Site Characterization Exam Practice Paper 2018

Q1: A Proctor compaction test in the laboratory on a borrow pit soil gives the following results. The bulk unit weight
of the soil at borrow pit is 14 kN/m^3 and water content is 13%. A highway fill is to be constructed using this soil.
The specifications require the fill to be compacted to 95% Proctor compaction. Unit weight of water is 10 kN/m^3.

(a) Plot the moisture-dry density curve below.

(b) Find the maximum dry density and optimum moisture content.

(c) How many cubic meters of borrow pit material is needed for a 200-meter long section of highway fill with the
cross section shown below in Figure 1-1?

Figure 1-1: Highway Fill Cross Section

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(d) What is the minimum additional volume of water (in liters) per unit volume of compacted fill to achieve 95%
Proctor compaction?

(e) If water is delivered to the site in water tanks of 10,000 liters each, how many water tanks will be required for a
1 km of highway embankment with same section as shown in 1-1?

Q2:
(a) In what geology formation in Victoria dishing (凹陷) and doming（凸起）of residential slabs(住宅楼板) happen?
What causes this problem? Explain briefly.

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(b) What is the exaggeration factor of the geological cross-section shown in Figure2-1? Show calculations.

Figure 2-1: Geological cross section

(c) What is the bedding plane angle between Melbourne formation and Werribee formation at the location circled
in red color in Figure 2-1?

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(d) A 10-story apartment block is under construction at the position of Princess pier (yellow test box) in Figure 2-1
with excavation under way. The excavation does go below the ground water table and hence dewatering is
required. What solution you suggest to minimize impact of excavation on nearby structures services? You need
to make reference to local geology and past relevant case studies.

(e) Doing an excavation in Basaltic clays of Victoria what issues or construction difficulties you may encounter?

(f) Based your knowledge of local geology what footing solution you suggest for a light structure planned to be
constructed in Melbourne Uni Parkville campus? Briefly justify your answer.

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Q3. A building foundation (pad) is to be built at the site shown in figure 3-1 by cutting and filling. The final foundation
elevation is to be at 65 m. Three boreholes have been drilled to determine the subsurface conditions and results
are summarized as follow.
Boring 1:
Ground water table depth = 9.5 m

Boring 2:
Ground water table depth = 12.5 m

Boring 2:
Ground water table depth = 15 m

(a) Develop the cross-section A-A’ and show the soil profile beneath the proposed building. The profile should
include the existing and proposed grades, strata boundaries, and the ground water table.

(b) calculate the approximate volume of soil to be removed to get the site levelled and ready for the proposed pad
foundation?

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Figure 3-1: Contour map

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(c) A rock core is obtained from the Sandstone bedrock. Calculate the RQD of the core shown in Figure 3-2 and
classify the rock based on the RQD accordingly. Please note that the fracture on the right side of rock core (in the
dashed circle) is believed to be caused by the drilling process.

(d) For the new north-East Link project in Melbourne a tunnel is proposed underneath the Yarra River. What
methods of sampling would you suggest for obtaining high quality samples from the Yarra sediments?

Q4: A plan for the development of an old fuel station site as underway. From the preliminary site investigation, you
have been provided with a result of a test that has been conducted on site as shown in Figure 4-1.
(a) What is name of the equipment used for this test?

(b) Based on the provided result, you are asked to identify 3 locations that are safe to conduct 3 boreholes for soil
characterization purposes. Boreholes must be spaced at least 9m apart and two of the boreholes must be at
least 2.5m deep. You need to determine the maximum drilling depth for the third borehole.
(c) Determine the types of underground structures that could be identified from figure 4-1.

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Q5 A trench is going to be excavated between A and B as per a site plan view shown in Figure 5-1. The soil profile is
suggested to be a silty clay underlain by fresh mudstone. Based on provided results from seismic refraction tests,
determine the cost of excavation for a 1.5-meter width. The trench is to be extended to the top of the bedrock. The
cost of excavation is 55/m3. Provide any assumption made.

Q6 A series of in-situ tests including DMT (Figure 6-3), CPT (Figure 6-4) and SPT (Figure 6-5) have been carried out
for a geotechnical project in Fingal, Morning peninsula. Water table was found to be well below the ground surface.

(a) Find the soil behavior type at depth of 2m below the ground surface from CPT and DMT results using Figure 6-
1, 6-2, (showing your findings on the graphs) and compare your finding with soil description in the borelog
provided in Figure 6-5.

(b) Using Figure 6-2 and DMT results estimate the unit weight of the soil at depth of 2m below the ground surface.
In addition, calculate the unit weight if the shear wave velocity is measured 130 (m/s) at the same depth.
Assume γ𝑤 = 10𝑘𝑁/𝑚3.

