EE No.

Republic of the Philippines

PROFESSIONAL REGULATION COMMISSION
Manila

BOARD OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CIVIL ENGINEER Licensure Examination

Saturday, January 14, 2023 08:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING SET A

INSTRUCTION: Select the correct answer for each of the following questions. Mark only one answer
for each item by shading the box corresponding to the letter of your choice on the answer sheet
provided. STRICTLY NO ERASURE ALLOWED. Use pencil no. 2 only.

MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. Water flows through a rectangular irrigation canal 500 mm deep by 1 meter wide with a mean
velocity of 2 m/s. Determine the rate of flow in m3/min.
A. 50 C. 100
B. 60 D. 80

2. A rectangular suppressed weir of length 1 m is constructed or cut at the top of a tall

rectangular tank having a horizontal section 20 m by 20 m. If the initial head over the weir
is 1 m, compute the time required to discharge 72 cu.m of water, in seconds. Use Francis
formula.
A. 36.52 C. 45.35
B. 58.74 D. 24.12

3. The discharge through a Cipolletti weir is 0.52 m3/s. The head on it is one-fourth of the
crest’s length. What is the head in m?
A. 0.38 C. 0.42
B. 0.34 D. 0.46

4. During a test on a 2.4 m suppressed weir 900 mm high, the head was maintained constant at 300
mm. In 38 seconds, 28,800 liters of water were collected. What is the weir factor Cw?
A. 1.69 C. 1.89
B. 1.79 D. 1.99

5. A vertical jet of water leaves the nozzle under a constant head of 25 m and a diameter of 30
mm. How high above the nozzle tip can it support a load 300 N?
A. 6.29 m C. 6.87 m
B. 7.32 m D. 5.24 m

6. Water is issued vertically at the rate of 30 liters per second through a 50 mm diameter
nozzle. Neglecting losses, how high above the nozzle tip can the water jet support a load of
250 N?
A. 8.36 m C. 9.32 m
B. 7.52 m D. 6.25 m

7. Water is flowing in a 200 mm diameter rigid pipe that is 850 m long, at the rate of 0.25 m/s.
The valve near the exit end of the pipe was closed in 0.5 seconds. Bulk modulus of elasticity
of water is 2.07 x 109 Pa. What is the water hammer pressure due to instantaneous closure?
A. 359.7 kPa C. 456.3 kPa
B. 338.4 kPa D. 398.7 kPa

8. A vertical jet of water through a nozzle supports a load of 150 N. The velocity and diameter
of the jet at the nozzle tip are 17.46 m/s and 3 cm. Find the distance of load from the
nozzle tip in meters.
A. 5 m C. 6 m
B. 7 m D. 8 m

9. The permeameter in a permeability test setup involves a soil sample 200 mm diameter and a
length of 30 mm. The height of water is kept constant at 400 mm. In a duration of 4 minutes,
water was collected in the graduated flask having a volume of 420 cu.cm. Determine the
coefficient of permeability in percent.
A. 0.0253 C. 0.0642
B. 0.0326 D. 0.0418

10. A layer of soft clay having an initial void ratio of 1.2 is 6 m thick under a compression
load applied above it, the void ratio is decreased by one-third. Evaluate the reduction in
the thickness of the clay layer.
A. 0.86 m C. 1.18 m
B. 1.09 m D. 1.23 m
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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EE No. 6

11. An underground tunnel is to be constructed at a depth of 10 meters below ground surface for a
subway in Metro Manila. On ground surface and radially located from the line of the tunnel is
a vertical load 10 MN. Design specifications require that the vertical stress due to the load
at the level of the tunnel should not exceed five (5) percent the vertical stress at the same
depth directly below the load.

Obtain the minimum distance at which the alignment of the tunnel be located from the line of
application of the load.

Hint: According to the Boussinesq theory, the vertical stress at a point below the surface of
a semi-infinite, homogeneous, isotropic soil mass due to a point load Q applied at the ground
surface is given by the equation:
0.477𝑄𝑁
𝑃=
𝑧2

1
𝑁=
[1 + (𝑟/𝑧)2 ]2.5

Where: r = horizontal distance of the point from the vertical line of application of the load
z = depth of the point below ground surface

A. 13 m C. 15 m
B. 14 m D. 16 m

12. A blow count N = 6 was obtained at a certain depth of a clay soil deposit. Estimate the
unconfined compression strength of the clay deposit. See attached table.

Very Very
Consistency → Soft Medium Stiff Hard
Soft Stiff
Unconfined
0-25 25-50 50-100 100-200 200-400
Compression Strength
Standard Penetration
Resistance, N blows 0-2 2-4 4-8 8-16 16-32
per foot (305 mm)
Unit weight in kN/m3 11-15 15-17 17-24 >24

A. 60.0 C. 70.0
B. 75.0 D. 62.5

Situation – A trapezoidal canal has a bottom width of 6 m and a side slope 2 horizontal to 1
vertical. When the depth of the flow is 1.2 m and the rate of flow is 20.4 m3/sec.

