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 About Pearson
Pearson is the world’s learning company, with presence across 70 countries
worldwide. Our unique insights and world-class expertise comes from a long
history of working closely with renowned teachers, authors and thought
leaders, as a result of which, we have emerged as the preferred choice for
millions of teachers and learners across the world.
We believe learning opens up opportunities, creates fulfilling careers and
hence better lives. We hence collaborate with the best of minds to deliver
you class-leading products, spread across the Higher Education and K12
spectrum.
Superior learning experience and improved outcomes are at the heart of
everything we do. This product is the result of one such effort.
Your feedback plays a critical role in the evolution of our products and you
can contact us - [email protected]. We look forward to it.

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 1 4/11/2018 5:29:02 PM

 This page is intentionally left blank

Part A_Ch1_Grammar.indd 2 5/29/2017 5:20:54 PM

 GATE
(Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering)

Civil Engineering

Trishna Knowledge Systems

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 3 4/11/2018 5:29:02 PM

 Copyright © 2018 Pearson India Education Services Pvt. Ltd

Published by Pearson India Education Services Pvt. Ltd, CIN: U72200TN2005PTC057128.

No part of this eBook may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the publisher’s prior written
consent.

This eBook may or may not include all assets that were part of the print version. The publisher reserves the right to
remove any material in this eBook at any time.

ISBN: 9789352868421
eISBN: 978-93-530-6197-5

Head Office: 15th Floor, Tower-B, World Trade Tower, Plot No. 1, Block-C, Sector-16, Noida 201 301,
Uttar Pradesh, India.
Registered Office: 4th Floor, Software Block, Elnet Software City, TS-140, Block 2 & 9, Rajiv Gandhi Salai,
Taramani, Chennai 600 113, Tamil Nadu, India.
Fax: 080-30461003, Phone: 080-30461060
Website: in.pearson.com, Email: [email protected]

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 4 4/11/2018 5:29:02 PM

 Contents
Preface ix
Key Pedagogical Features x
Syllabus: Civil Engineering xii
Chapter-wise Analysis of Previous Years’ Papers xiv
General Information about GATE xv
Solved Papers 2017 xvii
Solved Papers 2018 lii

PART I General Aptitude 1.1

PART A Verbal Ability
Chapter 1 Grammar 1.5
Chapter 2 Vocabulary 1.50
PART B Numerical Ability

UNIT 1 Quantitative Aptitude 1.71

Chapter 1 Simple Equations 1.73
Chapter 2 Ratio–Proportion–Variation 1.79
Chapter 3 Numbers 1.85
Chapter 4 Percentage, Profit, and Loss 1.100
Chapter 5 Simple Interest and Compound Interest 1.107
Chapter 6 Averages, Mixtures, and Alligations 1.113
Chapter 7 Time and Work 1.120
Chapter 8 Time and Distance 1.126
Chapter 9 Indices, Surds, and Logarithms 1.132
Chapter 10 Quadratic Equations 1.139
Chapter 11 Inequalities 1.145
Chapter 12 Progressions 1.149
Chapter 13 Permutations and Combinations 1.155
Chapter 14 Data Interpretation 1.163

UNIT 2 Reasoning 1.175

Chapter 1 Number and Letter Series 1.177
Chapter 2 Analogies 1.183
Chapter 3 Odd Man Out 1.186
Chapter 4 Coding and Decoding 1.189

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 5 4/11/2018 5:29:02 PM

 vi | Contents

Chapter 5 Blood Relations 1.193

Chapter 6 Venn Diagrams 1.198
Chapter 7 Seating Arrangements 1.202
Chapter 8 Puzzles 1.210
Chapter 9 Clocks and Calendars 1.223

PART II Engineering Mathematics 2.1

Chapter 1 Calculus 2.3
Chapter 2 Ordinary Differential Equations 2.33
Chapter 3 Partial Differential Equations 2.58
Chapter 4 Linear Algebra 2.71
Chapter 5 Probability and Statistics 2.88
Chapter 6 Numerical Methods 2.119

Part III Civil Engineering 3.1

UNIT 1 Engineering Mechanics 3.3

Chapter 1 Introduction—Forces and Equilibrium 3.05
Chapter 2 Free-body Diagrams—Trusses 3.17
Chapter 3 Friction, Centre of Gravity, Moment of Inertia 3.30
Chapter 4 Rectilinear Motion 3.54
Chapter 5 Curvilinear Motion 3.78
Chapter 6 List of Formulae 3.93

UNIT 2 Solid Mechanics 3.99

Chapter 1 Simple Stresses and Strains 3.101
Chapter 2 Complex Stresses, Shear Force and Bending Moment Diagrams 3.113
Chapter 3 Theory of Stresses in Beams 3.132
Chapter 4 Torsion of Shafts 3.144
Chapter 5 Deflection of Beams 3.152
Chapter 6 Columns and Struts 3.164
Chapter 7 Strain Energy 3.171
Chapter 8 Fixed and Propped Cantilever Beams, and Shear Centre 3.175

UNIT 3 Structural Analysis 3.185

Chapter 1 Determinacy and Indeterminacy 3.187
Chapter 2 Methods of Indeterminate Analysis 3.197
Chapter 3 Analysis of Trusses 3.213
Chapter 4 ILD and Rolling Loads 3.223
Chapter 5 Arches, Cables, Matrix Methods 3.233

