Civil Engineering - UPSC Civil Service Exam Questions MCQs Part 20

1. Why are gate valves provided in distribution system ?

A.
To minimize the flow pressure in the network

B.
To maximize the usage of the distribution system

C.
To control the flow in the pipe network

D.
To identify the loss through illegal connections.

 Answer Option C

2. While designing the superelevation of a highway, its maximum value is fixed considering the need to

A.
avoid toppling of slow moving vehicles in mixed traffic flow

B.
avoid transverse skidding

C.
provide drainage

D.
counteract centrifugal force due to 75% of design speed

 Answer Option D

3. The map projection in which the angle between any pair of short lines is represented correctly is called

A.
conformal projection

B.
equidistant projection

C.
azimuthal projection

D.
equal area projection

 Answer Option A

4. At a Tee-Junction between a lVa brick wall and a 1 brick wall, one uses a

A.
half-queen closer in each course

B.
half-queen closer in every alternate course

C.
three-quarter bat in each course

D.
half-bat in every alternate course

 Answer Option B

5. A symmetrical three-hinged parabolic arch of span L and rise h is hinged at springings and crown. It is subjected to a. U.d.l. W throughout the span. Which the banding moment at a section L/4 from the left support.

A.
WL2/8

B.
WL2/16

C.
WL2/8 h

D.
zero

 Answer Option A

6. Sheep-foot rollers are recommended for compacting

A. granular soils

B. cohesive soils

C. hard rock

D. any type of soil

 Answer Option B

7. The given figure shows the section of a wooden beam stiffened with two steel plates each of thickness 't' securely fixed to the sides. The second moment of area of the flitched beam about the X-X axis is (given: d = overall depth of the beam, b = width of the wooden section and m = modular ratio of the moduli of elasticity of steel and wood)

A.

B.

C.

D.

 Answer Option D

8. The portal frame shown in the given figure is statically indeterminate to the

A. first degree

B. second degree

C. third degree

D. None of the above

 Answer Option C

9. A fixed beam and a simply supported beam having same span and develop same maximum bending moment due to uniformly distributed load on entire span. What is the ratio of uniformly distributed load on fixed beam to that on simply supported beam ?

A. 0.5

B. 1

C. 1.5

D. 3

 Answer Option D

10. Which one of the following method is employed to manufacture pre-stressed concrete sleepers for the railways ?

A. Post-tensioning

B. Pre-tensioning

C. Pre-tensioning followed by post-tensioning

D. Partial pre-stressing

 Answer Option B

11. What is the BOD5 at 20°C of a waste that yields an oxygen consumption of 2 mg/l from a 0.5% diluted sample ?

A. 50 mg/l

B. 400 mg/l

C. 200 mgl

D. 250 mgl

 Answer Option B

12. The given figure shows roughly, the daily mass curves of supply to and demand from an elevated service reservoir (ESR). The minimum required capacity of the reservoir is given by

A. (A - B)

B. (A + B)

C. A x B

D. larger of A or B

 Answer Option B

13. Stresses obtained from Boussinesq's theory are considered reasonably satisfactory in foundation engineering because:

A. they represent stress distribution in homogeneous soil below loaded area

B. they account for anisotropy of soil properly

C. they give due regard to plastic behaviour of soils, particularly of settlement analysis

D. they consider elastic soil medium, and the intensity of allowable stresses below foundations in most cases are quit small and justify elastic solutions

 Answer Option D

14. A septic tank of 7 m3 in volume serves for 5 people. If the rate of accumulation of sludge is 70 litres per capita per year and sludge is removed when it occupies 50% of its volume, what is the cleaning interval of septic tank ?

A. 3 years

B. 5 years

C. 7.5 years

D. 10 years

 Answer Option D

15. The load carrying capacity of an individual friction pile is 200 kN. What is the total load carrying capacity of a group of 9 such piles with group efficiency factor of 0.8 ?

A. 1800 kN

B. 1640 kN

C. 1440 kN

D. 900 kN

 Answer Option C

16. In which one of the following zones is a logarithmic spiral shape of failure surface assumed in the case of bearing capacity analysis of C-φ soils ?

