1 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR BRIDGE ENGINEER Q-1 Ans: What do you mean by by 350/20 and 280/20?

350 represent the minimum specified compressive strength of concrete at 28 days and 20 is the nominal size of the aggregate used in the mix. Q-2 Ans: How will you pay to the contractor for foundation excavation? Excavation in foundation for bridges shall be paid to the contractor from N.G.L to the required foundation level with (300 mm) extra from the outer face of the dimension shown on the plan. An additional excavation or over excavation will not be paid to the contractor, if additional or over excavation is less than or up to (500 mm) than it will be filled with the concrete of the footing. If the over excavation is more than (500 mm) than it will be filled with no fines or cyclopean concrete and no payment shall be made for concrete. Q-3 Ans: What is minimum & ultimate strength for grade 60 steel? Minimum yield strength = 60,000 psi & Minimum ultimate strength = 9 0,000 psi Q-4 Ans: Q-5 Ans: What is PTFE? It is poly tetra fluro ethylene used in the sliding bearing. What is creep and fatigue in concrete? Creep: Concrete under stress undergoes a gradual increase in strain with time. Such continuous deformation under sustained load with time is known as creep. Fatigue: Fatigue is failure of concrete after no of repeated load. Q-6 Ans: Where do we provide pile foundation? 1- In soil whose bearing capacity can not sustain the weight of the structure. 2- In high level of water table where excavation is not possible. 3- If the hardpan area of the soil is too deep where in excavation of soil are too costly. Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha

Q-7 Ans:

How much extra cement is required for concrete under sea water? Upto15% extra cement is used, keeping in view the cement content used in the mix design.

Q-8 Ans:

What is the effect on concrete if sea water is used in mix? Sea water in concrete increases the risk of corrosion of steel reinforcement. If sea water is used as mixing water the strength of concrete is weakened and cracks occur because of crystallization of salt which increases cracking pressure, if there are no enough air voids in the mix.

Q-9 Ans:

What is effect of chloride in concrete and which type of preferable to be used if soil contains chloride? (a) When the lime in cement react with the carbon dioxide (Co2) it will produce calcium carbonate. (b) The presence of calcium carbonate in water increases the amount of alkalinity up to 11%, there by the water will attack the reinforcement which lead to corrosion. (c) While rust increases the volume of the bars also increases leading to produce cracks in concrete. If soil contain chloride it is preferable to use type-I cement, please refer MOT circular No. 01/50330 dated: 14-11-1427H

Q-10 What is the main cause of failure in Reinforced cement concrete (RCC)? Ans: The main cause of failure is the oxidation corrosion of the steel reinforcement. The oxidation products (rust) can be much as eight times greater in volume than the original steel, thus exert enormous expansive forces on the protective cover. This lead to spalling, cracking and rust staining. Q-11 What is the use o bentonite, which material is used for bentonite and what is the specific gravity of material? Ans: Bentonite is used to stabilize the borehole during boring. It is usually used in the rotary method of boring. Drilling mud is usually a water solution of thixotrpic clay (Bentonite) with or without outer admixture, which is forced Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha

3 into the sided of the hole by rotating drill. Specific gravity of bentonite shall not be more than 1.25g/cu-cm and viscosity shall not exceed 75 marsh seconds. Q-12 What are components of bridge sub structure and super structure? Ans: Components of sub structure: The sub structure of the bridge consists of the following main components: (I) (II) Abutments, wing walls and pier together with foundations. The bearings are provided above abutments and piers on which super structures rests. Components of super structures: The super structures of the bridge also termed decking consist of the following main components: (I) (II) Ans: Deck slab including structural system of longitudinal girders, cross girders, diaphragm, trusses etc provided for supporting deck slab. Kerb, foot path and hand rail. Q-13 What are types of bridges w.r.t span length? (1) R.C.C Box culvert less than 8m (2) R.C.C Bridges up to 25m (3) P.S.C Bridges (a) I or T- beams = 25m to 35m (b) Box girders = 35m to 75m (4) Cable stayed Bridges = 75m to 300m (5) Suspension bridges = 300m to 1500m (6) Solid slab bridge up to 10m Q-14 What is prestressing? Differentiate between pre-tensioning and posttensioning? Ans: Prestressing is artificially inducing compressive stresses in a structural before it is loaded so that any tensile stresses, which might be caused, by the external dead, live loads are automatically cancelled, and the cracks are eliminated. Pre-tensioning: Pre-tensioning is a method of prestressing in which the steel tendons are tensioned before the concrete has been placed in the moulds. In this technique the tendons (wires or strands) are tensioned by hydraulic jacks bearing against strong abutments between which the moulds are placed. After the setting and Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha

