Index Properties and Classification

JKSSB Junior Engineer (Civil) · Soil Mechanics · 12 practice questions with answers and explanations: 6 Easy, 6 Medium, 0 Hard.

Sample questions

Sample Easy question 1

A soil that is non-plastic has:

  1. No range of water content in which it is plastic
  2. A liquid limit above 100%
  3. A very high plasticity index
  4. A plastic limit equal to zero
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Answer: A. Clean sands and silts are usually non-plastic.

Sample Easy question 2

The shrinkage limit of a soil is the water content below which:

  1. The soil becomes plastic
  2. A further loss of water causes no decrease in volume
  3. The soil is saturated
  4. The soil becomes liquid
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Answer: B. The order of the limits is shrinkage limit < plastic limit < liquid limit.

Sample Easy question 3

The soil classified as CH in the Indian system is:

  1. Peat
  2. Clean gravel
  3. Silt of low plasticity
  4. Inorganic clay of high plasticity
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Answer: D. C is clay and H is high plasticity.

Sample Medium question 4

A soil with a uniformity coefficient Cu above 6 and a coefficient of curvature Cc between 1 and 3 is a:

  1. Silt
  2. Poorly graded sand
  3. Well-graded sand
  4. Uniform sand
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Answer: C. For sands, Cu > 6 and 1 ≤ Cc ≤ 3 define a well-graded soil.

Sample Medium question 5

A sand has D₁₀ = 0.2 mm and D₆₀ = 1.0 mm. The uniformity coefficient is:

  1. 0.2
  2. 0.8
  3. 5
  4. 10
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Answer: C. Cu = D₆₀ ÷ D₁₀ = 1.0 ÷ 0.2 = 5.

Sample Medium question 6

The activity of a clay with a plasticity index of 30% and a clay fraction of 50% is:

  1. 0.6
  2. 15
  3. 1.67
  4. 1.2
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Answer: A. Activity = PI ÷ percentage of clay-size particles.

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