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 6 4/11/2018 5:29:03 PM

 Contents | vii

UNIT 4 Construction Materials and Management 3.251

Chapter 1 Concrete and Its Constituents 3.253
Chapter 2 Steel 3.266
Chapter 3 Bricks and Mortar 3.270
Chapter 4 Timber 3.277
Chapter 5 Bitumen 3.284
Chapter 6 Introduction to Construction Management 3.287
Chapter 7 Rate Analysis, Estimation and Standard Specifications 3.290
Chapter 8 Tendering and Construction Contracts 3.296
Chapter 9 Project Planning and Network Analysis 3.301

UNIT 5 Concrete Structures 3.315

Chapter 1 Limit State Method 3.317
Chapter 2 Beams 3.325
Chapter 3 Strength of RC Section in Shear, Torsion and Bond 3.341
Chapter 4 Slabs, Columns and Footings 3.351
Chapter 5 Prestressed Concrete 3.364

UNIT 6 Steel Structures 3.375

Chapter 1 Material Specifications and Connections—Simple and Eccentric 3.377
Chapter 2 Tension and Compression Members 3.401
Chapter 3 Beams 3.417
Chapter 4 Plate Girders and Roof Trusses 3.424
Chapter 5 Plastic Theory 3.431

UNIT 7 Geotechnical Engineering 3.447

Chapter 1 Origin of Soils and Clay Mineralogy 3.449
Chapter 2 Basic Definitions and Simple Tests 3.454
Chapter 3 Index Properties and Soil Classification 3.461
Chapter 4 Permeability 3.470
Chapter 5 Effective Stress and Seepage Pressure 3.477
Chapter 6 Seepage Analysis, Stress Distribution and Compaction 3.484
Chapter 7 Consolidation 3.495
Chapter 8 Shear Strength 3.506
Chapter 9 Earth Pressure Theories 3.517
Chapter 10 Stability of Slopes 3.529
Chapter 11 Bearing Capacity 3.538
Chapter 12 Pile Foundation 3.550
Chapter 13 Soil Exploration 3.561

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 7 4/11/2018 5:29:03 PM

 viii | Contents

UNIT 8 Fluid Mechanics and Hydraulics 3.571

Chapter 1 Fluid Properties and Manometry 3.573
Chapter 2 Fluid Pressure and Buoyancy 3.599
Chapter 3 Fluid Kinematics and Dynamics 3.619
Chapter 4 Viscous Flow of Incompressible Fluids 3.656
Chapter 5 Forces on Immersed Bodies 3.688
Chapter 6 Flow Through Open Channels 3.698
Chapter 7 Dimensional Analysis 3.728
Chapter 8 Turbo Machinery 3.740

UNIT 9 Water Resources Engineering 3.765

Chapter 1 Hydrologic Cycle 3.767
Chapter 2 Hydrographs, Flood Routing and Well Hydraulics 3.781
Chapter 3 Irrigation 3.798
Chapter 4 Gravity Dams, Spillways, Diversion Head Works and Silt Theories 3.810

UNIT 10 Environmental Engineering 3.827

Chapter 1 Water Supply Engineering-I 3.829
Chapter 2 Water Supply Engineering-II 3.843
Chapter 3 Waste Water Engineering-I 3.863
Chapter 4 Waste Water Engineering-II 3.885

UNIT 11 Transportation Engineering 3.905

Chapter 1 Transportation Engineering 3.907
Chapter 2 Highway Materials 3.947
Chapter 3 Pavements Design 3.960
Chapter 4 Traffic Engineering 3.974

UNIT 12 Geomatics Engineering 3.993

Chapter 1 Fundamental Concepts and Linear Measurements 3.995
Chapter 2 Compass and Plane Table Surveying 3.1008
Chapter 3 Theodolite, Traverse Survey and Omitted Measurements 3.1017
Chapter 4 Levelling and Contouring 3.1026
Chapter 5 Curves and Triangulation Survey 3.1045
Chapter 6 Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry GIS and GPS 3.1052

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 8 4/11/2018 5:29:03 PM

 Preface
Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is one of the preliminary tests for undergraduate subjects in Engineering/
Technology/Architecture and postgraduate subjects in Science stream only.
The number of aspirants appearing for the GATE examination is increasing significantly every year, owing to multifac-
eted opportunities open to any good performer. Apart from giving the aspirant a chance to pursue an M.Tech. from insti-
tutions like the IITs /NITs, a good GATE score can be highly instrumental in landing the candidate a plush public sector
job, as many PSUs are recruiting graduate engineers on the basis of their performance in GATE. The GATE examination
pattern has undergone several changes over the years—sometimes apparent and sometimes subtle. It is bound to continue
to do so with changing technological environment.
GATE Civil Engineering, as a complete resource helps the aspirants be ready with conceptual understanding, and
enables them to apply these concepts in various applications, rather than just proficiency with question types. Topics are
handled in a comprehensive manner, beginning with the basics and progressing in a step-by-step manner along with a
bottom-up approach. This allows the student to better understand the concept and to practice applicative techniques in a
focused manner. The content has been systematically organized to facilitate easy understanding of all topics. The given
examples will not only help the students to understand the concepts involved in the problems but also help to get a good
idea about the different models of problems on a particular topic. Due care has also been taken to cover a very wide range
of problems including questions that have been appearing over the last few years in GATE examination.
The practice exercises in every chapter, contain questions ranging from simple to moderate to difficult level. These exer-
cises are meant to hone the examination readiness over a period of time. At the end of each unit, practice tests have been
placed. These tests will help the student assess their level of learning on a regular interval.
This book has been prepared by a group of faculty who are highly experienced in training GATE candidates and are also
subject matter experts. As a result, this book would serve as an effective tool for GATE aspirant to crack the examination.

