FACULTY OF ENGINEERING & THE BUILT

ENVIRONMENT
Department of Civil Engineering &
Geomatics

2021 SEMESTER 2
TEST 1
MEMO

INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMME: BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

INSTRUCTIONAL OFFERING: GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING 2B
SUBJECT CODE/S: GEOT201
DATE: 19TH OCTOBER 2021
DURATION: 60 MINUTES
TIME: 15:00 – 16:00
TOTAL MARKS: 40 MARKS
NUMBER OF PAGES: 6 (INCLUDING COVER PAGE)
EXAMINER/S: X.E FEIKIE
MODERATOR: H. A JAJBHAY

INSTRUCTIONS/REQUIREMENTS:-

[1] ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS.

[2] CALCULATORS MAY BE USED

[3] ALL WORKINGS MUST BE TO THREE (2) DECIMAL PLACES

Do not turn the page before permission is given

Question 1 (10 marks)

During a laboratory test for Atterberg’s limits, the liquid limit and the shrinkage was recorded
as 35.9 and 3mm respectfully. The plastic limit information is presented in the table below.

Tin No A B
Tin mass (g) 14.7 14.7
Tin + wet soil (g) 17.5 17
Tin + dry soil (g) 17.0 16.6

Determine the following:

a. The plastic limit (5 Marks)
Tin No A B
Tin mass 14.7 14.7
Tin + wet soil 17.5 17
Tin + dry soil 17.0 16.6
Mass of water 0.5 0.4
Mass of dry soil 2.3 1.9
Moisture content 21.7 21.1
Average moisture 21.4

b. The plasticity index (2 marks)

PI = LL – PL = 35.9 – 21.4 = 14.5
c. The shrinkage limit, if the recorded number of taps were 20. (3 Marks)
The plasticity index is less than 24, therefore
0.5333
𝑓=
1 − 0.008𝑁

0.5333
𝑓= = 0.635
1 − 0.008(20)

𝐿! = 0.635 × 3 = 1.91mm

Question 2 (22 Marks)

A soil sample taken from a site. The soil was found to be 84% saturated and has a moisture
content of 18.4%. If the volume of solids is 1m3 and the density of solids is 2720kg/m3.
Determine the following;
a. Mass of solids (3 Marks)

b. Mass of water (3 Marks)

c. Volume of water (3 Marks)

d. Volume of voids (3 Marks)

e. Total volume (3 Marks)

f. Bulk density (3 Marks)

 g. Saturated density (4 Marks)

Question 3 (10 marks)

A soil sample is prepared by mixing a certain mass of dry soil(density of solids is 2.65 g/cm)
with 10% water by mass.

