GATE 2018

Set 1

1. The percent reduction in the bearing capacity of a strip footing resting on sand under
flooding condition (water level at the base of the footing) when compared to the situation
where the water level is at a depth much greater than the width of footing, is approximately

(A) 0 (B) 25 (C) 50 (D) 100

2. The width of a square footing and the diameter of a circular footing are equal. If both the
footings are placed on the surface of sandy soil, the ratio of the ultimate bearing capacity of
circular footing to that of square footing will be

(A) 4/3 (B) 1 (C) 3/4 (D) 2/3

3. In a shrinkage limit test, the volume and mass of a dry soil pat are found to be 50 cm3 and 88
g, respectively. The specific gravity of the soil solids is 2.71 and the density of water is 1
g/cc. The shrinkage limit (in %, up to two decimal places) is ______

4. A core cutter of 130 mm height has inner and outer diameters of 100 mm and 106 mm,
respectively. The area ratio of the core cutter (in %, up to two decimal places) is ______

5. At a construction site, a contractor plans to make an excavation as shown in the figure.

The water level in the adjacent river is at an elevation of +20.0 m. Unit weight of water is 10
kN/m3. The factor of safety (up to two decimal places) against sand boiling for the proposed
excavation is ______

6. A conventional drained triaxial compression test was conducted on a normally consolidated

clay sample under an effective confining pressure of 200 kPa. The deviator stress at failure
was found to be 400 kPa. An identical specimen of the same clay sample is isotropically
consolidated to a confining pressure of 200 kPa and subjected to standard undrained triaxial
compression test. If the deviator stress at failure is 150 kPa, the pore pressure developed (in
kPa, up to one decimal place) is ______
7. The void ratio of a soil is 0.55 at an effective normal stress of 140 kPa. The compression
index of the soil is 0.25. In order to reduce the void ratio to 0.4, an increase in the magnitude
of effective normal stress (in kPa, up to one decimal place) should be ______

8. A rigid smooth retaining wall of height 7 m with vertical backface retains saturated clay as
backfill. The saturated unit weight and undrained cohesion of the backfill are 17.2 kN/m3
and 20 kPa, respectively. The difference in the active lateral forces on the wall (in kN per
meter length of wall, up to two decimal places), before and after the occurrence of tension
cracks is ______

GATE 2018
Set 2

9. The contact pressure and settlement distribution for a footing are shown in the figure.

The figure corresponds to a

(A) rigid footing on granular soil
(B) flexible footing on granular soil
(C) flexible footing on saturated clay
(D) rigid footing on cohesive soil

10. Which one of the following statements is NOT correct?

(A) When the water content of soil lies between its liquid limit and plastic limit, the soil is
said to be in plastic state.
(B) Boussinesq’s theory is used for the analysis of stratified soil.
(C) The inclination of stable slope in cohesive soil can be greater than its angle of internal
friction.
(D) For saturated dense fine sand, after applying overburden correction, if the Standard
Penetration Test value exceeds 15, dilatancy correction is to be applied.

11. The clay mineral, whose structural units are held together by potassium bond is

(A) Halloysite (B) Illite (C) Kaolinite (D) Smectite

12. A 3 m high vertical earth retaining wall retains a dry granular backfill with angle of internal
friction of 30° and unit weight of 20 kN/m3 If the wall is prevented from yielding (no
movement), the total horizontal thrust (in kN per unit length) on the wall is

(A) 0 (B) 30 (C) 45 (D) 270

13. Three soil specimens (Soil 1, Soil 2 and Soil 3), each 150 mm long and 100 mm diameter, are
placed in series in a constant head flow set-up as shown in the figure. Suitable screens are
provided at the boundaries of the specimens to keep them intact. The values of coefficient of
permeability of Soil 1, Soil 2 and Soil 3 are 0.01, 0.003 and 0.03 cm/s, respectively.

