Foundation Engineering - Take Home Quiz 4.

A triaxial shear test was performed on a well-drained sand

MIDTERM sample. The normal stress on the failure plane and the shear
stress on the failure plane, at failure were determined to be
1. From the figure shown: Surcharge load is applied at the 6,300 psf and 4,200 psf, respectively.
ground surface qo = 40 kPa. a. Determine the angle of internal friction of the sand.
H1 = 3m, ɣ1 = 17 kN/m3, φ1 = 22° b. Determine the angle of the failure plane.
H2 = 4m, ɣ2 = 21 kN/m3, φ2 = 28° c. Determine the maximum principal stress.

5. A sample of moist sand was subjected to a series of triaxial

tests. The soil fails under the following stresses
Cell pressure Deviator Stress
Sample 1 14 kPa 20 kPa
Sample 2 25 kPa 31 kPa
Soil 1: What is the angle of internal friction of the soil in degrees?
H1
γ1, φ1
6. A consolidated undrained (CU) compression test was
conducted on a saturated clay soil by isotropically
consolidating the soil using a cell pressure of 150 kPa and then
incrementally applying loads on the plunger while keeping the
cell pressure constant. Failure was observed when the stress
Soil 2: exerted by the plunger (deviator stress) was 160 kPa and the
γ2, φ2 H2 pore water pressure recorded was 54 kPa.
a. Determine the undrained shear strength of the clay
b. Determine the undrained friction angle
c. Determine the drained friction angle

7. A footing 6 m square carries a total load, including its own

a. Determine the total lateral pressure at the base of the wall.
b. Determine the total active force acting on the wall
c. Determine the total active moment acting on the wall.
2. For the shown figure, plot the pressure diagram below and
find the resultant force F and its location under active
condition.
weight, of 10,000 kN. The base of the footing is at depth of 3 m
below the ground surface. The soil strata at the site consist of a
layer of stiff saturated clay 27.5 m thick overlying dense sand.
The average bulk density of the clay is 1,920 kg/m3 and its
average shear strength determined from undrained triaxial test
is 130 kN/m2 and φ = 0°. Assume general shear failure. For φ =
0°, Nc = 5.7, Nq = 1.0 and Nγ = 0. Use Terzaghi’s ultimate bearing
capacity equations to:
a. Determine the gross foundation pressure in kPa
b. Determine the net foundation pressure
c. Calculate the factor of safety of the foundation against
complete shear failure under the undrained condition (both
gross and net). Side cohesion on the foundation may be
neglected.

8. A footing 1 m square carries a total load, including its own

3. From the figure shown, a vertical retaining wall with a
horizontal backfill. Note that the water table elevations in front
of the wall and at the back of the wall are different.
a. Determine the tension crack depth.
b. Determine the total thrust acting on the wall.
c. Determine the location of the total thrust from the base of
the wall.
weight of 59,130 kg. The base of the footing is at a depth of 1
m below the ground surface. The soil strata at the site consist
of a layer of stiff saturated clay 27.5 m thick overlying dense
sand. The average density of the clay is 1,846 kg/m3. Given is
Terzaghi’s ultimate bearing capacity for square footing:
a. Determine the gross foundation pressure
b. Determine the overburden pressure
c. Determine the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil
d. Assuming local shear failure, determine the ultimate
bearing capacity of the soil.

Soil 1:
c = 10 kN/m3
γ = 18.5 kN/m3 4m
φ = 25°

Soil 2:

8m
c = 15 kN/m3
γ = 19.0 kN/m3
9m
φ = 30°