13. Compute the specific energy in meters.

A. 1.41 m C. 1.15 m
B. 1.23 m D. 1.72 m

14. If the roughness coefficient, n = 0.015, obtain the slope of the canal using Manning’s
formula.
A. 0.00081 C. 0.00062
B. 0.00054 D. 0.00094

15. Compute the average shearing stress at the boundary over the surface of the channel, in N/m2.
A. 6.4 C. 4.1
B. 8.2 D. 3.2

Situation – Water flows through an almost level rectangular channel 3 m wide at 12 m3/s. The
depth of the channel gradually increases from 1.0 m to 1.1 m for a length of 5 m.

16. What is the head loss, in meters?

A. 0.041 C. 0.065
B. 0.032 D. 0.028

17. What is the slope of the energy gradient?

A. 0.0082 C. 0.0120
B. 0.0064 D. 0.0048

18. Obtain the value of the roughness coefficient.

A. 0.017 C. 0.012
B. 0.020 D. 0.025

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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EE No. 6

Situation - A jet of water 75 mm diameter and moving to the right impinges on a flat plate held
normal to its axis. If the velocity of the jet is 25 m/s,

19. What force will keep the plate in equilibrium?

A. 0.017 C. 0.012
B. 2761 N D. 0.025

20. If the plate were moving to the right with a velocity of 9 m/s, what force would the jet
exert on the plate?
A. 0.017 C. 0.012
B. 1131 N D. 0.025

21. Had the plate been moving to the left at 9 m/s, what force would the jet exert on the plate?
A. 0.017 C. 0.012
B. 2761 N D. 5107 N

Situation – Water is flowing in a 200-mm diameter rigid pipe that is 650 m long. The increase in
pressure caused by instantaneous closure of the valve near the exit is 700 kPa. Bulk modulus of
elasticity of water is 2.07x109 Pa.

22. What is the celerity of pressure wave in m/s?

A. 1439 C. 1621
B. 1256 D. 1176

23. What is the maximum discharge in m3/s?

A. 0.0188 C. 0.0232
B. 0.0232 D. 0.0153

24. What water hammer pressure is expected if the valve is closed in 3 seconds?
A. 289 kPa C. 187 kPa
B. 342 kPa D. 211 kPa

Situation – A layer of clay 8.6 m thick is overlain by a deposit of sand 15.2 m thick to ground
surface. When the water table is at ground surface level, the saturated unit weight of the sand
was determined to be 21.2 kN/m3 for which its dry unit weight is 18.2 kN/m3. The saturated unit
weight of the clay is 18.8 kN/m3. When the ground water table lowered by 7.6 m, the degree of
saturation of the sand above the water table was lowered to 30%. At the mid-height of the clay
layer,

25. Evaluate the effective pressure, in kPa, before lowering of the water table.
A. 212 kPa C. 137 kPa
B. 142 kPa D. 229 kPa

26. Evaluate the effective pressure, in kPa, after the lowering of the water table.
A. 269 kPa C. 327 kPa
B. 412 kPa D. 270 kPa

27. Evaluate the effective pressure, in kPa, when there is no water in the sand layer but remain
in moist condition at the same degree of saturation.
A. 289 kPa C. 387 kPa
B. 329 kPa D. 215 kPa

Situation – A 300 mm diameter test well penetrates 27 m below the static water table. After 24
hours of pumping at 69 liters/sec. The water level in an observation well at a distance of 95 m
from the test well is lowered 0.5 m and the other observation well at a distance of 35 m from
the test well, the water level dropped by 1.1 m.

28. What is the rate of flow in m3/day?

A. 9516.6 C. 6951.6
B. 5619.6 D. 5961.6

29. Compute the coefficient of permeability of the aquifer in m/day.

A. 46.51 C. 56.39
B. 60.27 D. 64.82

30. Compute the transmissibility of the aquifer in m2/day.

A. 1579 C. 1759
B. 1795 D. 1957

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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EE No. 6

Situation – A confined aquifer is shown in the figure. This aquifer has a source of recharge
located as shown. The hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer is 50 m/day with a porosity of 25%.
The piezometric (head) surface in the two observation wells 1000 m apart are at elevation 75 m
and 65 m, respectively from the common datum. The aquifer has an average thickness of 30 m and
an average width of 4 km.