Salient Features of Revised Edition

1. Elaborate question bank covering previous 10 years’ GATE question papers
2. 3 free online mock tests for practice
3. Detailed coverage of key topics
4. Complete set of solved 2017 and 2018 GATE online papers with chapter-wise analysis
5. Exhaustive pedagogy:
(a) More than 1700 Solved Examples
(b) More than 3500 Practice Questions
(c) Unit-wise time-bound tests
(d) Modular approach for easy understanding

We would like to thank the below-mentioned reviewers for their valuable feedback and suggestions which has helped
in shaping this book.

Dr Narendra Dev HOD, Department of Civil Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Bawana Road,
New Delhi
Prof A K Gupta Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Delhi Technological University, Bawana
Road, New Delhi
Dr Kamlesh kumar choudhary HOD, Department of Civil Engineering, JECRC Foundation, Jaipur, Rajasthan
Dr Purushothama CT Associate Professor & HOD, Department of Civil Engineering, Sahyadri College of
Engineering & Management, Mangaluru, Karnataka
Dr Kavyashree MP Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sahyadri College of Engineering
& Management, Mangaluru, Karnataka
Dr Sunil Kumar Rathor Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, JECRC Foundation, Jaipur,
Rajasthan

Despite our best efforts, some errors may have inadvertently crept into the book. Constructive comments and suggestions
to further improve the book are welcome and shall be acknowledged gratefully.
Wishing you all the very best!
—Trishna Knowledge Systems

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 9 4/11/2018 5:29:03 PM

 Rx = Pxp + QxQ + Sxs θ 60°

Coplanar Non-concurrent,
Chapter 1
w

Non-parallel Force System Solution

T1
As in the case of an unlike parallel force system, the result-
Introduction—Forces
ant may be a single force, a couple in the plane of the system
T2

or zero. The resultant is given by R = ( ∑ fx ) + ( ∑ f ) ,

and Equilibrium
2 2

Key Pedagogical Features ∑ fy

y
θ 60°

and its angle a with the X-axis is given by tan α = .

∑ Fx w

Y
T1sin θ + T2sin 60° = w

Chapter Highlights
CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS T1cos θ = T2 cos 60°
☞ Introduction ☞ Coplanar concurrent force system
List of important topics that
o T1 cos θnon-concurrent, non-parallel force
☞ Newtonian mechanics
X T2☞= Coplanar = 2T1 cos θ
are covered in chapter. a b ☞ cDeformation
d of body cos 60°
system

P Q ☞ Force
S =☞T1sin θ + 2T1 cos θ ⋅ sin 60° = w
Moment of a force
☞ Resolution of a force into a force and a couple ☞ Moment of a couple

Distributed force system: Distributed

☞ Resultant of a system of coplanar forces
forces (or loads) are =☞
T1sin θ + 2Tequations
Equilibrium
1cos θ . sin 60° = w
for different coplanar
☞ Resultant of multiple forces acting at a point force systems
those force that act over a length,
☞ Triangle law ofvolume
area, or of a body. T ☞sinAnalysis θ + of3aTsystem
1cos θ = w
forces of forces in space
1
On the other hand, a concentrated force (point load) is a
force which acts on a point. dT1
=Kinematics:
0 = T1 cos θ + 3T1 ( −with sin θspace,
) = 0time
Introduction dθ 3. relationship Kinematics deals
In physics, the branch which deals with the study of state of Solved Examples
of a given motion of body and not at all
with the forces that cause the motion.
SOLVED EXAMPLES θ = 3Tproblems
T cosSolved
rest or motion caused by the action of forces on the bodies sin θ are given
1 4. Kinetics: The1study of the laws of motion of material
is called ‘mechanics’.
bodies under the action of forces or kinetics is the
topic-wise
Engineering mechanics applies the principles and laws
1 to learn and to
tan θ =
of mechanics to solve the problems of common engineering
apply
study of the relationship between the forces and the

3 the concepts learned

resulting motion.
Example 1 elements.
Some of the definitions of the idealizations used in engi-
in a particular section as per
‘3P’ and ‘2P’ is R. θ = 30°.
neering mechanics are as follows:
Newtonian
The resultant of two concurrent forcesMecHanics
Newtonian mechanics or classical mechanics deals with the 1. examination
Continuum: pattern.
It is defi ned as continuous nonspacial
If the first force is doubled, the resultant is also doubled. whole which has no empty spaces, and no part is
Determine the angle between
study of the motion of macroscopic objects under the action
theor forces.
of a force a system of forces.
Example 3 the adjacent parts. Considering objects,
distinct from
in this way, ignores that the matter present in the
Branches of Newtonian Mechanics
An electric fixture
object is made of atomsweighing
and molecules.18 N hangs from a point C by
Solution 1. Statics: It is the study of forces and conditions of two 2.strings
Particle: AAC and
particle is aBC as
body which shown in the following figure.
has finite mass,
but the dimensions can be neglected.
equilibrium of bodies at rest subjected to the actionThe string AC is inclined to the vertical wall at 40° and BC
2 2 3P × 2 P × cos α ]
R = [(3P ) + ( 2 P ) + 2of ×forces. 1/ 2
3. System of particles: When a group of particles
It is the branch of mechanics which dealsis inclined to the horizontal ceiling at 50°. Determine the
which are inter-related are dealt together for studying
= P × [13 + 12 cos α ]with the study of motion of rigid bodies and(1)the co-
2. Dynamics:
1/ 2 the behaviour, it is called a system of particles.
forces in the strings.
4. Rigid body: A solid body which does not undergo
relation with the forces causing and affecting their motion.
Dynamics is divided into Kinematics and Kinetics. any deformations under the application of forces is

