GATE CE 2018 Set 2 — Question 54
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Geotechnical Engineering → Effective Stress & Compaction → Mohr-Coulomb Criterion
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Question
The total horizontal and vertical stresses at a point X in a saturated sandy medium are 170 kPa and 300 kPa, respectively. The static pore-water pressure is 30 kPa. At failure, the excess pore-water pressure is measured to be 94.50 kPa, and the shear stresses on the vertical and horizontal planes passing through the point X are zero. Effective cohesion is 0 kPa and effective angle of internal friction is . The shear strength (in kPa, up to two decimal places) at point X is ______
Correct answer
51.5 to 53.5
Solution
1.Calculate effective stresses at failure:
Total pore water pressure kPa.Effective vertical stress kPa.
Effective horizontal stress kPa.
Since shear stresses on these planes are zero, they are principal stresses: kPa and kPa.
2.Calculate shear strength at failure:
For , the shear strength on the failure plane is:Rounding to two decimal places, kPa.Continue learning with Success Tracker
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