The value of h in the set-up is

(A) 0 mm (B) 40 mm (C) 255 mm (D) 560 mm

14. The total horizontal and vertical stresses at a point X in a saturated sandy medium are 170
kPa and 300 kPa, respectively. The static pore-water pressure is 30 kPa. At failure, the excess
pore-water pressure is measured to be 94.50 kPa, and the shear stresses on the vertical and
horizontal planes passing through the point X are zero. Effective cohesion is 0 kPa and
effective angle of internal friction is 36 degree. The shear strength (in kPa, up to two decimal
places) at point X is ______

15. A group of nine piles in a 3 × 3 square pattern is embedded in a soil strata comprising dense
sand underlying recently filled clay layer, as shown in the figure. The perimeter of an
individual pile is 126 cm. The size of pile group is 240 cm × 240 cm. The recently filled clay
has undrained shear strength of 15 kPa and unit weight of 16 kN/m3

The negative frictional load (in kN, up to two decimal places) acting on the pile group is ____
 GATE 2016
Set 1
16. In the consolidated undrained triaxial test on a saturated soil sample, the pore water
pressure is zero
(A) during shearing stage only
(B) at the end of consolidation stage only
(C) both at the end of consolidation and during shearing stages
(D) under none of the above conditions

17. A fine grained soil is found to be plastic in the water content range of 26-48%. As per
Indian Standard Classification System, the soil is classified as
(A) CL (B) CH (C) CL-ML (D) CI

18. A vertical cut is to be made in a soil mass having cohesion c, angle of internal friction φ, and
unit weight γ. Considering Ka and Kp as the coefficients of active and passive earth
pressures, respectively, the maximum depth of unsupported excavation is

19. The porosity (n) and the degree of saturation (S) of a soil sample are 0.7 and 40%,
respectively. In a 100m3 volume of the soil, the volume (expressed in m3 ) of air is ___

20. A homogeneous gravity retaining wall supporting a cohesionless backfill is shown in the
figure. The lateral active earth pressure at the bottom of the wall is 40 kPa.

The minimum weight of the wall (expressed in kN per m length) required to prevent it from
overturning about its toe (Point P) is

(A) 120 (B) 180 (C) 240 (D) 360

21. An undisturbed soil sample was taken from the middle of a clay layer (i.e., 1.5 m below GL),
as shown in figure. The water table was at the top of clay layer. Laboratory test results are as
follows:

Natural water content of clay : 25%

Pre consolidation pressure of clay : 60 kPa

Compression index of clay : 0.50

Recompression index of clay : 0.05

Specific gravity of clay : 2.70

Bulk unit weight of sand : 17 kN/m3

A compacted fill of 2.5 m height with unit weight of 20kN/m3 is placed at the ground level.
Assuming unit weight of water as10 kN/m3, the ultimate consolidation settlement (expressed
in mm) of the clay layer is ____
22. A seepage flow condition is shown in the figure. The saturated unit weight of the soil
ϒsat =18 kN/m3 Using unit weight of water, ϒw = 9.81 kN/m3, the effective vertical stress
(expressed in kN/m2) on plane X-X is ______

23. A drained triaxial compression test on a saturated clay yielded the effective shear strength
parameters as c' = 15 kPa and ϕ' = 22o. Consolidated Undrained triaxial test on an identical
sample
of this clay at a cell pressure of 200 kPa developed a pore water pressure of 150 kPa at
failure. The deviator stress (expressed in kPa) at failure is ________

24. Seepage is occurring through a porous media shown in the figure. The hydraulic conductivity
values (k1, k2, k3) are in m/day.

The seepage discharge (m3/day per m) through the porous media at section PQ is

(A) 7/12 (B) 1/2 (C) 9/12 (D) 3/4

 2016
Set 2

25. A strip footing is resting on the surface of a purely clayey soil deposit. If the width of the
footing is doubled, the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil

(A) becomes double (B) becomes half (C) becomes four-times (D) remains the same

26. The relationship between the specific gravity of sand (G) and the hydraulic gradient (i) to
initiate quick condition in the sand layer having porosity of 30% is

