Civil Engineering Licensure Examination - Hydraulics & Geotechnical Engineering Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental concepts in hydraulics and geotechnical engineering based on the examination transcript.

The number of hammer blows needed to drive a split-spoon sampler through the final $300\,\text{mm}$ of a $450\,\text{mm}$ penetration during subsurface exploration.

Standard penetration number

Plastic limit

The water content at which a soil can just be rolled into $3\,\text{mm}$ threads that begin to crumble.

A-line

The line on the USCS plasticity chart that separates inorganic clays from silts and organic soils.

Zero-air-void curve

The curve on a compaction plot giving the dry unit weight at $100\%$ saturation for each water content, to the right of which no laboratory point can lie.

Equipotential lines

Lines in a flow net along which the total head remains constant.

Capillary rise

The phenomenon causing soil above the water table to remain moist and partially saturated for a height above the free water surface.

Overconsolidation ratio

The ratio of the maximum past effective stress experienced by a soil to its present effective overburden stress.

Unconsolidated-undrained test

A triaxial test where no drainage is permitted during both the application of confining pressure and the shearing stage.

Passive earth pressure

The lateral earth pressure developed when a retaining structure is pushed into the backfill, lifting the soil wedge behind it.

Punching shear failure

A bearing-capacity failure mode where a footing sinks into loose sand or soft clay without failure surfaces extending to the ground surface.

Kinetic energy

The capacity of a mass to perform work by virtue of its velocity.

Uniform flow

A flow condition in a stream reach where the average velocity across every cross-section is identical under steady flow.

Surface tension

The fluid property primarily responsible for water emerging from a leaking faucet as separate drops.

Water hammer

A dynamic pressure spike exerted in a pipe above normal static pressure caused by the sudden closure of a valve.

Hydraulic radius

The cross-sectional area of a stream divided by its wetted perimeter.

Weir

An overflow structure constructed across an open channel to measure or control fluid discharge.

Group Index

An index value evaluated in the AASHTO soil classification system where higher values indicate less suitable subgrade materials.