REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON

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MINISTERE DES TRAVAUX PUBLIC MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS

Ecole Nationale Supérieure

des Travaux Publics
National Advanced School of Public Works
DEPARTEMENT DE GENIE CIVIL DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Geotechnics (First Part) – 1st tentative exam Student CODE:

A.Y. 2017-2018 ................................................................
Dr. Eng. Alberto Bisson MARKS:

Date: 30/04/2018 (Available time: 3h) ................................................................

CORRECTION TABLE (total marks for 1st part = 45 points max)

Correct answer = 2.25 pt; No answer = 0.00 pt; Wrong answer = -0.50 pt.
Please fill this table with your definitive answers.

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 Q19 Q20
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please fill the table above with the correct answer. In addition, you need to justify your
answers in the “Answer sheet”; without full computation steps, you may lose the related points.

LESSON 1
A sieve analysis of a 500 g dry coarse-grained material sample gives the gradation curve of Figure 1. Which statement is
Q1:
true?
A  The uniformity coefficient Cu is about 4.5.
B  Fine particles (silt and clays) are prevalent in the sample.
C  The mean size is 3.5 mm.
Q2: Fine grained soils:
A  Have much larger surface areas than coarse-grained soils and this cause physical/mechanical differences.
B  Have much smaller surface areas than coarse-grained soils and this cause physical/mechanical differences.
C  Are not dependent on mineralogical factors in their engineering behavior.
A container of volume 2.83 x 10-3 m3 weighs 9.8 N. Dry sand was poured to fill the container. The container and the sand
Q3:
weigh 52.3 N. Assume Gs=2.7 if needed. The dry unit weight is:
A  γd=18.4 kN/m3.
B  γd=15.0 kN/m3.
C  You cannot compute the dry unit weight because some data is missing.
If the volume of voids is equal to the volume of solids in a soil mass, then the values of porosity and void ratio respectively
Q4:
are:
A  1.0 and 0.5.
B  0.0 and 1.0.
C  0.5 and 1.0.
Q5: In a Casagrande’s cup test, the liquid and plastic limit are 38% and 20.6%, respectively. The plasticity index is:
A  17.4%.
B  58.6%.
C  You cannot compute the void ratio because some data is missing.

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 LESSON 2
A soil deposit consists of three horizontal layers of soil 4 m thick each, with permeability k1=2x10-4 mm/s, k2=4x10-5 mm/s,
Q6:
k3=2x10-5 mm/s, respectively. The equivalent vertical permeability is:
A  keq=8.6x10-5 mm/s.
B  keq=3.1x10-6 mm/s.
C  keq=3.75x10-5 mm/s.
The flownet for an earthen dam with 30 m water depth consists of 25 potential drops and 5 flow channels. The coefficient
Q7:
of permeability of dam material is 0.03 mm/s. The discharge per meter length of dam is:
A  0.00018 m3/s.
B  0.0045 m3/s.
C  0.18 m3/s.
Q8: An unconfined aquifer is a layer of soil:
 Confined below and above by less permeable soils and having a pore water pressure sufficient high that, whether a
A
piezometer is infixed in the aquifer, the water could rise above the overlaying stratum.
B  Confined only below by less permeable soil and with a groundwater table in equilibrium with the atmospheric pressure.
C  Confined only below by less permeable soil and with a perfectly horizontal groundwater table.
Q9: If a flow net is given:
A  The maximum hydraulic gradient where is the maximum length of squares within the flow domain.
B  Seepage flow cannot occur across flow lines.
C  An equipotential line cannot intersect a flow line.
Q10: In a constant head permeability test:
A  The permeability k is a function of the time needed to reduce the height of water into the piezometer.
B  You can compute the permeability k from the measurement of the quantity of seepage.
C  The same total heads are applied to both the ends of a soil sample.

LESSON 3
In a site there is a homogeneous layer of soil with γsat = 20 kN/m3 without a lower limit. The water is located 2 m above
Q11: ground level (GL). The vertical total stress, water pore pressure and effective vertical stress at a point Q, 7m-deep below
the GL are respectively (assuming γw =10 kN/m3):
A  σv = 140 kPa, u = 50 kPa, σ’v = 90 kPa.
B  σv = 160 kPa, u = 90 kPa, σ’v = 70 kPa.
C  σv = 140 kPa, u = 90 kPa, σ’v = 230 kPa.
Refer to the soil profile of Figure 2, where a layer of clay is located between two layers of sand. The upper sand is interested
Q12: by an unconfined aquifer with water table (WT) at 1 m above the ground level; the lower sand presents a confined aquifer
with potenziometric surface 3.6 m below the GL. The hydraulic gradient between points A and B is:
A  i = 4.6 m/4.0 m = 1.15 with the water seepage towards the lower sand.
B  i = 1.0 m/4.0 m = 0.25 with the water seepage towards the upper sand.
C  i = 4.6 m/4.0 m = 1.15 with the water seepage towards the upper sand.
Consider the trench of Figure 3, cut in a soil having sat=19 kN/m3. Due to the seepage the vertical effective stress in point
Q13:
A, 4m-deep below the datum, is:
A  'vA = 18 kPa.
B  'vA = 36 kPa.
C  'vA = 54 kPa.
Q14: To be in safe condition against a sand boiling phenomenon, the local hydraulic gradient of a seepage has to be:
A  Greater than the critical hydraulic gradient.
B  Equal to the critical hydraulic gradient.
C  Smaller than the critical hydraulic gradient.
Q15: Whether a river bank is affected by piping problems, it is possible to mitigate the phenomenon by:
A  Reducing the base of the embankment.
B  Excavating a large well on the downstream side of the embankment.
C  Embedding a horizontal filter at the toe of the embankment.

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 LESSON 4
Q16: Within the consolidation process of a saturated clay:
 A gradual increase in neutral pressure and a gradual decrease in effective pressure take place while the sum of two
A
quantities remains constant.
 A gradual decrease in neutral pressure and a gradual increase in effective pressure take place while the sum of two
B
quantities remains constant.
C  Both neutral pressure and effective pressure increase.
Q17: In Terzaghi’s consolidation theory the time factor for a clay layer is:
A  A dimensional parameter related to the time of consolidation.
B  Directly proportional to the permeability of soil.
C  Inversely proportional to the drainage path.
A layer of normally consolidated clay settled 10 mm when the effective stress was increased from 100 kPa to 200 kPa. If
Q18:
the effective stress is further increased from 200 kPa to 400 kPa, then the settlement of the same layer is:
A  10 mm.
B  20 mm.
C  40 mm.
An oedometer sample has an initial height equal to 20 mm. During the load step from 50kPa to 100 kPa, the vertical
Q19:
settlement increases from 1.2 mm to 1.7 mm. The oedometric or confined modulus M is equal to:
A  2000 kPa.
B  5·10-4 kPa-1.
C  100 kPa.
Two layers A and B are constituted by the same soil (having the same Cv) and have the same thickness. The layer B can
Q20: drain towards both the upper and lower strata, while at the base of layer A there is an impermeable rock. The consolidation
times tcA and tcB of the two layers are:
A  tcA = 2tcB.
B  tcA = 4tcB.
C  tcA = tcB/2.

Figure 2. Soil stratigraphy

for question Q12.

Figure 1. Gradation
curve (refer to Q1).

Figure 3. Trench geometry

for question Q13.

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