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Geotechnical Engineering MCQ

What is the full name of the test?

Answer

Correct Answer: Consolidated drained test

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What is the ratio of the liquid limit minus the natural moisture content to the plasticity index of a soil called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Consistency index

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What does consistency refer to in regards to soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: The degree of resistance offered by a fine grained soil to deformation.

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What is the definition of consistency?

Answer

Correct Answer: The degree of resistance offered by a fine grained soil to deformation

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Sensitivity is a measure of the change in what of clays between undisturbed and disturbed samples?

Answer

Correct Answer: Ultimate strength

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What is the Sensitivity of clays?

Answer

Correct Answer: A measure of the change in ultimate strength of clays between undisturbed and disturbed samples.

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What is the average velocity at which groundwater flows through the pores of a soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: Seepage velocity

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Which of the following is not a factor affecting seepage velocity?

Answer

Correct Answer: Volume flow rate

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What is the seepage force?

Answer

Correct Answer: The force transmitted to a mass of soil due to the seepage of groundwater.

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What is the force transmitted to a mass of soil due to the seepage of groundwater called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Seepage force

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What is seepage?

Answer

Correct Answer: The flow of water through soil.

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How are Sedimentary Soils formed?

Answer

Correct Answer: Deposition of fine-grained soil in water.

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What is secondary consolidation?

Answer

Correct Answer: The decreased rate of consolidation following the completion of primary consolidation.

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What is the decreased rate of consolidation following the completion of primary consolidation called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Secondary consolidation

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What is the secondary compression index?

Answer

Correct Answer: The logarithmic slope of the secondary compression line.

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What is the saturated density of soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: Density of soil when the voids are filled with water.

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Saturated density is the density of soil when voids are filled with what?

Answer

Correct Answer: Water

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What is the sand cone test used for?

Answer

Correct Answer: Measuring density of soil in the field

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Which of the following is true about the sand particles?

Answer

Correct Answer: Particles between 4.75 mm and 0.075 mm will pass through the sieve.

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What is the range of sand particle sizes in the sample?

Answer

Correct Answer: 4.75 mm to 0.075 mm

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What is the main purpose of a retaining wall?

Answer

Correct Answer: To prevent the soil from sloughing or slope failure.

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What is the purpose of a retaining wall?

Answer

Correct Answer: To provide lateral stability of the earth

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What is the response spectrum?

Answer

Correct Answer: Frequency-dependent energy distribution of an earthquake derived from the Fourier analysis.

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What are residual soils?

Answer

Correct Answer: Soils that have been formed in place.

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How is the amount of swell measured?

Answer

Correct Answer: By inundating the soil sample with water after the applied loads have stabilized

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What is the purpose of the Remolded Swell Test?

Answer

Correct Answer: Measure the amount of swell after compacting and inundating a soil sample with water.

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Relative density is the density of a granular soil relative to _________.

Answer

Correct Answer: The minimum and maximum densities achieved for that particular soil.

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The density of a granular soil relative to what?

Answer

Correct Answer: Minimum and maximum densities achieved for that particular soil

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What is relative compaction?

Answer

Correct Answer: A minimum density specification usually designated as a percentage of the maximum dry density.

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Deflection in a foundation due to what?

Answer

Correct Answer: Settlement

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What is the deflection in a foundation due to settlement called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Relative deflection

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What is the recompression index?

Answer

Correct Answer: The logarithmic slope recompression (reloading) line.

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Rankine earth pressure theory disregards what between the wall and soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: Friction

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What is the purpose of a Raft Foundation?

Answer

Correct Answer: To distribute building loads over a large area

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What is radial stress?

Answer

Correct Answer: The total or effective stress acting perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.

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What does R-Value measure?

Answer

Correct Answer: The resistance value of a soil

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What does the R-Value of a soil measure?

Answer

Correct Answer: The ability of a soil medium to resist lateral spreading due to an applied vertical load

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What does "the effective stresses within a mass of sand is zero" mean?

Answer

Correct Answer: Quick sand

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What does 'Quick sand' refer to?

Answer

Correct Answer: The effective stresses within a mass of sand is zero.

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What is the purpose of the proctor test?

Answer

Correct Answer: To determine maximum dry density and optimum moisture content of soils

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Which of the following is NOT a component of the Proctor test?

Answer

Correct Answer: Maximum dry density

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What is the angle between the principal stress and the direction of the applied load?

Answer

Correct Answer:

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What are principal stresses?

Answer

Correct Answer: Stresses acting in the direction of principal axes of stress.

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What are the principal strains?

Answer

Correct Answer: The strains occurring in the directions of the principal axes of strain.

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What is the height of a column of water required to develop a given pressure at a given point called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Pressure head

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What is the preconsolidation pressure?

Answer

Correct Answer: The maximum past pressure of a soil.

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What is pre-consolidation load?

Answer

Correct Answer: The maximum load ever imposed on a particular soil mass in its geological history.

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What is the ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Porosity

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What is the pore pressure ratio?

Answer

Correct Answer: The ratio of the porewater pressure to the vertical overburden pressure.

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The ratio of the change in pore pressure to the change in isotropic stress in undrained loading is known as?

Answer

Correct Answer: Pore pressure coefficient

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The pore pressure coefficient is the _____.

Answer

Correct Answer: Ratio of the change in pore pressure to the change in deviator stress.

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Pore pressure is caused by the fluid within the pores or voids in a porous material. True or false?

Answer

Correct Answer: True

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The pressure exerted by the fluid within the pores or voids in a porous material is known as?

Answer

Correct Answer: Pore Pressure

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What is pore air pressure?

Answer

Correct Answer: The pressure of air within the void space of a partially saturated soil.

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What is the loadbearing ability of a point-bearing pile derived from?