3.14 | Part III ■ Unit 1 ■ Engineering Mechanics

Exercises Part III_Unit 1_Chapter 01.indd 5 Exercises 5/31/2017 1:18:33 PM

Practice problems for students

Part III_Unit 1_Chapter 01.indd 9 1. A weight of 1900 N is supported by two chains of the graph is 3, the distance travelled by the body in 6 5/31/2017 1:1
to master the concepts studied lengths of 4 m and 3 m as shown in figure. Determine seconds would be
the tension in each chain. (A) 40 m (B) 60 m
in chapter. 5m (C) 78 m (D) 80 m
A B 6. Match the following:
α β
T1 T2 List I List II
4m 3m
θ1 θ2 a. Two parallel forces acting on a 1. Collision
Chain no 1 Chain no 2
body moving with uniform velocity
C b. A moving particle 2. Forces in equilibrium
1900 N
c. Two coplanar forces equal in 3. Kinetic energy
(A) 1200 N, 1300 N (B) 1100 N, 100 N magnitude but opposite in
direction
(C) 1100 N, 1200 N (D) 1520 N, 1140 N
d. Co-efficient of restitution 4. Couple
2. Four forces of magnitudes 20 N, 40 N, 60 N and 80 N are
acting respectively along the four sides of a square ABCD Codes:
as shown in figure. Determine magnitude of resultant. a b c d a b c d
(A) 4 3 2 1 (B) 1 2 3 4
40 N
(C) 2 3 4 1 (D) None of these
60 N D
C 7. Two forces form a couple only when
(A) magnitude is same have parallel lines of action and
same sense.
(B) magnitude is different, have parallel lines of action
B
but same sense.
A (C) magnitude is same have non parallel lines of
20 N
80 N action but same sense.
(D) magnitude is same and have parallel lines of action
(A) 40 2 N (B) 50 2 N and opposite sense.
8.
(C) 45 2 N (D) 60 2 N A

3. Match the following: 30° C

P
List I List II 45°
a. Two parallel forces acting on 1. Collision
a body moving with uniform
velocity
b. A moving particle 2. Forces in equilibrium
c. Two coplanar forces equal in 3. Kinetic energy
magnitude but opposite in B
direction
d. Co-efficient of 4. Couple
Two steel truss members AC and BC with cross section
restitution area 100 mm2 is subjected to a horizontal force P kN as
GATE ECE_Prelims.indd 10 shown in figure. Maximum value of P such that axial 6/27/2017 4:10:56 PM
Codes:
 Key Pedagogical Features | xi
Chapter 2 ■ Free-body Diagrams—Trusses | 3.29

Previous Years’ Questions

1. Consider a truss PQR loaded at P with a force F as (A) 11.25 tension (B) 11.25 compression
Previous Years’
shown in the figure. The tension in the member QR is (C) 13.5 tension (D) 13.5 compression Questions
[GATE, 2008] 3. For the truss shown in the figure, the magnitude of the
F force in member PR and the support reaction at R are
Contains previous 10
respectively [GATE, 2015] years’ GATE Questions at
P
100 kN
the end of every chapter
60°
that help students to get
P
an idea about the type of
45° 30°
Q R problems asked in GATE
and prepare accordingly.
(A) 0.5 F (B) 0.63 F
(C) 0.73 F (D) 0.87 F Q 45° R

2. For the truss shown in the figure, the forces F1 and F2

are 9 kN and 3 kN, respectively. The force (in kN) in 4m
the member QS is (All dimensions are in m)
[GATE, 2014]
F1 F2 (A) 122.47 kN and 50 kN
(B) 70.71 kN and 100 kN
3 3
(C) 70.71 kN and 50 kN
P Q R (D) 81.65 kN and 100 kN

