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GATE CE Water Resources Engineering Previous Year Questions

60 solved GATE CE questions on Water Resources Engineering, drawn from 4 exam years and grouped by year. Every question shows the official answer and a step-by-step solution.

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Water Resources Engineering: track flow, channel geometry, and water volume

Keep flow rates, stored volumes, and depths distinct before choosing an equation. These selected foundations connect fluid statics, continuity, open-channel regimes, and rainfall accounting. The original exercises use idealized supplied data for learning; they are not instructions for sizing channels, drainage works, or hydraulic structures.

Our study notes and original examples support the PYQs below; they are not official exam questions or a replacement for the current syllabus.

Before you start

  • Calculate rectangular areas and convert rainfall depths between millimetres and metres.
  • Work with square roots, dimensionless ratios, and units such as m³/s and m/s.

Concepts to revise before solving

Fluid statics and pressure head

For still water of constant density, gauge pressure increases with vertical depth below its free surface. Pressure head is pressure/unit weight, measured in length units. Elevation head instead measures height above a chosen datum.

Check yourself: Does your depth measure a vertical distance below the free surface?

Continuity and mean velocity

Discharge Q equals flow area A times cross-sectional mean velocity V. Steady incompressible flow without lateral inflow or storage change conserves discharge between sections. A smaller area then means larger mean velocity, not water loss.

Check yourself: Have you used the wetted flow area rather than the channel's empty cross-section?

Open-channel geometry

Hydraulic depth D is flow area/free-surface top width T. Hydraulic radius is area/wetted perimeter. For rectangular channels, hydraulic depth equals water depth; wetted perimeter includes the bottom and submerged sidewalls but excludes the free surface.

Check yourself: Does the equation require area/top width or area/wetted perimeter?

Froude number and flow regime

In the one-dimensional shallow-water model, Fr = V/√(gD) compares mean velocity with gravity-wave speed. Below one means subcritical; above one means supercritical. Froude number does not classify turbulence, which involves Reynolds number instead.

Check yourself: Is the gravity term inside the square root, with D measured in metres?

Hydrology and rainfall volume

Uniform rainfall depth times catchment area gives rainfall volume. A supplied event runoff fraction converts this to runoff volume in a simplified model. Peak discharge requires additional information about timing and storage.

Check yourself: Are you calculating an event volume, a time-averaged rate, or a peak rate?

Mistakes to avoid

Substituting hydraulic radius into a hydraulic-depth Froude expression.
Use D = A/T; for a rectangular free surface this reduces to water depth.
Calling subcritical flow laminar.
Froude number concerns gravity-wave behavior. Laminar versus turbulent behavior requires a separate assessment.
Multiplying rainfall in millimetres directly by an area in square metres.
Convert rainfall depth to metres before multiplying, so the resulting volume is in m³.

Original teaching example · not a PYQ

Work through the reasoning

Original mini-example: steady water flow in a rectangular channel has width 3 m, depth 1 m, and discharge 6 m³/s. Use a shallow-water model with hydrostatic pressure and g = 9.81 m/s². Find mean velocity and Froude number, then classify the flow regime.

  1. Flow area is A = 3 × 1 = 3 m². Continuity gives mean velocity V = Q/A = 6/3 = 2 m/s.
  2. The free-surface top width is T = 3 m, giving hydraulic depth D = A/T = 3/3 = 1 m.
  3. Compute Fr = 2/√(9.81 × 1) ≈ 0.639. The ratio is dimensionless because both numerator and denominator have units of m/s.
  4. Since Fr is below one, this modeled flow is subcritical. The calculation does not determine bed slope, friction losses, or turbulence intensity.

Mean velocity = 2 m/s; Froude number ≈ 0.639; subcritical flow.

Try it before reading the answer

Separate original check: uniform event rainfall of 40 mm falls on 0.25 km². A supplied simplified model assigns 30% of rainfall volume to runoff. What runoff volume results?

Show answer and reasoning

Runoff volume = 3,000 m³.

Convert 40 mm to 0.040 m and 0.25 km² to 250,000 m². Rainfall volume is 10,000 m³; multiplying by 0.30 gives 3,000 m³. No event duration or hydrograph is provided, so this is a volume, not a discharge.

Go deeper with free learning resources

Supplemental reading, not an official GATE reading list or an endorsement of these notes.