Answer

Correct Answer: The support of the soil layer beneath the tip of the pile.

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The bearing capacity at the bottom tip of one member of a deep foundation system is also known as ________.

Answer

Correct Answer: Point-bearing capacity

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What is point-bearing capacity?

Answer

Correct Answer: The bearing capacity at the bottom tip of one member of a deep foundation system.

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What is the plasticity index?

Answer

Correct Answer: The difference between the liquid limit and plastic limit of a soil mass.

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What is the definition for plasticity?

Answer

Correct Answer: The property of a soil which allows it to deform continuously, usually a mass of clay size particles.

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Plasticity is the property of a soil which allows it to ___________.

Answer

Correct Answer: Deform continuously

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What is plastic strain?

Answer

Correct Answer: Deformation of soil that is not recovered upon unloading.

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What is the plastic limit?

Answer

Correct Answer: The moisture content in which a soil will have a plastic consistency.

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What is plastic deformation?

Answer

Correct Answer: The distortion of soil resulting in a permanent and irrecoverable change in shape or volume.

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What is an example of a plane strain situation?

Answer

Correct Answer: On a cross-section through a long structure being loaded in the x-y plane

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What is meant by a "two-dimensional state of stress"?

Answer

Correct Answer: The out-of-plane strain is zero.

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Piping is the movement of soil particles as a result of what?

Answer

Correct Answer: Unbalanced seepage forces produced by percolating water.

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What is the Pile Driving Analyzer?

Answer

Correct Answer: A method to compute average pile force and velocity by using wave equation analysis with electronic measurements.

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What does PDA stand for?

Answer

Correct Answer: Pile Driving Analyzer

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Piles are driven into the ground by:

Answer

Correct Answer: Being hammered

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Piles are usually constructed of which three materials?

Answer

Correct Answer: Timber, steel, or pre-stressed reinforced concrete

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What is a piezometric surface?

Answer

Correct Answer: An imaginary surface corresponding to the hydrostatic water level of a confined body of groundwater.

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What is a piezometer?

Answer

Correct Answer: An instrument used to measure in-situ pore water pressures.

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What does the instrument 'Piezometer' measure?

Answer

Correct Answer: In-situ pore water pressures.

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What is Pier?

Answer

Correct Answer: A deep foundation component that is usually cast-in-place, instead of driven, drilled or jetted as a pile.

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What does the pH value measure?

Answer

Correct Answer: Acidity or alkalinity of groundwater or soil water extract based on the hydrogen ion content

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What is the definition of permeability?

Answer

Correct Answer: The property which allows the flow of water through a soil.

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What is the peak shear strength?

Answer

Correct Answer: The maximum shear strength of a soil at a given normal effective stress and water content.

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What is the maximum shear strength of a soil called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Peak shear strength

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What is the stated particle size?

Answer

Correct Answer: The maximum particle size of a specified percentage of the total content

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What is the particle size characteristic stated as?

Answer

Correct Answer: The maximum particle size of a specified percentage of the total content of a soil graded by mass.

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Overturning failure is most likely to occur when lateral earth pressures exceed _____?

Answer

Correct Answer: Retaining wall resistance

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What is the main cause of overturning failure?

Answer

Correct Answer: Excessive lateral earth pressures

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What is the overconsolidation ratio?

Answer

Correct Answer: The ratio of maximum past pressure (preconsolidation pressure) to the current effective stress.

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What is the ratio of maximum past pressure to the current effective stress called?

Answer

Correct Answer: Overconsolidation ratio

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What is the definition of an overconsolidated soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: Soil carrying a higher load in the past

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The total or effective stress at a given depth due to the weight of overlying soil or rock is known as ____________.

Answer

Correct Answer: Overburden Pressure

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What is Overburden Soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: Soil Overlying soil of a desirable soil stratum.

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What does organic soils Earth comprised of?

Answer

Correct Answer: Organic material, peat, muskeg.

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Organic soils Earth are comprised of what?

Answer

Correct Answer: Organic material, peat, muskeg

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Which of the following is not a method of determining optimum moisture content?

Answer

Correct Answer: Proctor Test

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What is the water content at which the maximum dry density of a soil is obtained using a specific effort of compaction?

Answer

Correct Answer: Optimum moisture content

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What enables two-way drainage in an open layer?

Answer

Correct Answer: The soil

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What does Open layer allow for?

Answer

Correct Answer: Two-way drainage

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One-dimensional modulus quantifies the relationship between _____.

Answer

Correct Answer: The change in vertical effective stress and the change in vertical strain

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What is one-dimensional compression?

Answer

Correct Answer: Compression taking place with zero radial and horizontal strain.

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What is the definition of "normally consolidated soil"?

Answer

Correct Answer: Soil having a current state which lies on the normal compression line.

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What is Normalization?

Answer

Correct Answer: Analysis of soil test data to compensate for different states of samples.

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What is the process of normalization?

Answer

Correct Answer: Analysis of soil test data to compensate for different states of samples

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What is the normal force?

Answer

Correct Answer: Force acting normal to the plane of reference.

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The relationship between void ratio and the normal effective stress for soil loaded beyond the current yield stress is referred to as?

Answer

Correct Answer: Normal compression line

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What is the relationship between void ratio and the normal effective stress for soil loaded beyond the current yield stress in an isotropic compression?

Answer

Correct Answer: Direct relationship

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What is the allowable bearing pressure for spread foundations on sandy soil?

Answer

Correct Answer: Nominal bearing pressure

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Negative skin friction forces are induced on deep foundations by:

Answer

Correct Answer: Downward movement of adjacent soil relative to the foundation element.

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What is Montmorillonite?

Answer

Correct Answer: A clay structure that has a strong attraction to water.

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