CHapter 3 nSumbers T
Hints/Solutions
1.5 3 Hints/solutions
This section gives com-
Exercises 7. If the odd natural number is more than or equal to 3 its
factorial’s parity would be even plete solutions of all the
1. If x = 2 and y = 3 , x + y – xy = 2+ 3– 6
1! = 1.\ 1! is the only odd number satisfying the given
Answer Keys
unsolved questions given
In this case, x + y – xy is irrational.
If x = 2 and y = – 2 ,
condition. in the chapter. The Hints/
Hence, the correct option is (A).
Exercises
x + y – xy = 2 + (− 2 ) – ( 2 ) (– 2 ) = 2 Solutions are included in
8. For any perfect number, the sum of its factors is twice
1. A 2. A
In this case, x + y – xy3.is rational.
D 4. C 5. C 6.the
B number.7. A 8. D 9. D 10. D the CD accompanying
11. A 12. A 13. B 14. A
\ We can only conclude that x + y – xy is real Hence, the correct option is (B). the book.
Previous
(Q Any Years’ Questions
real number is one which is either rational or 9. Let x = 0. 255 = 0.25
irrational)
1. B 2. A 3. C
Hence, the correct option is (A). 10 x = 2.5 (7)
2. Choice (A) 100 x = 25.5 (8)
851 = 302 – 72 = (23) (37) Subtracting (7) from (8)
\ Choice (A) is not prime 23
x=
Choice (B) 90
589 = 252 – 62 = (19) (31) Hence, the correct option is (A).
\ Choice (B) is not prime. 10. Let x = 0. 321
Choice (C) is divisible by 3. 10 x = 3.21 (9)
Choice (D) is prime. 1000 x = 321.21 (10)
Hence, the correct option is (D). 3.824 | Part III ■ Unit 9 ■ Water Resources Engineering
318 53
3. Twin primes are prime numbers, which differ by 2. Subtracting (9) from (10), x = =
990 165 Test
Practice Tests
In Choice (A), 133 is divisible by 7 and hence it is not
a prime Water
Hence, the correct option is (A).
Resources Engineering Time: 60 Minutes
11. Let x = 0.321
Time-bound
In Choice (B), test
Part III_Unit 1_Chapter 02.indd 29
provided
the numbers are twinatprimes.
the 5/20/2017 12:43:29 PM
100 x = 32 .1
by 3 and hence it is not1. The region where air coming from the pole (cooler (11)
4. The infiltration capacity curves which are developed
endIn Choice
of each (C),unit
159 isfor
divisible
assessment and denser)
prime. 1000 x =and 321 the
.1 air of the middle cell (warmer and (12) from infiltrometer tests or the hydrograph analysis
of topics
Hence, theleaned in the
correct option unit.
is (D).
lighter) meet is called ________. methods are used to estimate ______ from a given
(A) Subtracting
cold front (11) from (12), (B) warm front storm.
4. Choice (A) (C) xpolar 289
= front (D) occluded front (A) infiltration (B) rainfall
Sum of the digits in the odd places= 32 900
2. The intensity-duration-frequency curve from the fol- (C) run-off (D) All of these
Hence, the correct option is (A).
Sum of the digits in the even places = 21 lowing is 5. ______ hydrograph is independent of rainfall duration.
12. Least natural number = (Least perfect cube greater than (A) Instantaneous unit hydrograph
(Sum of the digits in the odd places) – (Sum of the (Where a < b < c)
599) – 599 = 729 – 599 = 130. (B) Synthetic unit hydrograph
digits in the even places) is divisible by 11.
(A) Hence, the correct option is (C). (C) Direct run-off hydrograph
\ Choice (A) is divisible by 11.
13. Let the least frequency
odd number be x. (D) Unit hydrograph
Choices (B) and (C) are not divisible by 11.
Given, x +cx + 2 + … + x + 18 = 200 ⇒ x = 11 6. When the seepage takes place from the stream into the
Hence, the correct option is (A).
Intensity →

ground, it is called ______ stream.

Hence the b sum of the last five terms ⇒ 5x + 120
5. The number formed by the last three digits of a number a (A) perennial stream (B) influent stream
i.e., 175.
must be divisible by 8 for the number to be divisible (C) effluent stream (D) ephemeral stream
by 8. The least natural number which should be added Hence, the correct option is (B). 7. A structure with a useful life period of 100 years is
to the number formed by the last 3 digits of the given 14. 19019 = 19 (1001) = (19) (13) (11) (7) designed for a 50-year flood. Then the risk in the design
Duration →
number to make it divisible by 8 is 3. \ 19019 has 4 prime factors. is given by _______.
Hence, the correct option is (A). (A) 0.68 (B) 0.71
(B) Hence, the correct option is (D).
6. The product of any N consecutive natural numbers is 15. The number of numbers less than N and coprime to it (C) 0.87 (D) 0.99
divisible by N!, any for all values of N. a 8. The peak flow in outflow hydrographs in a channel
⎛ 1⎞ ⎛ 1⎞ ⎛ 1⎞ 4 routing occurs at ______.
\ When N = 7, any such product is divisible by = N ⎜1 − b ⎟ ⎜1frequency
− ⎟ ⎜1 − ⎟ = N
Intensity →

7! = 5040. ⎝ 2 ⎠c ⎝ 3⎠ ⎝ 5 ⎠ 15 (A) intersection point of inflow and outflow

hydrographs
Hence, the correct option is (A). Hence, the correct option is (B).
(B) before intersection
(C) after intersection
Duration → (D) Any of these
GATE ECE_Prelims.indd 11 6/27/2017 4:24:05 PM
9. For unconfined aquifers, the storage coefficient
 Syllabus: Civil Engineering
Section 1: Engineering Mathematics
Linear Algebra: Matrix algebra; Systems of linear equations; Eigen values and Eigen vectors.
Calculus: Functions of single variable; Limit, continuity and differentiability; Mean value theorems, local maxima and
minima, Taylor and Maclaurin series; Evaluation of definite and indefinite integrals, application of definite integral to
obtain area and volume; Partial derivatives; Total derivative; Gradient, Divergence and Curl, Vector identities, Directional
derivatives, Line, Surface and Volume integrals, Stokes, Gauss and Green’s theorems.
Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE): First order (linear and non-linear) equations; higher order linear equations with
constant coefficients; Euler-Cauchy equations; Laplace transform and its application in solving linear ODEs; initial and
boundary value problems.
Partial Differential Equation (PDE): Fourier series; separation of variables; solutions of one-dimensional diffusion
equation; first and second order one-dimensional wave equation and two-dimensional Laplace equation.
Probability and Statistics: Definitions of probability and sampling theorems; Conditional probability; Discrete Random
variables: Poisson and Binomial distributions; Continuous random variables: normal and exponential distributions;
Descriptive statistics - Mean, median, mode and standard deviation; Hypothesis testing.
Numerical Methods: Accuracy and precision; error analysis. Numerical solutions of linear and non-linear algebraic
equations; Least square approximation, Newton’s and Lagrange polynomials, numerical differentiation, Integration by
trapezoidal and Simpson’s rule, single and multi-step methods for first order differential equations.

