Tutorial 1

Soil Mechanics Revision

Total marks = 100

Q 1. A borrow area soil has a natural water content of 10% and a bulk density of 1.8 Mg/m3.
The soil is used for an embankment to be compacted at 18% w to a dry density of 1.85
Mg/m3. Determine the amount of water to be added to 1.0 m3 of borrow soil. How many
cubic meters of excavation is required for 1m3 of compacted embankment? (10)

Q 2. In a compaction test on a soil, the mass of wet soil when compacted in the mould was
1.855kg. The water content of the soil was 16%. If the volume of the mould was 0.945 lt,
determine the dry density, % air voids, e and S? (G = 2.68) (10)

Q 3. A sample of clay has the liquid limit and the shrinkage limit of respectively 60% and 25%.
If the sample has a volume of 10ml at the LL, and a column of 6.4 ml at the SL, determine
the Specific gravity of the soil? (10)

Q 4. A soil has LL and PL of 47% and 33%, respectively. If the Volumetric Shrinkages at the LL
and PL are 44% and 29%, determine the SL? (10)

Q 5. Classify the soil with the properties as shown below. According to the ISC system: (10)
LL = 40%; IP = 10%,
% passing 4.75 mm sieve = 60%
% passing 75micron sieve = 45%

Q 6. Determine the effective stress distributions for following soil profiles; a & b.
(10)
(a) (b)
2m
Soil A (12 m): Soil A (12m):
 = 15 kN/m3 12 m  = 18 kN/m3
10 m sat = 18 kN/m3 c' = 0 kPa; ' = 30º
c' = 0; ' = 30º Capillary line

Soil B (9m): 3m
Soil B (7m):
sat = 21 kN/m3  = 18 kN/m3
9m
c' = 0; ' = 36º 4m sat = 22 kN/m3
cu = 30 kPa

Q 7. What will be the theoretical height of capillary rise and capillary pressure in a fine grained
soil with effective size (D10) of 0.002 mm? (10)

Q 8. A trench is to be excavated in a stratum of stiff clay, 10 m thick, underlain by the bed of

coarse sand. In borehole, the ground water was observed to rise to an elevation of 3.5 m below
ground surface. Determine the depth upto which an excavation can be safely carried out without
the danger of the bottom becoming unstable under the artesian pressure in the sand stratum.

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Specific gravity of clay is 2.75 and the void ratio is 0.8? If excavation is to be carried out safely
to a depth of 8 m, how much should the water table be lowered in the vicinity of the trench? (10)

Q 9. A fully saturated soil sample was extracted during an oil well drilling. The wet mass of the
sample was 3.15 kg, and the volume of the sampling tube was 0.001664 m3. After analysis, the
soil sample was found to contain 28.2% of the liquid as kersosene and had a dry mass of 2.67 kg.
The specific gravity of soil grains was 2.68. Determine the water content of the sample. (10)

Q 10. As per the compaction specification, a highway fill has to be compacted to 95% of
standard proctor compaction test density. A borrow area available near the project site has a dry
density of 1.65 g/cc at 100% compaction and a natural void ratio of 0.61. The specific gravity of
the soil solids is 2.65. Compute the volume of borrow material needed to construct a highway fill
of 5 m height and 1 km length with side slopes of 1:1.5. The top width of the fill is 8m. (10)