GATE CE 2019 Set 1 — Question 39
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Geotechnical Engineering → Consolidation → At-Rest Earth Pressure
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Question
For the following statements:P — The lateral stress in the soil while being tested in an oedometer is always at-rest.
Q — For a perfectly rigid strip footing at deeper depths in a sand deposit, the vertical normal contact stress at the footing edge is greater than that at its centre.
R — The corrections for overburden pressure and dilatancy are not applied to measured SPT- values in case of clay deposits.The correct combination of the statements is
Q — For a perfectly rigid strip footing at deeper depths in a sand deposit, the vertical normal contact stress at the footing edge is greater than that at its centre.
R — The corrections for overburden pressure and dilatancy are not applied to measured SPT- values in case of clay deposits.The correct combination of the statements is
Correct answer
(A) P – TRUE; Q – TRUE; R – TRUE
Solution
Statement P is TRUE: In an oedometer test, the soil specimen is confined in a rigid ring, which prevents lateral strain. This condition corresponds to the at-rest earth pressure state ().
Statement Q is TRUE: For a rigid footing on sand, the contact pressure distribution is parabolic with maximum at the center and zero at the edges at the surface. However, as depth increases, the confinement at the edges increases, and the distribution shifts to become higher at the edges, similar to the distribution for clay.
Statement R is TRUE: SPT corrections for overburden pressure () and dilatancy are specifically developed for cohesionless soils (sands and silts). They are not applicable to cohesive soils like clay.
Statement Q is TRUE: For a rigid footing on sand, the contact pressure distribution is parabolic with maximum at the center and zero at the edges at the surface. However, as depth increases, the confinement at the edges increases, and the distribution shifts to become higher at the edges, similar to the distribution for clay.
Statement R is TRUE: SPT corrections for overburden pressure () and dilatancy are specifically developed for cohesionless soils (sands and silts). They are not applicable to cohesive soils like clay.
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