Question

For a cohesive soil, the pressure intensity is reduced by a factor of __________

(a) 2c cot⁡α

(b) 2c tan⁡α

(c) 2c sin⁡α

(d) 2c cos⁡α

The question was posed to me during an internship interview.

This is a very interesting question from Active Earth Pressure of Cohesive Soils in division Failure Envelopes & Earth Pressure of Geotechnical Engineering II

Answer 1

Correct answer is (a) 2c cot⁡α

To explain: The equation of pressure intensity due to cohesion is given by,

pa=γzcot^2 α-2c cot⁡α.

Thus, the effect of cohesion is to reduce the pressure intensity by a factor of ” 2c cot⁡α”.