A. Active zone

B. Passive zone

C. Radial shear'zone

D. Surcharge zone

 Answer Option C

17. The optimum number of revolutions over which concrete is required to be mixed in a mixer machine, is

A. 10

B. 20

C. 50

D. 100

 Answer Option B

18. A model of a weir made to a horizontal scale of 1/40 and vertical scale of 1/9 discharges 1 litre/sec. Then the discharge in the prototype is estimated as

A. 1 lps

B. 108 lps

C. 1080 lps

D. 10800 lps

 Answer Option C

19. Which one of the following statements is the correct description of the structure of fibre board ?

A. Thin slices of superior quality of wood are glued and pressed on the surface of inferior wood

B. Steamed mass of wood dusts, wood wool and other vegetable fibres are pressed hard to a thickness varying from 3 mm to 12 mm

C. Thin and narrow wood shavings are soaked in a refractory binder material and pressed hard

D. Wood veneer backed by fabric mat

 Answer Option B

20. What is the normal depth in a wide rectangular channel carrying 0.5 m3/s discharge at a bed slope of 0.0004 and Manning's n = 0.01 ?

A. 0.13 m

B. 0.32 m

C. 0.43 m

D. 0.50 m

 Answer Option C

21. The best design of an arch dam is when

A. all horizontal water loads are transferred horizontally to the abutments

B. the dam is safe against sliding at various levels

C. the load is divided between the arches and cantilevers and the deflections at the conjugal points being equal

D. the deflections of the cantilevers are equal at different points

 Answer Option C

22. Which one of the following is the appropriate field test for estimating the angle of shearing resistance φ of a sand deposit ?

A. Field vane shear test

B. Plate load test

C. Standard penetration test

D. Electrical resistivity test

 Answer Option C

23. In setting out a long straight line for the position of transmission towers, it is recommended that the forward point be set out with face-right and face-lett with reference to preceding point and the mean position taken. This field procedure eliminates instruments error where the

A. trunnion axis is not perpendicular to vertical axis

B. vertical axis is not perfectly vertical time of observation

C. line of collimation is not perpendicular to the vertical axis

D. line of collimation is not perpendicular to the horizontal axis

 Answer Option D

24. A vane 20 cm long and 10 cm in diameter was pressed into a soft marine clay at the bottom of a bore hole. Torque was applied gradually and failure occurred at 1000 kg cm. The cohesion of the clay in kg/cm2 is :

A.

B.

C.

D.

 Answer Option A

25. Which one of following is not correct for container ports ?

A. The berth capacity is great

B. Overall transit time is less

C. There is minimal damage to cargo

D. Minimal land is required for the marshalling area

 Answer Option B

26. A thin cylindrical shell of internal diameter D is subject to an internal pressure 'p'. If σy is the yield stress of the material of the cylinder, then based on the maximum shear theory, the thickness of the cylinder will be (in kg/cm2) is

A.

B.

C.

D.

 Answer Option A

27. A shaft of diameter 'd' is subjected to bending moment 'M' and twisting moment 'T' The developed principal stress will be

A.

B.

C.

D.

 Answer Option B

28. There are ten instrument staions occupied in succession during a traverse survey. An observer makes equal error in each station, the magnitude of which is δ θ in each instance at all the stations. What is the probable error of the final bearing at the end of the traverse ?

A. ± 10 δ θ

B. ± 100(δ θ)2

C. ± 10 (δ θ)

D. ± l0 δ θ

 Answer Option D

29. At a certain station, the mean of the average temperature is 25°C and mean of the maximum daily temperature is 40°C. What is the airport reference temperature (ART) ?

A. 46.6°C

B. 45°C

C. 35°C

D. 30°C

 Answer Option D

30. The area between the two isohytes 45 cm and 55 cm is 100 km2, and that between 55 cm and 65 cm is 150 km2. What is the average depth of annual precipitation over the basin of 250 km2 ?

A. 50 cm

B. 52 cm

C. 56 cm

D. 60 cm

 Answer Option C

31. In a design of storm sewers, if the time taken by rain-water to flow from the farthest point of the watershed to the sewer inlet is 'ti' and the time of flow of water from the sewer inlet to the point in the sewer that is under consideration is 'tf', then the time of concentration will be

A. ti

B. tf

C. ti + tf

D. ti or tf whichever is greater

 Answer Option C

32. End A of the beam AB shown in the figure is on rollers and end B is hinged. C and D are the points on normals drawn at A and B to the beam at A and B respectively. To determine for reactions, funicular polygon must start at

A. A

B. B

C. C

D. D

 Answer Option B

33. Which one of the following statements is correct ?Cant deficiency is the difference between

A. actual cant provided at the time of construction and at the time of renewal.

B. the equilibrium cant necessary for the maximum permissible speed and actual cant provided.

C. cant required at maximum speed and minimum speed

D. two parallel rails after 10 years.

 Answer Option B

34. Consider the following statements related to interchanges:1. In diamond interchange there is the possibility of illegal wrong-way turns.2. Diamond interchange is far superior to cloverleaf design.Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