(A) G = 0.7i + 1 (B) G = 1.43i − 1

(C) G = 1.43i + 1 (D) G = 0.7i – 1

27. The results of a consolidation test on an undisturbed soil, sampled at a depth of 10 m below
the ground level are as follows:
Saturated unit weight : 16kN/m3
Pre-consolidation pressure : 90kPa
The water table was encountered at the ground level. Assuming the unit weight of water as
10kN/m3, the over-consolidation ratio of the soil is

(A) 0.67 (B) 1.50 (C) 1.77 (D) 2.00

28. The seepage occurring through an earthen dam is represented by a flow net comprising of 10
equi- potential drops and 20 flow channels. The coefficient of permeability of the soil is 3
mm/min and the head loss is 5 m. The rate of seepage (expressed in cm3/s per m length of the
dam) through the earthen dam is ___.

29. The soil profile at a site consists of a 5 m thick sand layer underlain by a c-φ soil as shown in
figure. The water table is found 1 m below the ground level. The entire soil mass is retained
by a concrete retaining wall and is in the active state. The back of the wall is smooth and
vertical. The total active earth pressure (expressed in kN/m2) at point A as per Rankine's
theory is
30. OMC-SP and MDD-SP denote the optimum moisture content and maximum dry density
obtained from standard Proctor compaction test, respectively. OMC-MP and MDD-MP
denote the optimum moisture content and maximum dry density obtained from the modified
Proctor compaction test, respectively. Which one of the following is correct?

(A) OMC-SP < OMC-MP and MDD-SP < MDD-MP

(B) OMC-SP > OMC-MP and MDD-SP < MDD-MP
(C) OMC-SP < OMC-MP and MDD-SP > MDD-MP
(D) OMC-SP > OMC-MP and MDD-SP > MDD-MP

31. Water flows from P to Q through two soil samples, Soil 1 and Soil 2, having cross sectional
area of 80cm2 as shown in the figure. Over a period of 15 minutes, 200 ml of water was
observed to pass through any cross section. The flow conditions can be assumed to be steady
state. If the coefficient of permeability of Soil 1 is 0.02 mm/s, the coefficient of permeability
of Soil 2 (expressed in mm/s) would be ____

32. A 4 m wide strip footing is founded at a depth of 1.5 m below the ground surface in a c-φ soil
as shown in the figure. The water table is at a depth of 5.5 m below ground surface. The soil
properties are:
c' = 35 kN/m2, φ' = 28.63°, γsat = 19 kN/m3, γbulk = 17 kN/m3 and γw = 9.81 kN/m3. The
values of bearing capacity factors for different φ' are given below.

φ' Nγ Nc Nq
15° 12.9 4.4 2.5
20° 17.7 7.4 5.0
25° 25.1 12.7 9.7
30° 37.2 22.5 19.7
 Using Terzaghi's bearing capacity equation and a factor of safety Fs = 2.5, the net safe
bearing capacity (expressed in kN/m2) for local shear failure of the soil is __________

GATE 2015
Set 1
33. Which of the following statements is TRUE for the relation between discharge velocity and
seepage velocity?

(A) Seepage velocity is always smaller than discharge velocity

(B) Seepage velocity can never be smaller than discharge velocity
© Seepage velocity is equal to the discharge velocity
(D) No relation between seepage velocity and discharge velocity can be established

34. Which of the following statements is NOT correct?

(A) Loose sand exhibits contractive 9ehaviour upon shearing

(B) Dense sand when sheared under undrained condition, may lead to generation of negative
pore pressure
© Black cotton soil exhibits expansive 9ehaviour
(D) Liquefaction is the phenomenon where cohesionless soil near the downstream side of
dams or sheet-piles loses its shear strength due to high upward hydraulic gradient

35. A fine-grained soil has 60% (by weight) silt content. The soil behaves as semi-solid when
water content is between 15% and 28%. The soil behaves fluid-like when the water content is
more than 40%. The ‘Activity’ of the soil is

(A) 3.33 (B) 0.42 (C) 0.30 (D) 0.20

36. In an unconsolidated undrained triaxial test, it is observed that an increase in cell pressure
from 150 kPa to 250 kPa leads to a pore pressure increase of 80 kPa. It is further observed
that, an increase of 50 kPa in deviatoric stress results in an increase of 25 kPa in the pore
pressure. The value of Skempton’s pore pressure parameter B is;

