JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

Part A
1.

2.

3.

What is significant depth?

Significant depth may be defined as the depth of the stress isobar that encloses a soil mass which
is responsible for the settlement of the structure. Terzaghi recommended that for all practical
purposes one can take a stress contour which represents 20 per cent of the foundation contact
pressure q, i.e, equal to 0.2q. The depth of such an isobar can be taken as the significant depth
Ds which represents the seat of settlement for the foundation.
What is detailed exploration?
Detailed exploration may be defined as an in depth investigation of the site soil condition,
specifically performed to fill in missing data and problems that are found in earlier investigations.
What is spread footing?
A spread footing or an isolated footing is a spread given beneath an isolated column for safely
transferring the load to the ground

4.

Sketch the pressure distribution beneath a rigid footing on cohesive soil.

5.

What is safe bearing capacity?

Net Safe bearing capacity (qns) is the maximum net intensity of loading which the foundation can
withstand without the risk of shear failure
qns = qnu / F
Gross safe bearing capacity (qs) is the maximum gross intensity of loading which the foundation
can withstand without the risk of shear failure
qs = (qnu/F) + Df
What is gross pressure intensity?
Gross pressure or gross loading intensity (qg) total pressure due to weight of superstructure,
self weight of footing and soil backfill
What is friction pile?
Friction piles are piles that support the oncoming load through the friction developed between
the pile surface and the surrounding soil

6.

7.

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

8.

9.

10.

Nov/Dec 2009

On what basis, is the allowable load on pile determined?

The allowable pile load on a single pile is the least of the following
(i)
2/3rd of the final load at which the total displacement attains 12 mm unless specified
otherwise
(ii)
50% of the final load at which the total displacement equals 10% of the pile diameter
in case of uniform piles and 7.5% the bulb diameter in case of under-reamed piles
What is surcharge?
The extra load carried by a retaining structure is called as surcharge. It may be a uniform load, a
line load or a isolated load.

What is failure wedge?

The wedge or chunk of soil that slides or moves along the plane of failure is called as a failure
wedge.

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

Part B
11.
(a)
The following table gives the list of techniques that are available for use in clays and sands and
needs to be explained as per requirement.
Sampling Technique
Chunk Sampling

Applicability
Highest quality undisturbed samples in
cohesive and cohesionless soils
Thin walled tube samplers
Undisturbed samples in cohesive and
cohesionless soils without gravel particles
Piston samplers (fixed piston and hydraulic Undisturbed samples in cohesive and
piston)
cohesionless soils
Pitcher sampler
Undisturbed samples in cohesive soils and
sands with cementation
Open Drive samplers under compressed air
Sand sampling
Impregnation technique
Sand sampling
Freezing technique
Sand sampling
Core catchers
Sand sampling
11.
(b)
Electrical Resistivity Method Principle
o Based on the fact that different materials offer different resistances to the
passage of electricity
o Resistivity depends upon
Water content
Voids ratio
Particle size
Temperature
Stratification
Equipments
o 4 electrodes
o Potentiometer
o Multimeter
o Battery
Method
o Electricity is passed into the ground through the end electrodes
o The potential difference is measured between the inner electrodes
o The spacing is changed and the procedure is repeated
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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

o

Nov/Dec 2009

Marked change in potential indicates presence of layers of different resistivity

o
Advantages
o Can detect sea water intrusion, organic deposits, aquifers, ore bodies
o Can differentiate pervious alluvium from clay
Limitations
o Wide range and overlapping of resistances make interpretation difficult
o Readings are easily affected by surface anomalies
12.
(a)

Terzaghis bearing capacity theory (1943) is an improvement upon earlier analyses done
by Prantl(1921) and Reissner (1924) considering the case of rough foundation bases
resting on soil mass possessing weight
He developed a general bearing capacity equation for a uniformly loaded strip footing
The chief features and assumptions of his theory were
L/B raio is large and hence plane strain condition is assumed
The base of the footing is laid at a shallow depth
The shearing resistance of soil between the surface and depth of footing D f is
neglected
The footing is considered as a surface footing with uniorm surcharge equal to
Df at the level of the base of the footing
General shear failure takes place and the soil volume is unchanged prior to
failure
The shear strength of the soil is governed by Mohr-coulomb equation