Section 2: Structural Engineering

Engineering Mechanics: System of forces, free-body diagrams, equilibrium equations; Internal forces in structures;
Friction and its applications; Kinematics of point mass and rigid body; Centre of mass; Euler’s equations of motion;
Impulse-momentum; Energy methods; Principles of virtual work.
Solid Mechanics: Bending moment and shear force in statically determinate beams; Simple stress and strain relationships;
Theories of failures; Simple bending theory, flexural and shear stresses, shear centre; Uniform torsion, buckling of column,
combined and direct bending stresses.
Structural Analysis: Statically determinate and indeterminate structures by force/energy methods; Method of
superposition; Analysis of trusses, arches, beams, cables and frames; Displacement methods: Slope deflection and moment
distribution methods; Influence lines; Stiffness and flexibility methods of structural analysis.
Construction Materials and Management: Construction Materials: Structural steel-composition, material properties
and behaviour; Concrete—constituents, mix design, short-term and long-term properties; Bricks and mortar; Timber;
Bitumen. Construction Management: Types of construction projects; Tendering and construction contracts; Rate analysis
and standard specifications; Cost estimation; Project planning and network analysis—PERT and CPM.
Concrete Structures: Working stress, Limit state and Ultimate load design concepts; Design of beams, slabs, columns;
Bond and development length; Prestressed concrete; Analysis of beam sections at transfer and service loads.
Steel Structures: Working stress and Limit state design concepts; Design of tension and compression members, beams
and beam-columns, column bases; Connections—simple and eccentric, beam-column connections, plate girders and
trusses; Plastic analysis of beams and frames.

Section 3: Geotechnical Engineering

Soil Mechanics: Origin of soils, soil structure and fabric; Three-phase system and phase relationships, index properties;
Unified and Indian standard soil classification system; Permeability—one dimensional flow, Darcy’s law; Seepage through
soils—two-dimensional flow, flow nets, uplift pressure, piping; Principle of effective stress, capillarity, seepage force
and quicksand condition; Compaction in laboratory and field conditions; One-dimensional consolidation, time rate of
consolidation; Mohr’s circle, stress paths, effective and total shear strength parameters, characteristics of clays and sand.

GATE ECE_Prelims.indd 12 5/24/2017 3:40:23 PM

 Syllabus: Civil Engineering | xiii

Foundation Engineering: Sub-surface investigations—scope, drilling bore holes, sampling, plate load test, standard
penetration and cone penetration tests; Earth pressure theories—Rankine and Coulomb; Stability of slopes—finite and
infinite slopes, method of slices and Bishop’s method; Stress distribution in soils—Boussinesq’s and Westergaard’s
theories, pressure bulbs; Shallow foundations—Terzaghi’s and Meyerhoff’s bearing capacity theories, effect of water table;
Combined footing and raft foundation; Contact pressure; Settlement analysis in sands and clays; Deep foundations—types
of piles, dynamic and static formulae, load capacity of piles in sands and clays, pile load test, negative skin friction.

Section 4: Water Resources Engineering

Fluid Mechanics: Properties of fluids, fluid statics; Continuity, momentum, energy and corresponding equations; Potential
flow, applications of momentum and energy equations; Laminar and turbulent flow; Flow in pipes, pipe networks; Concept
of boundary layer and its growth.
Hydraulics: Forces on immersed bodies; Flow measurement in channels and pipes; Dimensional analysis and hydraulic
similitude; Kinematics of flow, velocity triangles; Basics of hydraulic machines, specific speed of pumps and turbines;
Channel Hydraulics—Energy-depth relationships, specific energy, critical flow, slope profile, hydraulic jump, uniform flow
and gradually varied flow.
Hydrology: Hydrologic cycle, precipitation, evaporation, evapo-transpiration, watershed, infiltration, unit hydrographs,
hydrograph analysis, flood estimation and routing, reservoir capacity, reservoir and channel routing, surface run-off
models, ground water hydrology - steady state well hydraulics and aquifers; Application of Darcy’s law.
Irrigation: Duty, delta, estimation of evapo-transpiration; Crop water requirements; Design of lined and unlined canals,
head works, gravity dams and spillways; Design of weirs on permeable foundation; Types of irrigation systems, irrigation
methods; Water logging and drainage; Canal regulatory works, cross-drainage structures, outlets and escapes.

Section 5: Environmental Engineering

Water and Waste Water: Quality standards, basic unit processes and operations for water treatment. Drinking water
standards, water requirements, basic unit operations and unit processes for surface water treatment, distribution of water.
Sewage and sewerage treatment, quantity and characteristics of wastewater. Primary, secondary and tertiary treatment
of wastewater, effluent discharge standards. Domestic wastewater treatment, quantity of characteristics of domestic
wastewater, primary and secondary treatment. Unit operations and unit processes of domestic wastewater, sludge disposal.
Air Pollution: Types of pollutants, their sources and impacts, air pollution meteorology, air pollution control, air quality
standards and limits.
Municipal Solid Wastes: Characteristics, generation, collection and transportation of solid wastes, engineered systems
for solid waste management (reuse/recycle, energy recovery, treatment and disposal).
Noise Pollution: Impacts of noise, permissible limits of noise pollution, measurement of noise and control of noise
pollution.

