H23GGE E1

The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING A LEVEL 3 MODULE, AUTUMN SEMESTER 2010-2011 GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING Time allowed TWO Hours

Candidates may complete the front cover of their answer book and sign their desk card but must NOT write anything else until the start of the examination period is announced Answer THREE questions This module has 19% coursework assessment Only self-contained calculators with a single-line or dual line display are permitted in this examination Dictionaries are not allowed with one exception. Those whose first language is not English may use a standard translation dictionary to translate between that language and English provided that neither language is the subject of this examination. Subject specific translation dictionaries are not permitted. No electronic devices capable of storing and retrieving text, including electronic dictionaries, may be used. DO NOT turn examination paper over until instructed to do so

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL:

Shallow foundations Data Sheet (11 sides, including cover) Piled Foundations Data Sheet (7 sides, including cover) Reinforced Soil wall Data Sheet (3 sides, including cover) Values of active & passive earth pressure coefficients (1side)

INFORMATION FOR INVIGILATORS:

None

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2 1.

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A steel sheet pile wall is to retain 8m of dry sand (=18 kN/m3, =35, =23). The wall is to be tied back to anchors. The tie rods are to be at 2m below the retained ground surface. (a) Calculate the required depth of embedment, the tie force, the maximum moment in the sheet pile wall, the moment at the tie-rod level and draw the corresponding bending moment diagram. [15 marks] Calculate the required depth of embedment if the water tables are 8 m below the top of the wall on each side, and the saturated unit weight of the sand is 21 kN/m3. [5 marks] In order to conform to BS8002, the solution to question (a) is to be modified for the design situation, which includes a design surcharge of 15 kPa and an unplanned excavation of not less than 0.5 m and not less than 10% of the height retained below the tie-rod level. Calculate the new required depth of embedment, and the tie-rod force. [7 marks] A long fixed-headed pile of diameter 0.5m and plastic moment Mp=1200 kN.m is embedded in dry sand of unit weight 17 kN/m3 and ultimate internal friction angle 35. A horizontal load H is applied at the pile head and increased slowly. The 2 at all depths. limiting lateral earth pressure is given by K p v i) Draw lateral earth pressure, shear force and bending moment diagrams for the pile between the plastic hinges at failure. [4 marks] Calculate the depth at which the hinge forms in the pile, and the lateral capacity of the pile. [5 marks] Using the design charts in the Data sheets, estimate the lateral capacity of the pile. [4 marks]

(b)

(c)

2.

(a)

ii)

iii)

(b)

A pile group is to carry a working load of 7500 kN in firm clay of undrained shear strength 100 kPa. A 3x3 group of bored piles is to be used to carry the load. Each pile has a diameter of 0.5m and the spacing between the pile centres is 1.5m. The shaft adhesion factor for the individual piles is 0.6. i) Assuming an efficiency of 0.8, calculate the required length of the piles, for a factor of safety against failure of 2.5. [41/2 marks] For this length of pile, what is the overall capacity of the block? [41/2 marks]

ii)

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3 iii)

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Estimate the average immediate settlement of the pile group if the clay has a shear modulus of 15 MPa. [5 marks]

3.

(a)

Figure Q3 shows an L-shaped foundation for a warehouse, which is to be built on the surface of a firm clay. The foundation is to carry a uniformly distributed load of 150 kN/m2. Assume that the foundation is under the entire building and at the clay surface. i) Calculate the vertical stress increments due to the structure load at a depth of 10 m below corners A and E using both Fadums and Newmarks charts. [6 marks] The undrained Youngs modulus of the clay is assumed to be constant with depth and equal to 30x103 kN/m2, and the Poissons ratio is 0.2. Calculate the immediate and total surface settlement at points A and E. [6 marks]

ii)

10 m

20 m

E
10 m

Figure Q3.

A
25 m

(b)

A column of a warehouse carrying a working load of 1.7 MN is to be founded on a rectangular footing, which because of presence of nearby foundations must be 2.0mx3m. The foundation is to be built on stiff clay of saturated unit weight 20 kN/m3, undrained shear strength 100 kPa, and ultimate friction angle 22. i) Using Skemptons chart, find the depth at which the foundation should be placed in order to have a short safety factor against failure of at least 2.5 [5 marks] Due to poor setting out, the column load acts at eB=200mm and eL=100mm off the footing centre. Estimate the factor of safety for this case. [5 marks] Calculate the safety factor in the long term for the eccentric loading case in (ii) if the water table is 1m below ground level, and the soil above foundation level is treated as surcharge with negligible strength. [5 marks] Turn over

ii)

iii)

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4 4.

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Figure Q4 shows the design of a 10m high vertical reinforced soil wall using rectangular concrete panels as facing units, each with dimensions of 0.8m x 1.0m x 0.1m (length x height x thickness). Metal strips used as reinforcement are 0.15m wide and 0.006m thick. The yield strength of the metal is fy=150MPa. A local clean sand with unit weight =17 kN/m3 and internal angle of friction '=34 is used as backfill. The frictional resistance between the sand and the metal strip is=26. The design specifies reinforcement length L=H=10m and uses one strip for each panel.
0.1m 0.5m H=1m H=1m

Figure Q4 10m

6th layer

4.5m

Sand fill =17 kN/m3 =34

L=10m

(a) (b)

For the 6th layer of reinforcement, what is the length in the active zone (lr,a)? [6 marks] If the vertical stress acting on the 6th layer of reinforcement is approximated by the linear distribution proposed by Bolton (1977), what are the maximum and minimum vertical stresses acting on this layer? [6 marks] If the vertical stress acting on the 6th layer of reinforcement is approximated by the uniform distribution proposed by Schlosser (1978), i) ii) iii) Determine the vertical stress acting on this layer. [6 marks]

(c)

Determine the maximum tensile force (Tmax) in the 6th layer of reinforcement. [6 marks] Determine the factor of safety of the 6th layer of reinforcement against tensile failure. [3 marks]

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