ICC (EC) SOILS TESTING - MATERIALS
TESTING (LAB) EXAM 2025| BRAND NEW
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QUESTIONS AND CORRECT SOLUTIONS|
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The strength of a soil, or the ability to compact a soil into a suitable
construction material will depend on? - correct answer - Soil type
Soil density
The amount of water in the soil
Types of soils - correct answer - Gravel (mm to cm's in size)
Sand (mm in size)
Silt (fine particles with little cohesion)
Clay (has cohesion, can stick together)
Organic soils (peat, topsoil)
Organic soils (O) - correct answer - Have a large componet of dead or
decaying plants, and are not used in construction
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Silt and Clay - correct answer - Classified based on whether the soil is
plastic or non-plastic (eg. can you roll it into a ball)
Gravel and Sand - correct answer - are classified based on whether or not
all the particle are roughly the same size(uniform, like a beach) or if there is
large variety in particle size (well-graded)
Soil layers - correct answer - 1. (complex zone) 3 to 4m
2. (glacio-lacustrine clay) 2-12m
3. Glacial till, up to 9m in thickness
4. Carbonate bedrock, the upper surface of which is often fractured,
weathers and irrgular
Soil has two componets of strength - correct answer - Cohesion (clay only)
Friction (when individual soil grains move across on another)
Soil fail by - correct answer - shear
Soil strength is used to determine - correct answer - The bearing capacity
of a foundation
The stability of natural or man-made earth slopes or retaining walls
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Test for soil strength include; - correct answer - unconfined compression
test
direct shear test
Triaxial compression
Soil strength depends upon - correct answer - Density and moisture
content
Unconfined compression test - correct answer - useful for comparing
strength of two soils or varion of strength with dept.
Gradation refers to the range of measured soil particle sizes. Gradation
results in classifying soil as? - correct answer - Gravel ( > 2 mm)
Sand (between 0.075 and 2 mm)
Silt (0.002 to 0.075 mm)
Clay (< 0.002 mm)
The particle size distribution of coarse-grained soils is typically determined
by? - correct answer - Mechanical sieve analysis