Section 6:Transportation Engineering

Transportation Infrastructure: Highway alignment and engineering surveys; Geometric design of highways—cross-
sectional elements, sight distances, horizontal and vertical alignments; Geometric design of railway track; Airport runway
length, taxiway and exit taxiway design.
Highway Pavements: Highway materials—desirable properties and quality control tests; Design of bituminous paving
mixes; Design factors for flexible and rigid pavements; Design of flexible pavement using IRC: 37—2012; Design of rigid
pavements using IRC: 58—2011; Distresses in concrete pavements.
Traffic Engineering: Traffic studies on flow, speed, travel time—delay and O-D study, PCU, peak hour factor, parking
study, accident study and analysis, statistical analysis of traffic data; Microscopic and macroscopic parameters of traffic flow,
fundamental relationships; Control devices, signal design by Webster’s method; Types of intersections and channelization;
Highway capacity and level of service of rural highways and urban roads.

Section 7: Geomatics Engineering

Principles of surveying; Errors and their adjustment; Maps—scale, coordinate system; Distance and angle measurement
- Levelling and trigonometric levelling; Traversing and triangulation survey; Total station; Horizontal and vertical curves.
Photogrammetry—scale, flying height; Remote sensing—basics, platform and sensors, visual image interpretation; Basics
of Geographical information system (GIS) and Geographical Positioning system (GPS).

GATE ECE_Prelims.indd 13 5/24/2017 3:40:23 PM

 Chapter-wise Analysis of
Previous Years’ Papers
Subject 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
General Aptitude Set I Set II
1 Mark 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
2 Marks 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
Total Marks 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
Engineering Mathematics
1 Mark 2 3 3 3 3 2 5 4 5 4 3 5
2 Marks 9 6 5 5 5 4 2 5 4 4 3 4
Total Marks 20 15 13 13 13 10 9 14 13 12 9 13
Geotechnical Engineering
1 Mark 3 3 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 5 4 4
2 Marks 10 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 5 5 5
Total Marks 23 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 15 15 14 14
Environmental Engineering
1 Mark 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 2 4 4 2 2
2 Marks 6 6 3 4 4 3 3 3 3 4 4 4
Total Marks 14 14 9 11 10 8 8 8 10 12 10 10
Water Resources Engineering
1 Mark 4 3 4 5 4 6 3 5 3 2 1 3
2 Marks 11 6 5 5 5 5 6 5 4 5 2 1
Total Marks 26 15 14 15 14 16 15 15 11 12 5 5
Transportation Engineering
1 Mark 4 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 3 3 3
2 Marks 7 4 3 3 3 3 4 3 2 2 3 3
Total Marks 18 10 8 9 9 9 10 8 6 7 9 9
Geomatics Engineering
1 Mark 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 3 2 0 0
2 Marks 4 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2
Total Marks 9 5 3 3 3 4 5 6 5 4 4 4
Structural Engineering
1 Mark 4 6 7 5 7 7 7 6 5 5 12 8
2 Marks 18 10 8 7 7 8 8 7 10 9 11 11
Total Marks 40 26 23 19 21 23 23 20 25 23 34 30
Questions Total 85 60 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65
Score Total 150 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

A01_TRISHNA_81999_FM.indd 14 4/11/2018 4:42:01 PM

 General Information about GATE
Structure of Gate and Gate Results
The GATE examination consists of a single online paper of 3-hour duration, in which there will be a total of 65 questions
carrying 100 out of which 10 questions carrying a total of 15 marks are in General Aptitude (GA).

Section Weightage and Marks

70% of the total marks is given to the technical section while 15% weightage is given to General Aptitude and Engineering
Mathematics.

Weightage Questions (Total 65)

Respective Engineering Branch 70 Marks Twenty five - 1 mark questions
Engineering Mathematics 15 Marks Thirty - 2 marks questions
General Aptitude 15 Marks Five - 1 mark questions
Five - 2 marks questions

Particulars
For 1-mark multiple-choice questions, 1/3 marks will be deducted for a wrong answer. Likewise, for 2-mark multiple-
choice questions, 2/3 marks will be deducted for a wrong answer. There is no negative marking for numerical answer-type
questions.

Question Types
1. Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) carrying 1 or 2 marks each in all papers and sections. These questions are
objective in nature, and each will have a choice of four answers, out of which the candidate has to mark the correct
answer(s).
2. Numerical Answer carrying 1 or 2 marks each in all papers and sections. For numerical answer questions, choices
will not be given. For these questions the answer is a real number, to be entered by the candidate using the virtual
keypad. No choices will be shown for this type of questions.

Design of Questions
The fill in the blank questions usually consist of 35%–40% of the total weightage.
The questions in a paper may be designed to test the following abilities:
1. Recall: These are based on facts, principles, formulae, or laws of the discipline of the paper. The candidate is expected
to be able to obtain the answer either from his/her memory of the subject or at most from a one-line computation.
2. Comprehension: These questions will test the candidate’s understanding of the basics of his/her field by requiring
him/her to draw simple conclusions from fundamental ideas.
3. Application: In these questions, the candidate is expected to apply his/her knowledge either through computation or
by logical reasoning.
4. Analysis and Synthesis: In these questions, the candidate is presented with data, diagrams, images, etc., that require
analysis before a question can be answered. A synthesis question might require the candidate to compare two or more
pieces of information. Questions in this category could, for example, involve candidates in recognising unstated
assumptions or separating useful information from irrelevant information.

