Soil Mechanics And Foundation Engineering Objective Questions – Set 1

Soil Mechanics And Foundation Engineering Objective Questions – Set 1 (Part – A)

Let’s start to solve the Soil Mechanics And Foundation Engineering Objective Questions – Set 1

Q1. The liquid limit of a soil mass is 20% and its plastic limit is 25%, then the plastic index of this soil is

  • (a) 5
  • (b) -5
  • (c) 0
  • (d) none of these

Answer – (c)

Q2. For a saturated clay of bulk density of 2 gm/cc, and moisture content of 30%. The void ratio is given by

  • (a) 0.462
  • (b) 0.875
  • (c) 1.462
  • (d) 1.857

Answer – (b)

Q3. The capillary tension in a soil mass having a void ratio of 0.70 and effective grain size of 0.1 mm will be 

  • (a) 3.38 kN/m2
  • (b) 2.38 kN/m2
  • (c) 4.02 kN/m2
  • (d) none of these

Answer – (b)

Q4. In a saturated soil deposit having a density of 22 kN/m³, the effective normal stress on a horizontal plane at 5 m depth will be

  • (a) 22 kN/m2
  • (b) 50 kN/m2
  • (c) 60 kN/m2
  • (d) 110 kN/m2

Answer – (c)

Q5. In a compaction test, with increase in compactive effort

  • (a) both maximum dry density and optimum moisture content increases
  • (b) both maximum dry density and optimum moisture content decrease
  • (c) maximum dry density increases but optimum moisture content decreases
  • (d) maximum dry density decreases but optimum moisture content increases

Answer – (c)

Q6. In an unconfined compression test on a saturated clay, the undrained shear strength was found to be 10 t/m2. If a sample of the same soil is tested on an undrained condition in triaxial compression at a cell pressure of 20 t/m2  then the major principal stress at failure will be 

  • (a) 48 t/m2
  • (b) 32 t/m2
  • (c) 40 t/m2
  • (d) 12 t/m2

Answer – (C)

Q7. For a clay of height 10 m, stability number is 0.05, bulk density is 20 kN/mcohesion is 25 kN/m then critical height of the slope in this soil is 

  • (a) 4.0 m
  • (b) 12.5 m
  • (c) 25.0 m
  • (d) 15.0 m

Answer – (c)

Q8. A rectangular footing 1 m x 2 m is placed at a depth 2 m in a saturated clay having an unconfined compressive strength of 100 kN/m2. According to Skempton, net ultimate bearing capacity is

  • (a) 420 kN/m2
  • (b) 412.5 kN/m2
  • (c) 385 kN/m2
  • (d) 350 kN/m2

Answer – (c)

Q 9. Contact pressure beneath a rigid footing resting on a cohesive soil is

  • (a) less at edges compared to the middle
  • (b) more at edges compared to the middle
  • (c) uniform throughout
  • (d) none of these

Answer – (b)

Q10. A saturated clay layer with single drainage face takes 4 years to attain 50% degree of consolidation. If clay layer had double drainage, then time to attain 50% of degree of consolidation is 

  • (a) 8 year
  • (b) 4 year
  • (c) 2 year
  • (d) 1 year

Answer – (d)

Soil Mechanics And Foundation Engineering Objective Questions – Set 1 (Part – B)

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Q11. The residual factor is important in the investigation of slopes. If peak, residual and in situ shear strength of clay are 1.0 kg/cmand 0.6 kg/cm2, residual factor of the clay will be

  • (a) 1.5
  • (b) 0.67
  • (c) 0.60
  • (d) 0.40

Answer – (b)

Q12. A given soil sample have the following grain size analysis

< 2.00 mm – 80%

< 0.66 mm – 60%

< 0.075 mm – 30%

< 0.005 mm – 10%

< 0.002 mm – 2%

The soil is 

  • (a) skip graded
  • (b) uniformly graded
  • (c) well graded
  • (d) average graded

Answer – (c) 

Q13. Soil are arranged in face to face orientation, this type of soil structure is 

  • (a) dispersed
  • (b) cohesive matrix
  • (c) honeycomb
  • (d) flocculent

Answer – (a)

Q14. The correct order of capillary rise in increase order in different types of soils is

  • (a) fine sand, clay, silt, colloids
  • (b) silt, fine sand, clay, colloids
  • (c) fine sand, clay, colloids, silt
  • (d) fine sand, silt, clay, colloids

Answer – (a)

Q15. If ratio of specific yield to specific retention of an aquifer with porosity 50% is 1.5, the specific yield from it is 

  • (a) 20%
  • (b) 37.5%
  • (c) 30%
  • (d) 25%

Answer – (a)

Q 16. A concentrated load acting on the surface of a soil produces a stress 10 kPa at a depth of 1m below. The stress at 2m depth will be what when Boussinwsq’s expression is to be taken?

  • (a) 3 KPa
  • (b) 5 KPa
  • (c) 6 KPa
  • (d) 8 KPa

Answer – (b)

Q17. Ten concentric circles with 10 radial lines are present in a particular stress distribution. When Newmark’s influence chart is to be used, what will be the influence factor of a chart?

  • (a) 0.01
  • (b) 0.1
  • (c) 0.0001
  • (d) 0.001

Answer – (d)

Q18. The change in the verticle stress in the soil mass estimated by Boussinesq’s equation when Poisson’s ratio of soil changes from 0.3 to 0.5 will be

  • (a) reduction by 30%
  • (b) increase by 50%
  • (c) reduction by 20%
  • (d) no change

Answer – (d)

Q19. Pile caps are used on a group of piles to

  • (a) increase the load bearing capacity of each pile.
  • (b) protect the piles from lateral displacement.
  • (c) protect in case of offshore structure.
  • (d) spread the horizontal and verticle loads to all the piles.

Answer – (d)

Q20. The installation of sand drains in the clayey soil causes the soil adjacent to the sand drains to undergo which one of the following?

  • (a) Increase in porosity
  • (b) Increase in compressibility
  • (c) Decrease in horizontal permeability
  • (d) Decrease in shear strength

Answer – (c)