a. Determine the volume of water (m3) if the volume of solids is 1m 3

(5
Marks)
b. After compaction the soil still had 4% air voids. Determine the void ratio if the total
volume is 1.318m3 (5 Marks)
 Formula Sheet
𝑉 = 𝑉" + 𝑉# 𝑊
𝛾!)* =
𝑊 = 𝑊" + 𝑊$ 𝑉 𝑘 = 𝑐% 𝑚% 𝛾&
𝑉% (𝐺! + 𝑒)𝛾& 𝛥𝐻 = 𝑚% 𝛥𝑃𝐻
𝑒= 𝛾!)* =
𝑉" 1+𝑒 𝑐7 𝑃0
(1 + 𝑤)𝐺! 𝜌& 𝛥𝐻 = 𝐻 𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑉% 𝜌= 1+𝑒 𝑃6
𝑛= 1+𝑒
𝑉 𝑐% 𝑡
𝑉& 𝐺! 𝜌& 𝑇% = 1
𝑆= 𝜌' = 𝑑
𝑉% 1+𝑒 2𝑐
𝑛 (𝐺! + 𝑒)𝜌& 𝑧7 =
𝑒= 𝜌!)* = 𝛾g𝐾8
1−𝑛 1+𝑒
𝑒 𝑀& = 𝑤𝐺! 𝜌& 𝑞4 = 𝑐𝑁7 𝑠7 + 𝑝6 𝑁9 𝑠9 + 0,5𝛾𝐵𝑁: 𝑠:
𝑛= 𝑁9 = 𝑒 ; *)/ < 𝑡𝑎𝑛1 ( 45 + 𝜑⁄2)
1+𝑒 𝑊! = 𝐺! 𝛾& (1 − 𝑛)
𝑀& 𝑊& = 𝑤𝐺! 𝛾& (1 − 𝑛) 𝑁7 = l𝑁9 − 1m 𝑐𝑜𝑡 𝜑
𝑤=
𝑀! 𝛾' = 𝐺! 𝛾& (1 − 𝑛) 𝑁: = 2(𝑁9 + 1) 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑
𝑊 𝛾 = 𝐺! 𝛾& (1 − 𝑛)(1 + 𝑤)
𝛾= 𝑠7 = 1 + (𝐵⁄𝐿)(𝑁9 ⁄𝑁7 )
𝑉 𝛾!)* = [(1 − 𝑛)𝐺! + 𝑛]𝛾&
𝑊! 𝑠9 = 1 + (𝐵 ⁄𝐿) 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑
𝛾' = 𝑛𝛾&
𝑉 𝑤!)* = 𝑠: = 1 − 0,4(𝐵⁄𝐿)
(1 − 𝑛)𝛾& 𝐺!
𝑊! (1 + 𝑤) 𝑛 𝑞4(/3*) = 𝑞4 − 𝛾𝑧
𝛾= 𝑤!)* = 𝑞4(/3*)
𝑉 (1 − 𝑛)𝐺!
𝛾 𝑞4(!)23) = + 𝛾𝑧
𝛾' = 𝑒,)- − 𝑒 𝐹𝑂𝑆
1+𝑤 𝐷+ = 𝑁𝑒)%3
𝑒,)- − 𝑒,./ 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 = × 𝐻 × 𝛾& × 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎_𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒
𝑀 𝑁𝑒
𝜌= (1 − 𝑛,./ )(𝑛,)- − 𝑛)
𝑉 𝐷+ = 1 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
𝑀! (𝑛,)- − 𝑛,./ )(1 − 𝑛) 𝐾8 =
𝜌' = 𝑄𝑙 1 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
𝑉 𝑘= 1 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
𝛾 = 𝑔𝜌 (𝑁/𝑚( ) 𝐴ℎ𝑡 𝐾? =
𝑎𝐿 𝑙𝑛( ℎ0 ⁄ℎ1 ) 1 − 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜑
𝑊! = 𝐺! 𝛾& 𝑘=
𝐴(𝑡1 − 𝑡0 ) Conventional FOS
𝑊& = 𝑤𝑊! ∑ 𝑊(𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝛼 − 𝑟4 𝑠𝑒𝑐 𝛼) 𝑡𝑎𝑛 𝜑 ′ + 𝑐′𝑅𝜃
𝑊! 𝑞 𝑙𝑛( 𝑟1 ⁄𝑟0 ) =
𝐺! = 𝑘= ∑ 𝑊 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝛼
𝑉! 𝛾& 𝜋(ℎ11 − ℎ01 )
(1 + 𝑤)𝐺! 𝛾& 𝑞 𝑙𝑛( 𝑟1 ⁄𝑟0 )
𝛾= 𝑘= Uv Tv
1+𝑒 2𝜋𝑑(ℎ1 − ℎ0 ) 0,1 0,008
𝐺! 𝛾& 𝑁2 0,2 0,031
𝛾' = 𝑞 = 𝑘ℎ
1+𝑒 𝑁3 0,3 0,071
𝑊& 0,4 0,126
𝑉& =
𝛾& 𝐷56 0,5 0,197
𝐶4 = 0,6 0,287
𝑉& = 𝑤𝐺! 𝐷06
𝑤𝐺! 1 0,7 0,403
𝑆= 𝐷(6
𝐶7 = 0,8 0,567
𝑒 𝐷56 𝐷06
0.6 0,9 0,848
𝑞= 𝐺! − 1
1 − 0.004𝑁 𝑖7 =
1+𝑒
𝑥
0.5333
𝑓= = 𝑥6
1 − 0.008𝑁
𝑧1
𝐿! = 𝑓 × 𝑠 − (equn of a parabola)
𝐿! = 𝑞 × 𝑠 4𝑥6
𝛥𝑒
𝑚% =