid construction in clay.

Vane shear test is commonly used for determining in situ undrained strength of saturated clay soils.

In an unconsolidated-undrained (UU) triaxial tests, the angle of internal friction (ϕ) is equal to zero.

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The bank of a canal has the profile shown in the figure. The material is a homogeneous clay with a bulk unit weight of 20 kN/m³, undrained cohesion of 30 kPa and it is fully saturated (φᵤ = 0). For the trial slip circle shown, the area ABCDE is 150 m² and the centroid is at P. A tension crack (DE) of 2.5 m deep was also observed. Assume unit weight of water is 9.81 kN/m³ and consider 1 m run of the bank for the analysis.

Considering the canal is empty and tension crack is completely filled with water, the factor of safety against slope failure of the bank is _____ (round off to two decimal places).

Diagram for Civil Engineering question 55

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A clayey soil has a moisture content of 18%, a specific gravity of soil solids of 2.74, and a degree of saturation of 65%. The soil soaks up water during a rain event, and the degree of saturation increases to 85.2%. The change of the volume during the soaking is negligible. The new moisture content (in %) of the soil will be ____________________ (rounded off to 2 decimal places).

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Two soils of permeabilities k₁ and k₂ are placed in a horizontal flow apparatus, as shown in the figure. For Soil 1, L₁ = 50 cm, and k₁ = 0.055 cm/s; for Soil 2, L₂ = 30 cm, and k₂ = 0.035 cm/s. The cross sectional area of the horizontal pipe is 100 cm², and the head difference (Δh) is 150 cm. The discharge (in cm³/s) through the soils is __________ (rounded off to 2 decimal places).

Diagram for Civil Engineering question 59

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GATE CE Soil Mechanics PYQs

Question 18

Question 24

Question 31

Question 32

Question 38

Question 41

Question 47

Question 55

Question 57

Question 59