DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANESBURG GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING 4A, MAYMIUNE 2014 EXAMINATION. (OPEN BOOK EXAM, ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS, TOTAL TIME = 3 HOURS Important Open Book Rule: Piease solve the problems as given without attempting to reproduce (look alike) the solution from the referanes source info your anwar sles us ‘you will be penelised for his. QUESTION 4 (25 MARKS) 1) A series of cone penetiaton tests and exploratory borings were performed at a site ‘that might be prone to iquefaction. Based on this data, the folowing representative soil orofle were developed Depth Sci Cassifcation a (ny —_ ) 3.0 Ry sand Dxe0-70mm 3055 Fine to medium sand DageO22mm 85 S580 ClayeysandDa=0.08mm 10 ~~ Sily cay D: The groundwater table is at 2 depth of 1.0m. The design earthquake has a magnitude of 6.8 and would produce a peak horizontal acceleration of 0.50g at this, site. Assess the potential for liquefaction and discuss your findings. [15 Marks] 1) A proposed medical ofice bulding isto be built on a vacant piece of land adjacent to fan existing hospital building. This site Is undertaken by 30 ft of loose sand thal is prone to seismic liquefaction. To rectiy this liquefaction problem, the sand needs to be densified. Suggest an appropriate method of soil improvement for this site and indicate the reasons for your answer. The groundwater table is at a depth of Sift. [10 Marks} Isiamael Mesyio! Zing ose C 1 P Led ot PRIAQUESTION 2 — (25 MARKS) ‘Some years back, a developer purchased 160 acres of hily land and subdivided it fer used as @ housing tractidevelopment. The subsequent construction included extensive cuts and {ls to create level buildings pads separated by 1.6:1 cut and fit slopes. Due to the current country building regulations being mare stringent than before, the quality of the undertaken artworks are no longer meeting the current minimum country building regulations equiernents. As a result, some of the slopes in this tract have experienced slides, ‘especially during years with heavier-than-nocmal rainfall (One of the slopes is showing some signs of possible instability in the form of tension cracks, some surface evidence of small movements, et, resuking in the need for stabilization, As the project geotechnical engineer, you have designed a stabilization scheme that includes dewatering and construction of buttress fl. You are also required to install appropriete instrumentation to monitor the slope and thus dotermine whether the stabilization Is working 1) What type or types of instrumentation would be appropriate and where should they be installed? [40 Marks] ) A geotechnical investigation indicates thatthe failure surface of one of the recently faled slope was as shown in the Figure 1 below, Assuming the failure occured while undrained conditions prevailed in the slope, back-calculate the value of Sy Use the Swedish slip circle method with the cross-section that existed immediately before it falied. Usey = 119 1b/ft?. [15 Marks] igure 1 Cross-Section for Question 2 faeQUESTICN 3 (25 MARKS) @) Extlain why gravity walls are considered to be extemally stabilised systems whist soi nailing s considered to an intemal stabilizing system of retaining wall [10Marks A.10 ft tall concrete wall with a vertical back is to be backflled with sity sand that has a tunitwetght of 122 l6/ft3, an effective cohesion of 0 (zero), and an effective tition angle of 820, The ground behind the wall willbe level The wall tas a foundation that extends from the ground surface to a depth of 2 ft, As the ‘wall moves slightly away from the backfil soils to create the active condition, the footing moves into the soils below the wall, creating the passive condition as shown in Figure 2 below. ») Assume the wall moves sufficiently to develop the active condition of the soll calculate the normal force per foot acting on the Lack of the wall using Rankine's method. [7 Marks] ©) Compute the timate passive pressure acting on the front of the foundation. [3 Marks] ~a PamaQUESTION 4 (25 MARKS) ‘A proposed buliing is to be ult on the sol profie show" in Figure 3 below. The column loads range from 250 KN to 1500 KN, and each will be supforiad on a 0.8m deep square footing. The allowable total settlement is 25mm, and the fac of safely against a bearing capacity failure must be atleast 2.0. Caleulate a single allowable bearing pressure, qa, that would fo suitable for the design of all footings (Le. satisfying both bearing capacity and settlement requirements) at this site, Figure 3 Proposed buiding ste sil profile fr quastion 4 fi =