(A) 0.5 (B) 0.625 (C) 0.8 (D) 1.0

37. Which of the following statements is TRUE for degree of disturbance of collected soil
sample?
(A) Thinner the sampler wall, lower the degree of disturbance of collected soil sample
(B) Thicker the sampler wall, lower the degree of disturbance of collected soil sample
© Thickness of the sampler wall and the degree of disturbance of collected soil sample are
unrelated
(D) The degree of disturbance of collected soil sample is proportional to the inner diameter of
sampling tube

38. A water tank is to be constructed on the soil deposit shown in the figure below. A circular
footing of diameter 3m and depth of embedment 1m has been designed to support the tank.
The total vertical load to be taken by the footing is 1500 kN. Assume the unit weight of water
as 10kN/ 3 m and the load dispersion pattern as 2V:1H. The expected settlement of the tank
due to primary consolidation of the clay layer is ……… mm.

39. An earth embankment is to be constructed with compacted cohesionless soil. The volume of
the embankment is 3 5000 m and the target dry unit weight is 16.2 3 kN / m . Three nearby
sites (see figure below) have been identified from where the required soil can be transported
to the construction site. The void ratios © of different sites are shown in the figure. Assume
the specific gravity of soil to be 2.7 for all three sites. If the cost of transportation per km is
twice the cost of excavation per 3 m of borrow pits, which site would you choose as the most
economic solution? (Use unit Weight of water =10kN / m3 ) .
 (A) Site X (B) Site Y (C) Site Z (D) Any of the sites
40. A 20 m thick clay layer is sandwiched between a silty sand layer and a gravelly sand layer.
The layer experiences 30 mm settlement in 2 years.
Given

Where Tv is the time factor and U is the degree of consolidation in %.

If the coefficient of consolidation of the layer is 0.003 cm2/s, the deposit will experience a
total of 50 mm settlement in the next………years.

41. A non-homogenous oil deposit consists of a silt layer sandwiched between a fine-sand layer
at top and a clay layer below. Permeability of the silt layer is 10 times the permeability of the
clay layer and one-tenth of the permeability of the sand layer. Thickness of the silt layer is 2
time the thickness of the sand layer and two-third of the thickness of the clay layer. The ratio
of equivalent horizontal and equivalent vertical permeability of the deposit is ___________.

42. A square footing (2mx 2m) is subjected to an inclined point load, P as shown in the figure
below. The water table is located well below the base of the footing. Considering one-way
eccentricity, the net safe load carrying capacity of the footing for a factor of safety of 3.0 is
kN.The following factors may be used.
Bearing capacity factors:
Nq = 33.3, Ng 37.16; = Shape factors: Fqs = Fgs 1.314 =
Depth factors:
Fqd = Fgd 1.113
Inclination factors:
Fqi 0.444, Fgi 0.02
 GATE 2015
Set 2
43. In friction circle method of slope stability analysis, if r defines the radius of the slip circle, the
radius of friction circle is

(A) r sin φ (B) r (C) r cos φ (D) r tan φ

44. Net ultimate bearing capacity of a footing embedded in a clay stratum

(A) increases with depth of footing only

(B) increases with size of footing only
(C) increases with depth and size of footing
(D) is independent of depth and size of footing

45. In the water content of a fully saturated soil mass is 100% the void ratio of the sample is

(A) Less than specific gravity of soil

(B) equal to specific gravity of soil
(C) greater than specific gravity of soil
(D) independent of specific gravity of soil

46. The relationship between porosity (η), specific yield (Sy) and specific retention (Sr) of an
unconfined aquifer is

(A) Sy + Sr = η (B) Sy + η = Sr
(C) Sr + η = Sy (D) Sy + Sr + η =1

Surcharge loading required to placed on the horizontal backfill of a smooth retaining vertical
wall so as to completely eliminate tensile crack is:

(A) 2c (B) 2cka (C) 2c√ka (D) 2c/√ka

47. A 6 m high retaining wall having a smooth vertical back face retains a layered horizontal
backfill.Top 3 m thick layer of the backfill is sand having an angle of internal friction, φ =
30° while the bottom layer is 3 m thick clay with cohesion, c = 20 kPa. Assume unit weight
for both sand and clay as 18 kN/m3. The totalactive earth pressure per unit length of the wall
(in kN/m) is:

(A) 150 (B) 216 (C) 156 (D) 196

48. A 588 cm3 volume of moist sand weighs 1010 gm. Its dry weight is 918 gm and specific
gravity of solids, G is 2.67. Assuming density of water as 1 gm/cm3, the void ratio is
__________.

49. A 4 m thick layer of normally consolidated clay has an average void ratio of 1.30. Its
compression index is 0.6 and coefficient of consolidation is 1 m2/yr. If the increase in
vertical pressure due to foundation load on the clay layer is equal to the existing effective
overburden pressure, the change in the thickness of the clay layer is ______ mm.
50. A pile of diameter 0.4 m is fully embedded in a clay stratum having 5 layers, each 5 m thick
as shown in the figure below. Assume a constant unit weight of soil as 18 kN/m3 for all the
layers. Using λ-method (λ = 0.15 for 25 m embedment length) and neglecting the end bearing
component, the ultimate pile capacity (in kN) is ________.

GATE 2014
Set 1
51. The degree of disturbance of the sample collected by the sampler is expressed by a term
called the "area ratio". If the outer diameter and inner diameter of the sampler are Do and Di
respectively, the area ratio is given by

52. For a saturated cohesive soil, a triaxial test yields the angle of internal friction (_) as zero.
The conducted test is

(A) Consolidated Drained (CD) test (B) Consolidated Undrained (CU) test
(C) Unconfined Compression (UC) test (D) Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) test

53. The action of negative skin friction on the pile is to

(A) increase the ultimate load on the pile (B) reduce the allowable load on the pile
(C) maintain the working load on the pile (D) reduce the settlement of the pile

54. A long slope is formed in a soil with shear strength parameters: c' = 0 and φ ' = 34
A firm stratum lies below the slope and it is assumed that the water table may occasionally
rise to the surface, with seepage taking place parallel to the slope.
Use γmt = 18kN/m3 γw =10kN/m3
The maximum slope angle (in degrees) to ensure a factor of safety of 1.5,
assuming a potential failure surface parallel to the slope, would be

(A) 45.3 (B) 44.7 (C) 12.3 (D) 11.3

55. Group I contains representative load-settlement curves for different modes of bearing
capacity failures of sandy soil. Group II enlists the various failure characteristics. Match the
load-settlement curves with the corresponding failure characteristics.

Group I Group II
(p) Curve J (1) No apparent heaving of soil around the footing
(q) Curve K 2) Rankine’s passive zone develops imperfectly
(q) Curve K (3) Well defined slip surface extends to ground surface

(A) P - 1, Q - 3, R - 2 (B) P - 3, Q - 2, R - 1
(C) P - 3, Q - 1, R - 2 (D) P - 1, Q - 2, R – 3

56. A given cohesionless soil has e max = 0.85 and e min = 0.50. In the field, the soil is
compacted to a mass density of 1800 kg/m3 at a water content of 8%. Take the mass density
of water as 1000kg/m3 and G, as 2.7.The relative density (in %) of the soil is

(A) 56.43 (B) 60.25 (C) 62.87 (D) 65.7

57. The following data are given for the laboratory sample.
175kPa; o'eo 1.1; '300kPa; e 0.9
If thickness of the clay specimen is 25mm, the value of coefficient of volume compressibility
is ________ 10-4 m2 / kN

58. The flow net constructed for the dam is shown in the figure below. Taking the coefficient of
permeability as 3.8×10-6 m/s, the quantity of flow (in cm3/s) under the dam per meter of dam
is ___________
 GATE 2014
Set-2
59. As per Indian Standard Soil Classification System (IS: 1498 - 1970), an expression for A-line
is
(A) Ip = 0.73 (wL - 20) (B) Ip = 0.70 (wL - 20)
(C) Ip = 0.73 (wL - 10) (D) Ip = 0.70 (wL - 10)