Zone I (Zone of elastic equilibrium)

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

The base of the footing being rough, when the footing sinks into the soil, a
certain portion of the soil immediately below the footing is prevented from
undergoing any lateral movement by friction and adhesion between the base of
the footing and the soil. This wedge of soil, called Zone I is in a state of elastic
equilibrium
Zone II (Zone of radial shear)
At failure the vertical downward movement of the soil wedge pushes the soil on
either side of the wedge and transforms it into a state of plastic equilibrium
One set of radial shear planes radiate from the edge of the footing in this zone
The curved lower boundary of this zone has the shape of logarithmic spiral
Zone III (Rankines zone of passive linear shear)
This zone has two sets of shear planes inclined at an angle of (45 /2) to the
horizontal
The bottom sides of the elastic wedge rise at angle of and the curved failure
planes are assumed to be vertical at d
The failure planes do not extend beyond the base of the footing and it is basically
because of this assumption the theory is valid only for shallow foundations

At failure the downward forces due to self weight of wedge and load transmitted by
footing should be equal to the upward passive resistances of the soil

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

The resulting passive resistance is taken as the sum of the three components Pp, Ppc and
Ppq

The final Terzaghis bearing capacity equation is given by

In the Terzaghis BC equation, Nc, Nq and N are dimensionless factors called Terzaghis
bearing capacity factors depending only upon the angle of shearing resistance

For saturated clay at the end of construction u may be taken as zero for which Nc= 5.7;
Nq=1; N = 0
The equation reduces to qu = 5.7cu + q
For local shear failure Terzaghi gave a modification to his equation as the failure surface
is not fully developed
cm = (2/3)c and tan m = (2/3) tan m and Nc Nqand N are the BC factors for local
shear failure
When u >= 36o, GSF is said to occur and when u <=28o, LSF is said to occur and for
values in between failure has both characteristics

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Terzaghis derived his equation considering a strip footing and hence he gave
modifications for square, circular and rectangular footing as follows

Equipment
Test Plate
Loading Frame
Dial Gauges
Datum bar
Hydraulic Jack
Test Plate
Size range 30 to 75 cm, square
Smaller size for stiff or dense soil and larger size for soft or loose soil
Thickness not less than 25 mm
Edges and sides machined; bottom grooved for roughness
Side of test plate Bp

Nov/Dec 2009

12.
(b)

Test Pit
Size 5 times Bp, square
Small hole in centre to fit the size of the test plate
Thin layer of sand of thickness 5mm used as beding
Depth of hole (Dp) should be such that Dp/Bp = D/B

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

Loading in plate load test is done by two methods

Gravity loading
Reaction loading
Gravity Loading Frame
Vertical column supported on test plate
Platform constructed on vertical column
Platform consists of main girder, cross girders and timber planks
Loading is done by sand bags, stones or concrete blocks
Settlement is measured by two sensitive dial gauges, mounted independently
on datum bar
Load is indicated in the load gauge of the hydraulic jack

Reaction loading Frame

Reaction truss made of mild steel sections
Guy ropes are used for lateral stability
Truss is held to the ground by soil anchors
Loading is through reaction of the truss borne by the jack