Apply this to the previous-year questions

Previous-year questions by year

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.

GATE CE 202617 questions

  1. Set 1 Q16Two reservoirs having different water levels are connected by two long parallel pipelines of same length and same material but having diameters of 600 mm and…MCQ · +1 marks · Medium
  2. Set 1 Q17An irrigation canal is to be designed to deliver 10 cumec to meet the peak demand of 7500 hectare of cropped area. The estimated canal losses are 50 % of the…MCQ · +1 marks · Medium
  3. Set 1 Q23Gradually Varied Flow (GVF) profiles in open channels given in Column 1 are to be matched with the water surface slopes in Column 2 in the table below. |…MSQ · +1 marks · Medium
  4. Set 1 Q40For a hydraulic jump formed in a rectangular horizontal channel, the sequent depth ratio is 2. The Froude number of supercritical stream isMCQ · +2 marks · Easy
  5. Set 1 Q41In a laminar flow of a Newtonian fluid through a circular pipe of radius 5 cm, the maximum velocity is found to be 2 m/s. The velocity (in m/s) at a radial…MCQ · +2 marks · Medium
  6. Set 1 Q53A fully-penetrating well of 20 cm20\text{ cm} diameter is provided in an unconfined aquifer. The height of the ground water table is 30 m30\text{ m} from the bottom…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  7. Set 1 Q54A wide unlined channel carries sediment-free water. The depth of water is 1 m1\text{ m}. The specific weight of water is 10 kN/m310\text{ kN/m}^3. To prevent…NAT · +2 marks · Easy
  8. Set 1 Q55A bridge with an expected life of 50 years is designed for a flood of 10000 m3/s10000\text{ m}^3/\text{s} corresponding to the return period of 100 years. The risk…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  9. Set 1 Q64The intensity-duration relationship for a rainfall on a rectangular plot ABCD of area 7 ha7\text{ ha} (1 ha=104 m21\text{ ha} = 10^4\text{ m}^2) can be modelled by the…NAT · +2 marks · Hard
  10. Set 2 Q19The Culturable Command Area (CCA) for a canal is 10000 hectares. The base period for a crop in the CCA is 140 days. Watering depth for the crop is 40 cm. The…MCQ · +1 marks · Easy
  11. Set 2 Q20Following statements are made with respect to the mass curve of rainfall: (I) Slope at a point on the curve can be positive. (II) Slope at a point on the curve…MCQ · +1 marks · Easy
  12. Set 2 Q32The probability (in %) that a storm having return period of 15 years may occur in the next 10 years is ______ (rounded off to two decimal places).NAT · +1 marks · Medium
  13. Set 2 Q43Types of flood routing and methods are given in the table below. | Column 1 Type of Flood Routing | Column 2 Method | | :--- | :--- | | (P) Hydrologic routing…MSQ · +2 marks · Medium
  14. Set 2 Q52Width (in m) of a rectangular channel required to carry a discharge of 96 m3/s96\text{ m}^3/\text{s} at a critical depth of 9.8 m9.8\text{ m} is _____ (rounded off to…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  15. Set 2 Q53The cross section of a 0.5 m0.5\text{ m} wide vertical gate holding water and oil is shown in the figure. The unit weights of water and oil are…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  16. Set 2 Q54A centrifugal pump is delivering water from an underground tank to an overhead reservoir against a static head of 35 m35\text{ m} through a 2 km2\text{ km} long,…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  17. Set 2 Q55The flow depth for a discharge of 10 m3/s10\text{ m}^3/\text{s} in a wide rectangular channel is 2.0 m2.0\text{ m}. Assume that the flow is uniform. If the discharge…NAT · +2 marks · Medium