31. Determine the nearest value to the rate of flow of water through the aquifer, in cubic meters
per day.
A. 600,000 C. 50,000
B. 60,000 D. 500,000

32. Determine the nearest value to the seepage velocity in m/day.

A. 4 C. 40
B. 20 D. 2

33. Determine the nearest value to the time of travel from the head of aquifer to a point 4 km
downstream, in days.
A. 200 C. 2000
B. 1000 D. 100

Situation – A stratified soil consists of the following layers:

Layer 1: Thickness, H1 = 4 cm, k1 = 3 x 10-4 cm/s
Layer 2: Thickness, H2 = 5 cm, k1 = 2 x 10-5 cm/s
Layer 3: Thickness, H3 = 3 cm, k1 = 3 x 10-3 cm/s
Layer 4: Thickness, H4 = 3 cm, k1 = 3 x 10-3 cm/s

34. Evaluate the equivalent coefficient of permeability for flow in the horizontal direction.
A. 0.00214 cm/s C. 0.00324 cm/s
B. 0.00129 cm/s D. 0.00186 cm/s

35. Obtain the rate of flow per meter width of the deposit, in cubic centimeters per second if
the hydraulic gradient for the soil formation is 0.70.
A. 1.35 C. 3.32
B. 4.58 D. 2.82

36. Evaluate the discharge of the aquifer in cubic meters per day.
A. 0.325 C. 0.117
B. 0.095 D. 0.228

Situation – Given the following soil properties:

Specific gravity of soil solids, Gs = 2.67

Void ratio, e = 0.45
Degree of saturation, S = 40%

Calculate the following:

37. The unit weight of the soil.

A. 18.52 kN/m3 C. 20.14 kN/m3
B. 19.28 kN/m3 D. 19.63 kN/m3

38. The dry unit weight of the soil.

A. 18.57 kN/m3 C. 18.06 kN/m3
B. 17.56 kN/m3 D. 19.21 kN/m3

39. The unit weight of the soil when fully saturated.

A. 20.45 kN/m3 C. 20.89 kN/m3
B. 21.58 kN/m3 D. 21.11 kN/m3
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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EE No. 6

Situation – The following are data taken from sieve analysis of three soil samples. Classify the
soils by AASHTO classification system. (Use the table provided)

Soil Sample
Diameter (mm) A B C
Percent finer than No. 4 sieve 4.760 100 100 100
Percent finer than No. 10 sieve 2.000 92 77 98
Percent finer than No. 40 sieve 0.420 53 51 84
Percent finer than No. 200 sieve 0.074 17 33 63
Liquid Limit 36 46 47
Plastic Limit 20 28 24

40. What is the classification of soil A?

A. A-2-6(5) C. A-2-6(0)
B. A-1-a(0) D. A-2-7(2)

41. What is the classification of soil B?

A. A-2-7(1) C. A-2-5(1)
B. A-2-6(4) D. A-2-4(3)

42. What is the classification of soil C?

A. A-4(6) C. A-5(8)
B. A-7-5(10) D. A-7-6(12)

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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EE No. 6

Situation – A dense silt layer has the following properties: void ratio = 0.40, effective
diameter d10 = 10 μm, capillary constant C = 0.20 cm2. Free ground water level is 8.0 m below the
ground surface.

43. Find the height of capillary rise of the silt. Capillary rise is given as h = C /(e x d10).
A. 5 m C. 2 m
B. 3 m D. 7 m

44. Find the vertical effective stress in kPa at 5 m depth. Assume unit weight of solids = 26.5
kN/m3 and that the soil above the capillary action rise and ground surface is partially
saturated at 50%.
A. 176 C. 234
B. 158 D. 134

Situation – Given the laboratory results of the Atterberg Limits Test. Plot the water content
versus the number of blows.

A. Liquid Limit
Test Number → 1 2 3 4
Number of Blows 39 28 19 13
Weight of Wet Soil + Container, g 23.43 21.05 21.4 22.5
Weight of Dry Soil + Container, g 20.21 18.32 18.65 19.43
Weight of Container, g 12.74 12.43 13.11 13.54
Weight of Water, g
Weight of Dry Soil, g
Water Content, %
B. Plastic Limit and Natural Water Content
Plastic Limit Natural Water Content
Test Number → 1 2 1 2
Weight of Wet Soil + Container, g 23.50 23.10 17.33 17.11
Weight of Dry Soil + Container, g 20.42 20.19 14.84 14.36
Weight of Container, g 12.45 12.54 9.76 9.34
Weight of Water, g
Weight of Dry Soil, g
Water Content, %
Average, %

45. Determine the nearest value to the Liquid Limit of the soil.
A. 49.4% C. 47.1%
B. 48.3% D. 46.6%

46. Determine the nearest value to the Plastic Limit of the soil.
A. 38.34 C. 35.43
B. 37.49 D. 39.65

47. Determine the nearest value to the Liquidity Index of the soil.
A. 1.34 C. 1.87
B. 1.55 D. 2.32

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HYDRAULICS AND PRINCIPLES OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING EE No. 6

Situation – A 12 m high cylindrical tank to be filled with oil having unit weight of 9.4 kN/m3
will be built on site as shown in the figure.

48. Determine the nearest value to the effective stress at the midheight of the clay layer.
A. 124.8 kPa C. 136.2 kPa
B. 110.8 kPa D. 104.3 kPa

49. Determine the nearest value to the settlement of the tank.

A. 745 mm C. 426 mm
B. 1015 mm D. 952 mm

50. Determine the minimum depth to which the tank must be placed to minimize settlement.
A. 6.75 m C. 4.65 m
B. 5.25 m D. 6.15 m

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