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07-Str-A3: Undated paper

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

  1. Question 1 Ten multiple-choice items
  2. Question 2 Five statements, each to be justified
  3. Question 3 Stress increase beneath the centre of a square footing
  4. Question 4 Consolidation test — $e$–log $\sigma'$ curve, preconsolidation pressure and $C_c$
  5. Question 5 Seepage through a flow net around a sheet pile cut-off
  6. Question 6 Consolidated-undrained triaxial series — effective and total strength parameters

Start with Question 1 →

Paper format. Engineers Canada / PEO National Examinations, May 2019 — 07-Str-A3 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis. Closed book, three hours, 100 marks, one approved Casio or Sharp calculator. All six questions are compulsory and are weighted 10 / 10 / 15 / 20 / 15 / 30. The paper carries its own appendix: two sheets of blank semi-logarithmic and squared graph paper (pages 7–9) for the plotted answers, the rectangular-loading $m$–$n$ influence chart (page 10), a Newmark influence chart (page 11) and a two-page formula sheet (pages 12–13) on which the Newmark influence value is printed as $\sigma_z = 0.005\,N q$, i.e. $I_N = 0.005$ over 200 elements. Every chart value quoted below is taken from those appendix sheets.

Sitting. The printed cover reads NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS – May 2019, 07-Str-A3 Geotechnical Materials and Analysis, 3 hours duration, and every interior page repeats it. The sitting is May 2019.

Reference texts.

  • B. M. Das & K. Sobhan, Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, 9th ed. — Ch. 2–3 (grain size and phase relations), Ch. 6 (compaction), Ch. 7–8 (permeability and seepage, flow nets), Ch. 9 (stresses in a soil mass, the $m$–$n$ chart and Newmark’s chart), Ch. 11 (consolidation, Casagrande’s construction), Ch. 12 (shear strength and the triaxial test).
  • R. F. Craig / J. A. Knappett, Craig’s Soil Mechanics, 8th ed. — Ch. 2 (seepage and flow nets), Ch. 3 (effective stress), Ch. 4 (consolidation), Ch. 5 (shear strength, the stress-path or “modified” failure envelope and the choice of test), Ch. 6 (stress distribution).
  • M. E. Harr, Groundwater and Seepage — Ch. 4 (the conformal solution for a single sheet pile in a stratum of finite depth, used here to audit the drawn flow net).
  • Canadian Geotechnical Society, Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual (CFEM), 4th ed. — Ch. 4 (site investigation and sampling), Ch. 8 (settlement), Ch. 11 (laboratory strength testing). The Canadian reference for practice and terminology.
  • K. Terzaghi, R. B. Peck & G. Mesri, Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice, 3rd ed. — Art. 14 (one-dimensional consolidation theory and its assumptions), Art. 16–17 (seepage and piping), Art. 19–20 (shear strength).

Check — two readings of the printed paper, carried as stated.

(1) The printed paper has exactly six questions worth 10 + 10 + 15 + 20 + 15 + 30 = 100 marks, and that numbering is used here.

(2) Question 4 lists the void ratio at $\sigma' = 500$ kPa as $e = 0.925$. Taken with the $400$ kPa point that implies $C_c = 0.57$ over the last increment, against $0.27$–$0.30$ over every earlier virgin increment — the last row is inconsistent with the rest of the test. It is carried exactly as printed, plotted, and excluded from the straight-line fit for $C_c$, with the effect of including it stated where it matters.