CE 366 Foundation Engineering 1 Middle East Technical University

Homework 1 Department of Civil Engineering

HOMEWORK 1

Homework v1.0 is released and due on April 7, 2018 Saturday at 17:00.

You have 4 questions.

CE366 Homeworks are to be submitted to the “CE366 Homework box” in Soil Mechanics
Lab.

Soil Mechanics lab door is locked every day at 17:00 and homeworks cannot be submitted
under the door.

Homework solutions will be posted to the course website on April 7, 2018 Saturday at
17:00.

Unless otherwise stated, use γwater= 10 kN/m3

Question 1 (25%)

Sectional view of a highway embankment is shown in the figure below. Determine the vertical
stress increase at point A beneath the embankment if the unit weight of the embankment
material is given as γ = 18 kN/m3.

10 m

8m

12 m
5m
A

Center Line

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CE 366 Foundation Engineering 1 Middle East Technical University
Homework 1 Department of Civil Engineering

Question 2 (25%)
A 20 storey residential structure is to be founded on a mat foundation. Mat foundation
dimensions are assumed as 30 m x 50 m and the gross foundation stress is 250 kPa as given by
Figure 1 (a).

Plan View 50 m

30 m CPT SPT
qc (MPa) qs (kPa)
0 2 4 6 8 0 50 100

q=250 kPa
dfoundation
7m

γwet=19 kN/m3 30 m
15 m
N=3, 5, 7 blows/15 cm

GWT

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 1
i) Estimate the depth of foundation leading to “zero” net foundation pressure.
ii) If dfoundation is given as 7 m, estimate the depth of site investigations relative to the
foundation elevation, if the depth of site investigation criterion is defined as the
depth where gross foundation stress is reduced to 15% of its value immediately
beneath the foundation. Please use 30° rule to estimate variation of foundation
stresses with depth.
iii) If the CPT results is given as shown in Figure 1 (b), classify the soil and suggest an
undrained shear strength, cu value for this clay layer.
iv) If a hammer with 55 % energy is used and for the SPT performed at 7 m depth
uncorrected field N values are given as 3, 5, 7 blows/15 cm. Estimate N1,60 value.
Note that the length of the rod, sampler type, borehole diameter are given as 8.5 m,
standard sampler without room for liner and 65 mm respectively.
v) If CE 366 soil is identified as clay, estimate N60 value and suggest a single
representative Young’s Modulus for this layer.

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CE 366 Foundation Engineering 1 Middle East Technical University
Homework 1 Department of Civil Engineering

Question 3 (25%)
Transcona Grain Elevator structure, in Canada, failed in October 1913, and one side of the
structure sank by about 7 m (Figure 1). This is one of the few opportunities for a full scale
observation of the concept of the ultimate bearing capaciy failure in soil. After construction is
finished, the grain elevator was filled with grains, increasing the weight of the building, and
failure occurred. The foundation is a mat foundation having dimensions of 23.3 m x 59.1 m
(same as the dimensions of the superstructure), and depth of foundation is 3.6 m below ground
surface. Although in reality, the subsoil profile was layered (heterogeneous), for this homework
problem let’s assume that there is only one type of soil, having average unit weight of 17.3
kN/m3 and 18.5 kN/m3, above and below the water table, respectively. Groundwater table is
located at a depth of 1.8 m from ground surface. Weight of the structure and the grains inside,
together with the weight of the foundation was 394186 kN at the time of failure. Take unit
weight of the water as 9.81 kN/m3.
a) Calculate net foundation pressure
b) Failure occurred due to short-term bearing capacity problem. Assuming F.S. = 1.00, at
the time of failure, back-calculate the undrained shear strength, cu , of the clay.
c) Calculate the long-term factor of safety for bearing capacity, if the drained shear
strength parameters of the clay is c’ = 0 kPa, and ’= 20°.

Figure 1. Failure of Transcona Grain Elevator in October 1913.

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CE 366 Foundation Engineering 1 Middle East Technical University
Homework 1 Department of Civil Engineering

Question 4 (25%)

A footing is 4 m * 4 m in plan. The underlying soil strata (three saturated clay layers) are
illustrated in the figure. Properties of the clays are in included in the figure. The footing applies
a uniform gross pressure of 275 kPa to the soil. Calculate the consolidation settlement due to
loading. There is no need to further divide layers into sublayers.
Type of clay μ
Sensitive clays, soft alluvial clays 1.1
Normally consolidated clays 0.85
Overconsolidated clays 0.6
Heavily overconsolidated clays 0.35
2.5 m

4mx4m
Over-consolidated clay layer
4m

CLAY 1 Saturated unit weight = 18 kN/m3

coeff. of volume compressibility = 4*10-5 m2/kN

Normally-consolidated clay layer

4m

CLAY 2
coeff. of volume compressibility = 10-4 m2/kN
3m

CLAY 3 Normally-consolidated clay layer

coeff. of volume compressibility = 6*10-5 m2/kN

ROCK (assume incompressible)