60. The clay mineral primarily governing the swelling behavior of Black Cotton soil is
(A) Halloysite (B) Illite (C) Kaolinite (D) Montmorillonite

61. The contact pressure for a rigid footing resting on clay at the centre and the edges are
respectively
(A) maximum and zero (B) maximum and minimum
(C) zero and maximum (D) minimum and maximum

62. A certain soil has the following properties: Gs = 2.71, n = 40% and w = 20%. The degree of
saturation of the soil (rounded off to the nearest percent) is _________

63. Group I lists a few devices while Group II provides information about their uses. Match the
devices with their corresponding use.

(A) P - 1; Q -2; R - 3; S - 4 (B) P - 2; Q - 1; R - 4; S- 3

(C) P - 4; Q - 2; R - 1; S - 3 (D) P - 4; Q - 3; R - 2; S – 1

64. Water is flowing at a steady rate through a homogeneous and saturated horizontal soil strip of
10 m length. The strip is being subjected to a constant water head (H) of 5 m at the beginning
and 1 m at the end. If the governing equation of flow in the soil strip is

(where x is the distance along the soil strip), the value of H (in m) at the middle of the strip is

65. An infinitely long slope is made up of a c-_ soil having the properties: cohesion (c) = 20 kPa,
and dry unit weight  d = 16kN/m3 . The angle of inclination and critical height of the slope
are 40° and 5 m, respectively. To maintain the limiting equilibrium, the angle of internal
friction of the soil (in degrees) is _______________
66. Group I enlists in-situ field tests carried out for soil exploration, while Group II provides a
list of parameters for sub-soil strength characterization. Match the type of tests with the
characterization parameters

(A) P - 1; Q - 3; R - 2; S - 4 (B) P - 1; Q - 2; R - 3; S - 4
(C) P - 2; Q - 3; R - 4; S - 1 (D) P - 4; Q - 1; R - 2; S – 3

67. A single vertical friction pile of diameter 500 mm and length 20 m is subjected to a vertical
compressive load. The pile is embedded in a homogeneous sandy stratum where: angle of
internal friction (ɸ) = 30°, dry unit weight (ϒd) = 20 kN/m3 and angle of wall friction (μ) =
2μ/3. Considering the coefficient of lateral earth pressure (K) = 2.7 and the bearing capacity
factor (Nq) = 25, the ultimate bearing capacity of the pile (in kN) is

68. A circular raft foundation of 20 m diameter and 1.6m thick is provided for a tank that applies
a bearing pressure of 110 kPa on sandy soil with Young’s modulus, E,’ = 30 MPa and
Poisson’s ration,  s 0.3. The raft is made of concrete E CC = 30 GPa and u = 0.15 .
Considering the raft as rigid, the elastic settlement (in mm) is

(A) 50.96 (B) 53.36 (C) 63.72 (D) 66.71

Answer key

1 C 16 B 31 0.045 46 D
2 C 17 D 32 D 47 A
3 19.5 – 20.5 18 D 33 B 48 0.71
4 12.3 – 12.4 19 42 34 D 49 314
5 1.00 – 1.03 20 A 35 C 50 1060.29
6 124 – 126 21 36.89 36 C 51 A
7 416.0 – 420.0 22 65.475 37 A 52 D
8 45 to 49 (or) ‐49 to ‐45 23 104.39 38 53.236 53 B
9 A 24 B 39 B 54 D
10 B 25 D 40 4.43 55 A
11 B 26 C 41 10.967 56 D
12 C 27 B 42 450 57 7.6 to 8.0
13 B 28 500 43 A 58 7.1 to 7.85
14 51.50 to 53.50 29 69.65 44 D 59 A
15 472.00 to 472.50 30 B 45 B 60 D

61 D
62 81.0 to 81.5
63 D
64 3
65 21 to 23
66 36.89
67 6150 to 6190
68 B