Shallow Foundation · Geotechnical Engineering · GATE CE

A standard penetration test (SPT) was carried out at a location by using a manually operated hammer dropping system with 50% efficiency. The recorded SPT value at a particular depth is 28. If an automatic hammer dropping system with 70% efficiency is used at the same location, the recorded SPT value will be _________.

Read the following statements :

(P) While designing a shallow footing in sandy soil, monsoon season is considered for critical design in terms of bearing capacity.

(Q) For slope stability of an earthen dam, sudden drawdown is never a critical condition.

(R) In a sandy sea beach, quicksand condition can arise only if the critical hydraulic gradient exceeds the existing hydraulic gradient.

(S) The active earth thrust on a rigid retaining wall supporting homogenous cohesionless backfill will reduce with the lowering of water table in the backfill.

Which one of the following combinations is correct?

At a site, Static Cone Penetration Test was carried out. The measured point (tip) resistance q_c was 1000 kPa at a certain depth. The friction ratio (f_r) was estimated as 1% at the same depth.

The value of sleeve (side) friction (in kPa) at that depth was __________. (in integer)

A square footing is to be designed to carry a column load of 500 kN which is resting on a soil stratum having the following average properties: bulk unit weight = 19 kN/m³; angle of internal friction = 0° and cohesion = 25 kPa. Considering the depth of the footing as 1 m and adopting Meyerhof’s bearing capacity theory with a factor of safety of 3, the width of the footing (in m) is _________ (round off to one decimal place)

[Assume the applicable shape and depth factor values as unity; ground water level at greater depth.]

A circular pile of diameter 0.6 m and length 8 m was constructed in a cohesive soil stratum having the following properties: bulk unit weight = 19 kN/m³; angle of internal friction = 0° and cohesion = 25 kPa.

The allowable load the pile can carry with a factor of safety of 3 is __________ kN (round off to one decimal place).

[Adopt: Adhesion factor, α = 1.0 and Bearing capacity factor, N_c = 9.0]

For the flow setup shown in the figure (not to scale), the hydraulic conductivities of the two soil samples, Soil 1 and Soil 2, are 10 mm/s and 1 mm/s, respectively. Assume the unit weight of water as 10 kN/m³ and ignore the velocity head. At steady state, what is the total head (in m, rounded off to two decimal places) at any point located at the junction of the two samples? _____

A square footing of size 2.5 m × 2.5 m is placed 1.0 m below the ground surface on a cohesionless homogeneous soil stratum. Considering that the groundwater table is located at the base of the footing, the unit weights of soil above and below the groundwater table are 18 kN/m³ and 20 kN/m³, respectively, and the bearing capacity factor N_q is 58, the net ultimate bearing capacity of the soil is estimated as 1706 kPa (unit weight of water = 10 kN/m³).

Earlier, a plate load test was carried out with a circular plate of 30 cm diameter in the same foundation pit during a dry season, when the water table was located beyond the plate influence zone. Using Terzaghi’s bearing capacity formulation, what is the ultimate bearing capacity (in kPa) of the plate?