A. 1 only

B. 2 only

C. Both 1 and 2

D. Neither 1 nor 2

 Answer Option A

35. The frame shown is redundant to

A. single degree

B. two degree

C. three degrees

D. four degrees

 Answer Option A

36. Two pipe systems in series are said to be equivalent when

A. the average diameter in both systems is same

B. the average friction factor in both systems is same

C. the total length of the pipes is same in both the systems

D. the discharge under the same head is same in both the systems

 Answer Option C

37. A summit curve is formed at the intersection of a 3% upgrade and a 5% downgrade. What is the length of the summit curve in order to provide a stopping distance of 128 m ?

A. 271m

B. 298 m

C. 322 m

D. 340 m

 Answer Option B

38. Two spheres of mass 15 kg and 20 kg, move along a straight line in the same direction with velocities of 20 m/s and 5 m/s, respectively. If the coefficient of restitution is 0.7, then the velocity of the 15 kg mass after collision will be

A. 5.43 m/s

B. 15.93 m/s

C. 18.72 m/s

D. 16.16 m/s

 Answer Option A

39. What is the effective net width of plate shown in the given sketch, for carrying tension ?

A. 212.5 mm

B. 237.5 mm

C. 250 mm

D. 275 mm

 Answer Option D

40. In a project, the contractor is paid on the basis of the running bill for a month. The rate contract for concreting is Rs. 1000/m3 of concrete. The consumption of number of cement of bags of weight 50 kg is 527. The mix proportion for the concrete is 1: 1.4 : 2.75 with W/C ratio of 0.52. The approximate billing amount of the month will be

A. Rs. 5, 27, 000

B. Rs. 1.49, 404

C. Rs. 62, 252

D. Rs. 26, 350

 Answer Option A

41. A train starts from rest on a curved track of radius 800 m. Its speed increases uniformly and after 3 minutes it is 72 km/hr. Its normal acceleration after 2 minutes is

A.

B.

C.

D.

 Answer Option D

42. A hollow cylinder made of wood (sp. gr. = 0.8) has an external diameter of 1.0 m and an interal diameter of 0.6 m. It floats in water with its axis vertical and is in stable equilibrium. This is possible only when the length of the cylinder is equal to or less than

A. 0.72 m

B. 0.95 m

C. 1.03 m

D. 1.20 m

 Answer Option C

43. In a fillet weld the weakest section is the

A. smaller side of the fillet

B. throat of the fillet

C. side perpendicular to force

D. side parallel to force

 Answer Option B

44. A beam ABC is simply-supported at A and B with an overhang BC as shown in the given figure. It carries loads as shown in the figure. If both the reactions are equal then W will be equal to

A. 8P/5

B. 5P/8

C. 5P/4

D. 4P/5

 Answer Option D

45. Which one of the following is the correct statement ?Smaller size of aggregates in a concrete mix :

A. provides larger surface area for bonding with the mortar matrix which increases the compressive strength and reduces the stress concentration at the mortar-aggregate interface

B. is economical as the concrete mix is more dense

C. requires lesser cement for a particular water-cement ratio and hence is economical

D. is beneficial as these aggregates can pass through the reinforcement bars more easily

 Answer Option A

46. If Δ p is increment ofpressure on a normally consolidated saturated soil mass, as per Terzaghi's theory at the instant of application of pressure increment i.e. when time t = 0, what is the pore pressure developed in the soil mass ?

A. Zero

B. Very much less than Δ p

C. Equal to Δ p

D. Greater than Δ p

 Answer Option C

47. A normally consolidated clay layer settles by 25 mm when the effective stress is increased from 15 kPa to 30 kPa. If the effective stress is later increased further from 30 kPa to 60 kPa, then the additional settlement would be

A. 25 mm

B. 50 mm

C. 75 mm

D. 100 mm

 Answer Option A

48. Assuming the safe stopping sight distance to be 80 m on a flat highway section and with a setback distance of 10 m, what would be the radius of the negotiable horizontal curve ?

A. 800 m

B. 160 m

C. 80 m

D. 70 m

 Answer Option C

49. What is the time by which the completion of an activity can be delayed without affecting the start of succeeding activities, called ?

A. Total float

B. Interfering float

C. Independent float

D. Free float

 Answer Option D

50. Which one of the following is the angular distance between the observer's meridian and the vertical circle passing through a star measured along the celestial horizon ?

A. Right ascension

B. Azimuth

C. Declination

D. Hour angle

 Answer Option D