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16-Civ-B19 Foundation Engineering: December 2019

Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)

  1. Question 1 Shallow Foundations — square footing under biaxial moment
  2. Question 2 Deep Foundations — driven 4 × 4 pile group in clay over sand
  3. Question 3 Slope Stability — Taylor's coefficients, mobilised strength and sudden drawdown
  4. Question 4 Retaining Structures — cantilever wall with a surcharge and a high water table
  5. Question 5 Deep Foundations — bored pile group in over-consolidated clay
  6. Question 6 Shallow Foundations — circular raft for a grain silo

Start with Question 1 →

Paper format: National Exams, December 2019 — 07-Str-B5 Foundation Engineering (catalogued here under 16-Civ-B19). Three hours, open book (any non-communicating calculator permitted). Six questions are printed and each is of equal value (30 marks); the rubric states that five questions constitute a complete paper and that the first five appearing in the answer book will be marked. All six are solved below, because the set is intended as a study resource rather than a timed attempt.

Reference texts. B. M. Das, Principles of Foundation Engineering, 9th ed. (Cengage) — bearing capacity Ch. 3–4, elastic settlement Ch. 5, consolidation settlement Ch. 6, retaining walls Ch. 8, single piles Ch. 9, pile groups Ch. 10. R. F. Craig / J. A. Knappett, Craig's Soil Mechanics, 8th ed. — slope stability and rapid drawdown Ch. 12. D. W. Taylor, Fundamentals of Soil Mechanics (1948) — stability coefficients. Canadian Geotechnical Society, Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual (CFEM), 4th ed. — Canadian limit-states practice, resistance factors and tolerable movements. Tomlinson & Woodward, Pile Design and Construction Practice, 6th ed. — equivalent-raft settlement.

Check — figure dimension. On the Question 4 drawing the 1.25 m dimension line terminates at the back (retained) face of the stem, not at its front face: the dimension line runs from the toe edge of the base to the stem's right face. The wall therefore has a 0.95 m toe and a 1.75 m heel, not a 1.25 m toe and a 1.45 m heel. The same drawing shows the ground line in front of the wall at the underside of the base, i.e. no fill covers the toe, so the bearing check below is taken with $D_f = 0$ and passive resistance in front of the toe is neglected. Both readings are stated again where they are used.