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

Test Procedure
Plate is firmly seated in the hole
Seating load of 70 g/cm2 is applied
Load is applied through a hydraulic jack in steps of one fifth of the expected safe
bearing capacity or one tenth of expected ultimate bearing capacity
Settlement is observed by two diametrically opposite dial gauges
Sensitivity of dial gauges - 0.02mm
Settlement is observed for every 1, 2.25, 4, 6.25, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 60 minutes
and thereafter every one hour till the rate of settlement reduces to less than
0.025mm/min
After this the next load increment is applied
The maximum load applied corresponds to 1.5 times of ultimate load or 3 times
the proposed safe bearing pressure
If water table is above the depth of foundation, it should be lowered by
pumping out
Graph is plotted between load and settlement
The breaking point in load settlement curve is used to find the ultimate load
If it does not show any marked break, then failure may be assumed as load
corresponding to settlement 1/5th of the width of the foundation

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

sf = sp x [Bf(Bp + 0.3)/Bp(Bf + 0.3)]2

Where,
sp
= Settlement of plate
sf
= Settlement of foundation
Bp
= Width of plate
Bf
= Width of foundation
Limitations
Size effect bearing capacity increases with increase in size of foundations for
cohesionless soils
Time effect for cohesive soils the settlement during test never reaches 100
percent
Reaction load it is impracticable to provide reaction load more than 250 kN
Failure load cannot be defined except in general shear failure
Layers stress strain relation extrapolation is satisfactory only for homogeneous
soils
13.
(a)
Rectangular Combined Footing

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

13.
(b)
Trapezoidal Combined Footing

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

14.
(a)

Given data:
P = 30 kN ; e = 0.5 ; s = 1.4cm ; W = 40 kN ; h = 0.8 ; C = 1.8 cm ; FoS = 2
P x e = 30 x 0.85
= 7.5 kN
Hence W > Pe

= (W + Pe2)/(W + P)
= (40 + 30 x 0.252) / (40 + 30)
= 0.598
Qu
= (W x h x )/ (S + C/2)
= (40 x [0.8 x 100] x 0.598)/ (1.4 + 1.8/2)\
= 832 kN
Qs
= Qu/FoS
= 832 / 2
= 416 kN
14.
(b)

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

15.
(a)

Coulombs Wedge Theory considers the equilibrium of the whole wedge of soil that
tends to slip on failure.
In case of active state, the wedge moves downwards and outwards, whereas in case of
passive state the wedge moves upwards and inwards.
The following are the assumptions in Coulombs wedge theory:
The backfill is dry, cohesionless, isotropic and elastically undeformable but
breakable
The slip surface is plane that passes through the heel of the wall.
The sliding wedge itself acts as a rigid body and earth pressure is obtained by
considering the limiting equilibrium of the whole wedge.
The position and direction of the resultant earth pressure are known.
The back of the wall is rough & relative movement of the wall and the soil on
the back takes place which develops frictional forces that influence the direction
of the resultant pressure.
The forces acting on the wedge are
The weight of the wedge, W
The reaction R, on the plane of sliding
Active thrust, Pa, against the wall
For condition of the yield of the wall from the backfill, the critical slip surface is that for
which the wall pressure is maximum.

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

Using the above said condition it can be shown that ABC = BCE
Thus, the criterion for maximum active pressure, the slip plane is so chosen that area of
ABC = area of BCE

Rankines theory was originally proposed for cohesionless soils only, but later extended
to include cohesive soils by Resal (1910) and by Bell (1915)
The following are the assumptions in Rankines theory
Soil mass is semi-infinite, homogeneous, dry and cohesionless
Ground surface is plane which may be horizontal or inclined
Rankines theory was originally proposed for cohesionless soils only, but later extended
to include cohesive soils by Resal (1910) and by Bell (1915)
The following are the assumptions in Rankines theory
Soil mass is semi-infinite, homogeneous, dry and cohesionless
Ground surface is plane which may be horizontal or inclined
The back of the wall is vertical and smooth
The wall yields about the base and thus satisfies the condition of plastic
equilibrium
Rankines active earth pressure for cohesionless soils for different fill conditions are as
follows:

15.
(b)

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JIOTEC Solved AU Question Papers Series Foundation Engineering

Nov/Dec 2009

Jijo James, Asst. Professor, Civil Engineering www.jiotec.blogspot.in