CIVIL ENGINEERING INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

Building materials and Construction

What are the dimensions of the standard brick? 
What are thin shell roofs? Why are they becoming popular? 
Name the different types of retaining walls

Structural Analysis

What is buckling or crippling load? 
Define slenderness ratio. What is its effect on design of compression members? 
What is meant by specific yield and specific retention? 
Shear force and BM diagrams for different types of loadings on beams

Mechanics of structures

Differentiate between bending moment and twisting moment 
Differentiate between mild steel and HYSD bars 
Differentiate between proof resilience and modulus of resilience 
What is meant by strain energy?

Fluid Mechanics

What is a spillway? 
What is total energy line? 
What is a flow net? Discuss its uses 
Why isn’t a venturimeter used commonly for measuring discharge in houses? 
What is critical hydraulic gradient? 
Differentiate between weir, notch and barrage

Geotechnical Engineering

What is geosynthetics? Mention its applications in civl engineering field 
What do you understand by 80/100 bitumen? 
Which is commonly used-bitumen or tar? Why? 
What are the precautions to be taken for construction in marshy soil? 
What is the relation between submerged unit weight and submerged weight? 
What are the different types of foundations adopted for different soils? 
What is differential settlement? 
Discuss the importance of Attenbug’s limits in soil engineering 
Differentiate between activity and sensitivity of soils 
Differentiate between soil stabilization and ground improvement 
How does machine foundation differ from an ordinary foundation? 
What is the permanent solution applied for the restoration of leaning Tower of Pisa?

Reinforced Concrete Structures

What is pre stressed concrete? What are its ingredients? 
What do 53 stand for in 53-grade cement? 
How do you construct a 25 storey building with no columns? 
What are the loads to be considered for the design of bridges? 
Differentiate between pre-tensioning and post-tensioning 
What is the L/D ratio of a cantilever beam? 
What type of dam is the Idukki dam? Give its details and peculiarity.

Transportation Engineering

What is camber? 
What is cutback bitumen? What are its special uses? 
Draw a typical C.S. of a permanent way 
What does IRC stand for? 
Define angularity number and give practical applications 
What material as ballast would you suggest for a high speed track? Why? 
What is the usual width of a single lane and a double lane road?

Environmental Engineering

Distinguish between slow and rapid sand filters 
What is super chlorination? 
What is canopy? 
Differentiate between BOD and COD 
Advanced Construction and Construction Technology 
What is batching? Differentiate between volume and weight batching 
How is underwater concreting carried out? 
What are the forces involved in underwater construction? 
What do 20 stand for in M20 mix concrete?

Engineering Geology

What is littoral drift? 
Differentiate between faults and folds

Surveying

How is a theodolite leveled? 
What are advantages of electronic theodolite over transit theodolite? 
Give the standard lengths of chains used in surveying 
What is a benchmark? Name the different types

Grading of Aggregates and Grading Limits

Grading of aggregates are determination of particle size distribution of aggregates. Grading of aggregates is an important factor for concrete mix design. These affect the concrete strength as well as durability.

Proper grading is important for concrete construction. Following tables provides details for grading limits of aggregates.

 Grading Limit for Single Sized CoarseAggregates

(Based on Clause 4.1 and 4.2 of IS: 383- 1970)

IS Sieve	Percentage passing for single sized aggregates of nominal size(mm)
	63 mm	40 mm	20 mm	16 mm	12.5 mm	10 mm
80 mm	100	–	–	–	–	–
63 mm	85 – 100	100	–	–	–	–
40 mm	0 – 30	85 – 100	100	–	–	–
20 mm	0 – 5	0 – 20	85 – 100	100	–	–
16 mm	–	–	–	85 – 100	100	–
12.5 mm	–	–	–	–	85 – 100	100
10 mm	0 – 5	0 – 5	0 – 20	0 – 30	0 – 45	85 – 100
4.75 mm	–	–	0 – 5	0 – 5	0 – 10	0 – 20
2.36 mm	–	–	–	–	–	0 – 5

Grading Limits for Fine Aggregates

(Based on Clause 4.3 of IS: 383 – 1970)

IS Sieve Designation	Percentage Passing
	Grading  Zone I	Grading  Zone II	Grading  Zone III	Grading  Zone IV
10 mm	100	100	100	100
4.75 mm	90 – 100	90 – 100	90 – 100	95 – 100
2.36 mm	60 – 95	75 – 100	85 – 100	95 – 100
1.18 mm	30 – 70	55 – 90	75 – 100	90 – 100
600 microns	15 – 34	35 – 59	60 – 79	80 – 100
300 microns	5 – 20	8 – 30	12 – 40	15 – 50
150 microns	0 – 10	0 – 10	0 – 10	0 – 15

Common Defects in Concrete Formwork Systems

Concrete formwork systems suffer from several deficiencies such as defects due to imperfect design and construction practice, defects in foundation level of formwork systems, defects in vertical support of formwork systems and defects in horizontal support of formwork systems. These common defects are discussed below.

Common Defects in Concrete Formwork Systems

1. Formwork Defects due to Imperfect Design and Construction Practice

• Too much tolerances in construction
• Inability to control vertical rate of concrete placement
• Inability to check the tightness of bolts and wedges before loading formwork systems
• Insufficient allowance for uplift of concrete under inclined formwork systems
• Different load distribution between two or more member that supposed to support common loads
• Incorrect computation of stresses because of over simplification of design assumptions
• Lack of required provision for the vibration effect on ties, struts, braces, and wedges
• Failure to properly account for wind loads
• Insufficient allowance for the influence of stresses generated by temperature, prestressing, and moisture movements

2. Defects in Foundation Level of Formwork Systems

• Sole plates are not leveled
• Crushing of sole plate because of insufficient distribution of loads form horizontal and vertical members
• Poor load carrying capacity of the ground under sole plate
• Deterioration of load carrying capacity of the ground for instance washing out ground
• Deterioration of sole plates with time because of several factors for example weather condition

3. Defects in Vertical Support of Formwork Systems

• Lack of ties between standards at point of loading
• Supports are out of plumb
• Insufficient bracing to scaffold
• Bearing plates at the top and bottom of props are distorted
• Insufficient lateral ties, vertical and plan bracing
• Lack of rigidity of screw connection because of lack of bracing or over extension
• Utilizing adjustable steel props with nails, mild steel bolts and reinforcing bars instead of correct pins

Fig.: Formwork for Beams and Slabs with Vertical Supports

4. Defects in Horizontal Support of Formwork Systems

• Horizontal members are not centrally placed in forkheads
• Lack of staggering in timber bolted connection which may lead to split out of the timber bolted connection
• Insufficient lateral and tensional bracing
• Inadequate support to prevent overturning of deep principal elements since forkheads are frequently omitted
• Insufficient support to cantilevers
• Inadequate bearing area to vertical supports and underside of main members lead to crushing
• Folding wedges cut to too coarse a taper, not properly cleated, cut from wet material.