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(c) Estimate the drained soil friction angle at the depth of 2m below the ground surface from SPT result. Make sure
appropriate correction factors are applied to SPT results.

(d) Estimate the drained soil friction angle at the depth of 2m below the ground surface from DMT result. Make
sure appropriate correction factors are applied to SPT results.

(e) Estimate the drained soil friction angle at the depth of 2m below the ground surface from CPT result.

(f) What drained soil friction angle do you suggest for this site and why?

(g) Estimate Over consolidation Ratio at depth of 2m below the ground surface from CPT result.

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Figure 6-1

Figure 6-2

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DMT Results

Figure 6-3
CPT Results
Qt (Mpa) Sleeve friction Pore pressure Friction ration
0 10 20 30 40 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0 2 4 6 8

Figure 6-4

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SPT Results
Hammer efficiency: 80%
Rod length: 3.5 m
Standard sampling method
Borehole Diameter: 100 mm

Figure 6-5
Q7. A shear vane test is used to determine an approximate value of the shear strength of the clay. The tester has a
lade diameter of 3.625 inches and a blade height of 7.25 inches. (Figure 7.1). In a field test, the vane required a
torque of 16 ft-lb to shear the clay sample, which has a plasticity index of 60% and time to failure is 104 mins.

(a) Determine the undrained cohesion corrected for its plasticity and report it in kPa.

(b) Do you suggest using this test for soil material in previous question? Explain your reason.

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 Figure 7-1
Q8: CPTU tests have been conducted in the field. At some specific points in depth, dissipation tests have been
conducted and results are reported in semi-log plots of pore-water pressure versus time in Figure 8-1. Report the
permeability of the soil at this depth in cm/sec. Also find the soil type base on the results. You need to show your
method of calculation on the graph below and also using appropriate equations.

Figure 8-1

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Q9:

(a) Tabulate the reduced level (RL) of the different points. Use the given table (Table 9.1) with observed data-next
page), to record your values. For the final measurement, use the level view above to record the correct height
and distance measurement. Make sure you label the measurement with the correct point names and calculate
the adjusted RLs.

(b) What is the acceptable misclosure limit?

(c) Comment on the observed misclosure, does it fall within the acceptable range. What type of error have you
observed?

(d) You have taken an intermediate sight measurement to a kerb and given that you have completed two peg tests
on your level. Do you expect this measurement to have a high level of precision, why/ why not?

(e) You completed a level run between two bench marks as part of your week 10 field work. Could you have taken
the same measurement with a survey grade GPS unit? Additionally, could you achieve the same level of accuracy
as using the level instrument, why and why not?

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 Figure 9-1

Q10:
(a) Explain how the wind pressure is distributed to a portal frame, (as shown in Figure 10-1) of a rectangular (gable
frame) low-rise building with a significant opening on one side of the walls. Assume the worst-case scenario to
determine the direction of the wind.

Figure 10-1

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(b) Calculate the total base shear acting on a 10-story ordinary moment-resisting reinforced concrete frame office
building located in Melbourne based on AS 1170.4-2007. The design working life of the building is 50 years. The
inner-story height of the building is 3 meters except for the ground floor which has a height of 4m. It is built on
the top of a very soft soil. The seismic weight on the typical floor is equal to 2000 kN excluding the roof. The
seismic weight on the roof can be assumed to be equal to 75% of the typical floor.

(c) Determine the Bushfire Attack Levels (BALs) of a site based on AS3959-2009 with the following characteristic.
Then, discuss the predicted bushfire attack and level of exposure as well as the strategies to deal with this
bushfire attack. The typical vegetation in one of the suburbs in Melbourne is shown in figure 10-2. The
topography of the vegetation close to the designed house is shown in figure 10-3.

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Q11
(a) Why are sound levels normally reported in dB instead of pressure, power or intensity?

(b) What is the result of adding 20 identical sound levels of 55 dB together? You are only allowed to use the
equations for adding the sound level together once.

(c) Describe the significance of the Geotechnical divergence in the context of noise.

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(d) What is the definition of a porous ground with regard to noise?

Q12.
(a) Who is responsible for preparing a Cultural Heritage Management Plan and what parties are involved?

(b) What does the contingency planning include within a Cultural Heritage Management Plan recommendation?

(c) You are a site engineer working on a redevelopment of an existing dwelling. Halfway through the excavation,
you are notified that a large layer of mussels mixed with charcoal has been found. Please explain your approach
to the incident as well as provide an explanation that could describe the history of the site.

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