4 hardening of the concrete, the tendons are released from the tensioning device and the forces in the tendons are transferred to concrete by bond and friction. In case of pre-tensioning very heavy moulds or abutments are required to serve as temporary anchorages. It is therefore best suited for the mass production of precast members. Pos-tensioning: The tendons are tensioned after the concrete is placed and has acquired its strength. The concrete is cast first and allowed to harden before prestress is applied, usually a hollow or sleeve (duct) are provided in the beam through which the tendons are installed in ducts in the concrete and anchored and stressed after concrete has developed strength. Prestressing force is applied by jacks, which grip the tendons (wire, strands or bars) and exert a tensile force on them, which at the same time exerting a compressive force on the ends anchorages in the concrete. Q-15 In which condition we preferred to use well foundation? Ans: use: (1) Required to extend the well below the river bed in order to attract necessary not soil resistance against over turning, heavy scour rolling boulders, floating debris where pile foundation be unsuitable. (2) The sub strata contains large boulders where obstruct penetration of piles. (3) The foundation is subjected to large lateral forces Q-16 Ans: Draw stress-strain diagram for mild and high-grade steel? See figure No.1 Q-17: How the load is transferred in pile foundations? Ans: In pile foundation load is transferred through skin friction and end bearing (See figure No.2) Q-18: What precaution measure you will adopt during concreting under water? Ans: - Concreting must completed in one operation. - Rich cement to be used. - Temporary casing stand by. - Use the tremie pipe. - Slump should not be less than 150 mm. Q-19 What are the types of piles? Ans: (i) End bearing piles (ii) Friction piles (iii) Compaction piles (iv) Batter piles Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha It is a type of deep foundation and in following conditions, it is preferable to

5 (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) Tension and compression piles Under reamed piles Concrete, timber steel piles Precast & cast in situ concrete piles.

Q-20: What is the yield strength and ultimate strength for pre stress steel? Ans: Yield strength = 900 Mpa or 90000 psi Ultimate strength = 1000 Mpa or 100000 psi Q-21: What is bond length? How much it should be provided (Minimum requirement)? Ans: Development or bond length is the minimum length of bar which must be embedded in concrete beyond any section to develop by bond (between concrete and steel), a force equal to the force in the bar at that section. According to AASHTO in bridges minimum requirement is 60*D, and in pier column it is 65*D (Where D is the dia of the smaller bar). Bond length depends upon the type or grade of concrete and steel. It also depends upon the type of steel. It can be calculated by the following formula: Q-22 Where do we provide pile foundation? Ans: 1- In soil whose bearing capacity can not sustain the weight of the structure. 2- In high level of water table where excavation is not possible. 3- If the hardpan area of the soil is too depth where in excavation of soil are too costly. Q-23 Differentiate between shallow and deep foundation? Ans: Shallow foundation: It is defined as one whose depth is smaller than its width. Footings and raft foundations are examples of shallow foundation and it is prepared by open excavation. Shallow foundations transfer the load to the ground by bearing at the bottom of the foundation. Deep Foundation: Deep foundation would refer to one, which can not be prepared by open excavation. In the case of deep foundation, the load is transfer is partly by pint bearing at the bottom of foundation and partly by skin friction with the soil around the foundation along its embedment in the soil. There are two types of deep foundation (i) Pile foundation (ii) well or caisson foundation. Q-24 What are the losses in pre stress? Ans: The important causes of loss in Prestressing forces are: (i) Loss due to elastic shortening of concrete. (ii) Loss due to creep in concrete. (iii) Loss due to shrinkage of concrete. (iv) Loss due to creep in steel. (v) Frictional losses. (vi) Loss due to slip and anchorages. Q-25: What is friction pile and end bearing pile? How friction pile resist the load and how end bearing pile resist the load. Can they use both together? Ans: Friction piles: If the load is transferred to a depth of the relatively weak soil by means of skin friction along the length of the piles it is known as friction piles.

Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha

6 End bearing piles: If the load is transferred through soft soil or water to a suitable bearing stratum by means of end bearing of the pile it is known as end bearing or point bearing piles. Can friction and end bearing pile use together; Normally all piles function as a combination of skin friction and point bearing except when the pile penetrates an extremely soft soil to solid base.

SOIL
1. What is SPT ? 2. Define L.L, P.L., PI ? 3. Could we use sand in embankment ? 4. What are tests required to determine the suitability of subgrade material? 5. What is CBR ? 6. How will you distinguish A1 - A7 soil visually ? 7. What is pressure in pneumatic rollers ? 8. What is A3 material ? Did we can use in subgrade ? 9. What type of soil are suitable for subgrade ? 10. What is Proctor Test and its function ? 11. What reasons behind compaction of soil ? 12. What is the meaning of reinforcement layer ? 13. How we can say soil is non-plastic ? 14. Types of protection in Road Construction

ASPHALT
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. What is the rate of application MC1, RC2 ? What are the tests you should run on compacted asphalt ? What is rutting and its causes ? What is ravelling ? What is the compacting temperature for Asphalt ? What is softening point ? What is filler and its purpose and types ? Which required more prime coat A-1-A & A-2-4 ?

9. What is the difference between sand equivalent and material posing - sieve 200 ? 10. Which give more sand equivalent and fineness modules - natural or crushed sand ? why ? 11. Give 2 type of asphalt cracks 12. Give 2 types of asphalt distortion 13. Give 2 type of asphalt disintegration

CONCRETE
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. In construction what are the main problem we may face ? What is max. spacing between bars ? in slabs ? What is the use of plasticiser and super plasticiser and retarder ? What are the method of curing concrete When do you start curing ?

Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha

7 6. What are the precautions during hot weather concreting ? 7. What are purpose of slump test ? 8. Which aggregate will have less mixing water ? Natural or Crushed ? 9. How many Kg. in 1 cubic meter ? 10. What is purpose of curing ? 11. What is PH for water ? 12. Temperature of concrete during pouring ? 13. What is the meaning of workability ? 14. What are the types of joint in concrete ? 15. Cold Construction Joint Control 16. What is the meaning of steel grade 60, 40, 75 ?

Expansion

Prepared By:- Basharat Sadiq Ranjha