What topics are covered on Page 3 of GATE 2026 Civil Engineering Set 2?

Page 3 contains Questions 27 to 39. After two General Aptitude questions, it mainly covers Geotechnical Engineering including the Casagrande plasticity chart, pile foundations, quicksand condition, shallow footings, consolidation, bearing capacity, soil exploration and Atterberg limits. It concludes with RCC, steel design and plane strain questions.

What is the critical hydraulic gradient for quicksand in GATE 2026 Civil Set 2?

For the fully saturated sandy soil having water content of 20 percent and specific gravity of 2.65, the critical hydraulic gradient for quicksand condition is 0.97.

How much time is required for 90 percent consolidation in GATE 2026 Civil Set 2?

For the given clayey soil stratum, the total time required to achieve 90 percent degree of consolidation is approximately 129 days.

What is the bearing capacity factor Nq in GATE 2026 Civil Set 2?

Using the given ultimate bearing capacities at embedment depths of 1 m and 2 m, the bearing capacity factor Nq is 18.4.

What is the plastic limit of the soil in GATE 2026 Civil Set 2?

For natural water content of 30 percent, plasticity index of 40 percent and liquidity index of 50 percent, the estimated plastic limit is 10.0 percent.

Civil Engineering Gate 2026 Set-2 Questions with Answer

1 2 3 4 5

Ques 27 GATE 2026 SET-2

The Roman senator Meritorius, his brother, his son, and his daughter have varying oratory skill levels. They are seated in rows and columns as shown in the figure with exactly one person sitting in each box. It is known that
(i) Meritorius' daughter and his brother are seated in the same column.
(ii) His son is seated diagonally across the sibling of the worst orator.
(iii) The best and worst orators are seated in the same row.
Who is the best orator?

Meritorius

Meritorius' brother

Meritorius' son

Meritorius' daughter

Ques 28 GATE 2026 SET-2

Which one of the patterns labelled P, Q, R, and S is used to generate the given figure?

(b) is the correct answer.

Ques 29 GATE 2026 SET-2

Based on the Casagrande's plasticity chart, plasticity index (in %) of inorganic clays having a liquid limit of 40 %, ranges between

18.0 and 28.8

14.6 and 28.8

14.6 and 23.4

18.0 and 43.8

(b) is the correct answer.

Ques 30 GATE 2026 SET-2

Information related to foundation design is provided in table below.

Column 1	Column 2
(I) Converse-Labarre formula	(P) Pile capacity from dynamic formula
(II) Hiley formula	(Q) Pile group efficiency
(III) Newmark's influence chart	(R) Bearing capacity factor of saturated clay
(IV) Skempton's equation	(S) Increase in vertical stress below footing

Option giving the CORRECT match between Column 1 and Column 2 is:

(I) – (Q); (II) – (P); (III) – (S); (IV) – (R)

(I) – (R); (II) – (S); (III) – (Q); (IV) – (P)

(I) – (P); (II) – (Q); (III) – (S); (IV) – (R)

(I) – (R); (II) – (S); (III) – (P); (IV) – (Q)

(d) is the correct answer.

Ques 31 GATE 2026 SET-2

A fully saturated sandy soil deposit has water content 20 % and specific gravity 2.65.
The critical hydraulic gradient for seepage through the soil to create the quicksand condition is _____________ (rounded off to two decimal places).

(0.97) is the correct answer.

Ques 32 GATE 2026 SET-2

A shallow footing is subjected to a vertical load. Within the elastic limit of the underlying soil, the TRUE statement(s) is/are:

Vertical displacement below a rigid shallow footing is uniform in clay as well as sand.

Vertical contact pressure below a rigid shallow footing is uniform in clay as well as sand.

Vertical displacement below a flexible shallow footing is uniform in clay as well as sand.

Vertical contact pressure below a flexible shallow footing is uniform in clay as well as sand.

(a) is the correct answer.

Ques 33 GATE 2026 SET-2

For a clayey soil stratum, the time required for degree of consolidation from 25 % to 50 % is 30 days.
The total time (in days) required for 90 % degree of consolidation of the same soil stratum is ______ (rounded off to the nearest integer).

(129) is the correct answer.

Ques 34 GATE 2026 SET-2

The ultimate bearing capacity of a 1 m wide strip footing is 532.80 kPa, when it is embedded at 1 m depth in dry cohesionless soil. The soil has a unit weight of 18 kN/m³. The ultimate bearing capacity is 864 kPa when the depth of embedment becomes 2 m.
Neglecting the effect of the depth factor, the bearing capacity factor N_q is ______ (rounded off to one decimal place).

(18.4) is the correct answer.

Ques 35 GATE 2026 SET-2

A building is proposed in an area having thick deposit of silty clay. The water table is at the ground surface. The saturated unit weight of soil is 18 kN/m³ and unit weight of water is 10 kN/m³. The maximum vertical load (P) on a column of the proposed building is 2000 kN.
Consider σ_z ≤ 0.1 σ′_v for computation of the minimum depth of soil exploration.
σ′_v is the effective vertical overburden stress. σ_z is the increase in the vertical stress at depth z below load P as per the Boussinesq's stress theory.
Based on above, the minimum depth (in m) of soil exploration required for the foundation design is ________ (rounded off to two decimal places).

(5.30) is the correct answer.

Ques 36 GATE 2026 SET-2

A soil sample has following properties:
Natural water content = 30 %
Plasticity index = 40 %
Liquidity index = 50 %
The estimated plastic limit (in %) of the soil is ________ (rounded off to one decimal place).

(10.0) is the correct answer.

Ques 37 GATE 2026 SET-2

A rectangular singly reinforced concrete beam has a width of 300 mm and an effective depth of 550 mm. The grades of steel and concrete are Fe500 and M25, respectively. The area of steel in tension is 1963 mm². The depth of neutral axis is 302 mm. The ratio of the limiting depth of the neutral axis (x_u,max) to the effective depth (d) of the beam is 0.456.
The most probable mode of failure of the beam is

compression failure

bond failure

shear failure

ductile failure

(a) is the correct answer.

Ques 38 GATE 2026 SET-2

As per IS:800-2007, design of a cantilever steel beam section for its moment capacity requires fulfilment of an upper bound, expressed as:
M_d ≤ 1.5Z_e f_y/γ_m0
The reason for such upper bound is to

control deflection

restrain lateral-torsional buckling

avoid plastic deformation under working load

avoid yielding at ultimate load

Ques 39 GATE 2026 SET-2

A plane strain problem (in X-Y plane) must satisfy the condition:

σ_zz = 0

ϵ_zz = ϵ_xz = ϵ_yz = 0

σ_xx ≠ σ_xy ≠ σ_xz ≠ 0

ϵ_xx ≠ ε_yy ≠ ϵ_xy ≠ 0

(b) is the correct answer.

1 2 3 4 5

Total Unique Visitors

Loading......

Civil Engineering Gate Yearwise

Civil Engineering Gate 2026 Set-2 Questions with Answer

Question Options

Sign in to ExamPrev