Syllabus:

Soil problems, Soil formation, Soil behavior, soil exploration

Nature of soil: basic definitions, 3 phase relations, water content influence on Atterberg limits, Various
indices, soil classification – USCs, ISI and engineering use chart

Individual particles: size and shape structure of clay, normal and shear stress acting

Dry soil- stress-strain behavior, Geo-static stresses, stresses due to various geometric shape of loading-
Bossissenq, Westergaard, Newmark and approximate method

Knowledge level :

1) Subjective type: Briefly discuss the soil formation

2) Multiple choice type:

Understanding level:

1) Subjective type: differentiate between transported and residual soils

Distinguish between texture and structure of soil
Differentiate between water content and degree of saturation

Application level:

1) Multiple choice: 1) if the porosity of a soil sample is 25 % , the void ratio is

a) 0.20 b) 0.80 c) 0.33 d) 0.40
2) If the soil is dried beyond its shrinkage limit , it will show
a) Large volume change b) moderate volume change c) low volume change d) no volume change
3) The undrained compressive strength of a remolded clay is 10 kN/m2. If the sensitivity of the clay
is 20, the corresponding compressive strength of undisturbed soil is
a) 5 kN/m2 b) 10 kN/m2 c) 20 kN/m2 d) 200 kN/m2
4) The following was obtained from a liquid limit test conducted on a soil sample.
Number of blows 17 22 25 28 30
Water content ( %) 63 62.90 60.90 60.20 59.50
The liquid limit of the soil is
a) 63 b) 59.50 c) 60.90 d) 62.90
5) The ratio of saturated unit weight to dry unit weight of a soil is 1.25. If the specific gravity of
solids is Gs is 2.65, the void ratio of the soil is
a) 0.625 b)0.663 c) 0.944 d) 1.325
6) The liquid limit(LL), plastic limit (PL) and shrinkage limit ( SL) of a cohesive soil satisfy the
relation
a) LL > PL < SL b) LL > PL >SL c) LL < PL< SL d) LL < PL > SL
7)

a) Fill in the blanks: The value of void ration can be more than --------
What is the maximum value of degree of saturation
Soils transported by wind are known as --------
The ratio of unconfined compressive strength of an undisturbed soil sample
to that of a remolded soil sample at same water content is known as ---------