GATE CE 202518 questions

  1. Set 1 Q19For a flowing fluid, a dimensionless combination of velocity (VV), length scale (ll), and acceleration due to gravity (gg) would beMCQ · +1 marks · Easy
  2. Set 1 Q20To derive the total flood hydrograph at a catchment outlet from an isolated storm, the order in which the following methods are applied, from the first method…MCQ · +1 marks · Medium
  3. Set 1 Q30For the Bernoulli’s equation to be applicable in a fluid flow situation, which of the following conditions is/are to be satisfied:MSQ · +1 marks · Easy
  4. Set 1 Q34A water resources project with an expected life of 2525 years has to be designed for an acceptable risk of 5%5\% against a design flood. The return period for…NAT · +1 marks · Medium
  5. Set 1 Q39The mean rainfall over a catchment has to be estimated. The data for four rain gauges located in and around the catchment is listed in the table. Which one of…MCQ · +2 marks · Medium
  6. Set 1 Q43Lacey’s regime equations, followed in India for making scour calculations while designing hydraulic structures across alluvial channels, are given below.…MSQ · +2 marks · Medium
  7. Set 1 Q60A hydraulic jump is formed in a 5 m wide rectangular channel, which has a horizontal bed and is carrying a discharge of 15 m3^3/s. The depth of water upstream…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  8. Set 1 Q61A symmetrical trapezoidal canal is 100 km long. The bottom width is 10 m and the side slope is 1 Horizontal : 1 Vertical. The average flow depth in the canal…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  9. Set 1 Q62A 5.0 m wide rectangular channel carries a discharge of 10 m3/sm^3/s at a depth of 1.5 m under uniform flow. To produce critical flow conditions without…NAT · +2 marks · Hard
  10. Set 2 Q16A hydraulic jump occurs in an open channel when the slope of the channel changes from ______.MCQ · +1 marks · Easy
  11. Set 2 Q25Pick one or more CORRECT statement(s) from the choices given below, in the context of upstream and downstream cut-offs provided below the concrete apron of…MSQ · +1 marks · Medium
  12. Set 2 Q26In the context of the effect of drainage density on the run-off generation and the hydrograph at the catchment outlet, all other factors remaining the same,…MSQ · +1 marks · Medium
  13. Set 2 Q33Consider steady flow of water in the series pipe system shown below, with specified discharge. The diameters of Pipes A and B are 2 m and 1 m, respectively.…NAT · +1 marks · Easy
  14. Set 2 Q42Consider flow in a long and very wide rectangular open channel. Width of the channel can be considered as infinity compared to the depth of flow. Uniform flow…MCQ · +2 marks · Medium
  15. Set 2 Q48The drag force, FDF_D on a sphere due to a fluid flowing past the sphere is a function of viscosity, μ\mu, the mass density, ρ\rho, the velocity of flow,…MSQ · +2 marks · Medium
  16. Set 2 Q58A 60 cm diameter well completely penetrates a confined aquifer of permeability 5×10−45 \times 10^{-4} m/s. The length of the strainer (spanning the entire…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  17. Set 2 Q59The peak of flood hydrograph due to a 3-hour duration storm in a catchment is 180 m3/s180\text{ m}^3/\text{s}. The total rainfall depth is 6.6 cm6.6\text{ cm}. It can be…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  18. Set 2 Q60The shaft of a 6 m wide gate in the figure will fail at a moment of 3924 kN.m about the hinge P. The maximum value of water depth hh (in m) that the gate can…NAT · +2 marks · Hard

