60 solved GATE CE questions on Structural Engineering, drawn from 3 exam years and grouped by year. Every question shows the official answer and a step-by-step solution.
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Revision companion
Begin with an idealized structure and an explicit load diagram. These selected foundations connect statics, stress, beam response, and compatibility through small calculations. The original exercises are learning models, not member sizing guidance or assessments of whether a real structure is safe.
Our study notes and original examples support the PYQs below; they are not official exam questions or a replacement for the current syllabus.
Draw a free-body diagram before writing equilibrium. An ideal planar pin supplies two force components; a roller on a horizontal surface supplies a vertical reaction. Neither supplies a reaction couple. Show every external load.
Check yourself: Which translations and rotations does each ideal support restrain?
Cut the beam and balance one segment. With a consistent convention, bending-moment slope equals shear force. Concentrated transverse forces create shear jumps; concentrated couples create moment jumps. Inspect boundaries and sign changes for maximum moment.
Check yourself: Does the moment diagram return to zero at an unloaded simple end support?
Average axial stress is force/area; axial strain is extension/original length. Linear elasticity relates them through Young's modulus. The elastic bending expression σ = My/I describes longitudinal stress under beam assumptions, not average shear stress.
Check yourself: Are force, section area, and second moment of area expressed in compatible units?
Stable determinate models permit reactions to be obtained from equilibrium alone. Redundant restraints require compatibility conditions and stiffness information. Counting unknowns helps, but unsuitable support geometry can still permit a mechanism.
Check yourself: Could the proposed support arrangement move without stretching or bending a member?
Strain energy records recoverable deformation. For a linear axial member, it equals half of force times extension. Energy methods supplement equilibrium for displacement calculations; small-deformation and elastic assumptions still matter.
Check yourself: Have you specified displacement direction and checked that its units are length?
Original teaching example · not a PYQ
Original mini-example: a 6 m beam has a pin at its left end A and a roller at its right end B on a horizontal surface. A single downward 12 kN point load acts 2 m from A. Ignore self-weight and all other loads. Find the reactions and maximum bending moment.
RA = 8 kN upward; RB = 4 kN upward; maximum sagging moment = 16 kN·m at the load.
Separate original check: a uniform bar carries a centered axial tensile force of 60 kN over an area of 300 mm². What is its average tensile stress?
200 MPa in tension.
Convert the force to 60,000 N, then divide by 300 mm² to obtain 200 N/mm². Since 1 N/mm² equals 1 MPa, the stress is 200 MPa; this calculation does not establish a material's strength.
Supplemental reading, not an official GATE reading list or an endorsement of these notes.
Free supplemental course materials on equilibrium, supports, stresses, and deformation. Use the lecture notes and problem sets to revisit assumptions after solving the examples.
This page shows 60 recent questions from the released archive, newest first. For older questions and complete papers, browse all GATE CE papers. Questions can carry more than one subject tag; counts are not marks weightage.
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