GATE CE 202415 questions

  1. Set 1 Q20The number of degrees of freedom for a natural open channel flow with a mobile bed isMCQ · +1 marks · Medium
  2. Set 1 Q35A 30 cm30\text{ cm} diameter well fully penetrates an unconfined aquifer of saturated thickness 20 m20\text{ m} with hydraulic conductivity of 10 m/day10\text{ m/day}.…NAT · +1 marks · Medium
  3. Set 1 Q42A flow velocity field V⃗:V⃗(x,y)\vec{V}: \vec{V}(x, y) for a fluid is represented by V⃗=3i^+(5x)j^\vec{V} = 3 \hat{i} + (5x) \hat{j} In the context of the fluid and the flow,…MCQ · +2 marks · Easy
  4. Set 1 Q56The ordinates of a 1-hour unit hydrograph (UH) are given below. | Time (hours) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Ordinates of 1-hour UH…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  5. Set 1 Q57A standard round bottom triangular canal section as shown in the figure has a bed slope of 1 in 200. Consider the Chezy's coefficient as 150 m¹/²/s. [figure]…NAT · +2 marks · Hard
  6. Set 1 Q58A spillway has unit discharge of 7.5 m³/s/m. The flow depth at the downstream horizontal apron is 0.5 m. The tail water depth (in meters) required to form a…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  7. Set 1 Q59A 5 m × 5 m closed tank of 10 m height contains water and oil, and is connected to an overhead water reservoir as shown in the figure. Use γw=10\gamma_w = 10…NAT · +2 marks · Hard
  8. Set 2 Q24The following figure shows a plot between shear stress and velocity gradient for materials/fluids P,Q,R,S,extandTP, Q, R, S, ext{ and } T. [figure] Which one of the…MCQ · +1 marks · Easy
  9. Set 2 Q35A 2 m2\text{ m} wide rectangular channel is carrying a discharge of 30 m3/s30\text{ m}^3/\text{s} at a bed slope of 11 in 300300. Assuming the energy correction…NAT · +1 marks · Medium
  10. Set 2 Q41A round-bottom triangular lined canal is to be laid at a slope of 11 in 15001500, to carry a discharge of 25 m3/s25\text{ m}^3/\text{s}. The side slopes of the canal…MCQ · +2 marks · Medium
  11. Set 2 Q42A hypothetical multimedia filter, consisting of anthracite particles (specific gravity: 1.501.50), silica sand (specific gravity: 2.602.60), and ilmenite sand…MCQ · +2 marks · Hard
  12. Set 2 Q56A storm with a recorded precipitation of 11.0 cm11.0\text{ cm}, as shown in the table, produced a direct run-off of 6.0 cm6.0\text{ cm}. | Time from start (hours) | 1 |…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  13. Set 2 Q57A 500 m long water distribution pipeline P with diameter 1.0 m, is used to convey 0.1 m3/s0.1\text{ m}^3/\text{s} of flow. A new pipeline Q, with the same length and…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  14. Set 2 Q58A 2 m×1.5 m2\text{ m} \times 1.5\text{ m} tank of 6 m height is provided with a 100 mm diameter orifice at the center of its base. The orifice is plugged and the tank…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  15. Set 2 Q59A rectangular channel is 4.0 m wide and carries a discharge of 2.0 m3^3/s with a depth of 0.4 m. The channel transitions to a maximum width contraction at a…NAT · +2 marks · Hard

GATE CE 202310 questions

  1. Set 1 Q19When a supercritical stream enters a mild-sloped (M) channel section, the type of flow profile would become ________.MCQ · +1 marks · Medium
  2. Set 1 Q33A canal supplies water to an area growing wheat over 100 hectares. The duration between the first and last watering is 120 days, and the total depth of water…NAT · +1 marks · Medium
  3. Set 1 Q34The ordinates of a one-hour unit hydrograph for a catchment are given below: | t (hour) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|…NAT · +1 marks · Medium
  4. Set 1 Q43A very wide rectangular channel carries a discharge (QQ) of 70 m3/s70\text{ m}^3/\text{s} per meter width. Its bed slope changes from 0.00010.0001 to 0.00090.0009 at a…MCQ · +2 marks · Medium
  5. Set 1 Q44A jet of water having a velocity of 20 m/s20\text{ m/s} strikes a series of plates fixed radially on a wheel revolving in the same direction as the jet at…MCQ · +2 marks · Medium
  6. Set 1 Q59A 12-hour storm occurs over a catchment and results in a direct runoff depth of 100 mm. The time-distribution of the rainfall intensity is shown in the figure…NAT · +2 marks · Hard
  7. Set 1 Q60A hydraulic jump occurs in a 1.0 m1.0 \text{ m} wide horizontal, frictionless, rectangular channel, with a pre-jump depth of 0.2 m0.2 \text{ m} and a post-jump depth…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  8. Set 1 Q61In Horton’s equation fitted to the infiltration data for a soil, the initial infiltration capacity is 1010 mm/h; final infiltration capacity is 55 mm/h; and…NAT · +2 marks · Medium
  9. Set 2 Q20Identify the cross-drainage work in the figure. [figure]MCQ · +1 marks · Easy
  10. Set 2 Q21Which one of the following options provides the correct match of the terms listed in Column-1 and Column-2? | Column-1 | Column-2 | | :--- | :--- | | P: Horton…MCQ · +1 marks · Easy

Other GATE CE topics

Structural Engineering(347)General Aptitude(260)Engineering Mathematics(253)Geotechnical Engineering(231)Environmental Engineering(171)Transportation Engineering(166)Geomatics Engineering(86)

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