About Online Pattern

The examination for all the papers will be carried out in an ONLINE Computer-based Test (CBT) mode where the candi-
dates will be shown the questions in a random sequence on a computer screen. The candidates are required to either select
the answer (for MCQ type) or enter the answer for numerical answer-type question using a mouse on a virtual keyboard
(keyboard of the computer will be disabled). The candidates will also be allowed to use a calculator with which the online
portal is equipped with.

GATE ECE_Prelims.indd 15 5/24/2017 3:40:23 PM

 General Information about GATE
xvi | General Information about GATE

Important Tips for Gate

The followings are some important tips that would be helpful for students to prepare for GATE examination:
1. Go through the pattern (using previous year GATE paper) and syllabus of the exam and start preparing accordingly.
2. Preparation time for GATE depends on many factors, such as, individual’s aptitude, attitude, fundamentals, and concen-
tration level. Generally, rigorous preparation for 4 to 6 months is considered good but it may vary from student to student.
3. Make a list of books that cover complete syllabus, solved previous years questions, and mock tests for practice based
on latest GATE pattern. Purchase these books and start your preparation.
4. Make a list of topics that needs to be studied and make priority list for studying every topic based upon the marks for
which that particular topic is asked in GATE examination. Make a timetable for study of topics and follow the time-
table strictly.
5. While preparing any topics, highlight important points that can be revised during the last minute preparation.
6. Solve questions (numerical) based on latest exam pattern as much as possible, keeping weightage of that topic in
mind. Whatever topics you decide to study, make sure that you know everything about it.
7. Go through previous year papers (say last ten years) to check your knowledge and note the distribution of different
topics.
8. Finish your detailed study of topics one and a half month before your exam, and during the last month, revise all the
topics once again and clear leftover doubts.

GATE ECE_Prelims.indd 16 5/24/2017 3:40:23 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper
CE: Civil Engineering
Set - I
Number of Questions: 65 Total Marks: 100.0

Wrong answer for MCQ will result in negative marks, (-1/3) for 1-mark questions and (-2/3) for 2-mark questions.

Question Number 1  Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 f ( x ) = e − x −e ; −∞ ≤ x ≤ ∞

−x

The matrix P is the inverse of a matrix Q. If I denotes

Now, g ( x ) = ∫ f ( x )dx = ∫ e − x −e dx
−x
the identity matrix, which one of the following options is
correct?
∴ g ( x ) = ∫ e − x −e dx (1)
−x

(A) PQ = I but QP ≠ I
(B) QP = I but PQ ≠ I Let e − x = t ⇒ −e − x dx = dt
(C) PQ = I and QP = I ⇒ e − x dx = −dt
(D) PQ - QP=I ∴ Eq. (1) becomes,
Solution: Given that the matrix P is the inverse of a matrix g ( x ) = ∫ e −t ( −dt )
Q, i.e., Q−1 = P
We know that, QQ−1 = Q−1Q = I = e −t
= e −e
−x
⇒ QP = PQ = I.
Hence, the correct answer is option (C). Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
Question Number 2  Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 Question Number 4 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
The number of parameters in the univariate exponential and An elastic bar of length L. uniform cross-sectional area A,
Gaussian distributions, respectively, are coefficient of thermal expansion a, and Young’s modulus
E is fixed at the two ends. The temperature of the bar is
(A) 2 and 2 (B) 1 and 2
increased by T, resulting in an axial stress s. Keeping all
(C) 2 and 1 (D) 1 and 1 other parameters unchanged, if the length of the bar is dou-
Solution: In exponential distribution, the probability den- bled, the axial stress would be
sity function is (A) s (B) 2s
f ( x) = λ e −λ x (C) 0.5s (D) 0.25 as
Here, l is the parameter Solution:
i.e., only one parameter. (a) Single length
In Gaussian distribution (normal distribution), the probabil-
ity density function is δ le = Constrained
2
−1 x − µ 
1  
f ( x) = N (µ ,σ 2 ) = e2 σ 
σ 2π R1
Here, µ and σ are the parameters
Reaction ‘R’ induces stress ‘σ ’.
i.e., there are two parameters.
From thermal elongation,
Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
δ L = Lα∆T δ Le′ = Lα T
Question Number 3 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
Let x be a continuous variable defined over the interval (-∞, PL
δL = δ L = δ Le′
∞), and f(x) = e − x −e . The integral g ( x ) = ∫ f ( x )dx is
−x
AE
equal to RL RL R1
e− x −e− x δ Le′ = 1 Lα T = 1 Eα T =
(A) e (B) e AE AE A
−e x −x
(C) e (D) e R
But,, 1 = σ
A
Solution: Given the probability density function ƒ(x) of a
continuous random variable x is ∴ σ = Eα T . (1)

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 1 6/27/2017 3:16:22 PM

 xviii | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

(b) Doubled length Solution: According to IS:456-2000

R2 700
xu, bal = ×d
1100 + 0.87 fy
∴ xu,bal depends upon grade of steel only.
2L δ lc2 Hence, the correct answer is option (b).

Thermal elongation Question Number 7 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33

The figure shows a two-hinged parabolic arch of span L sub-
δ L = Lα∆T L = 2L
jected to a uniformly distributed load of intensity q per unit
α =α length.
∆T = T
δ Le 2 = 2 Lα T (2) q per unit length

The redundant reaction,

P2 = Reaction (loud)
From elongation (axial) bar,

PL R ( 2 L)
δL = δ Le 2 = 2
AE AE L
R2 2 L
2 Lα T = The maximum bending moment in the arch is equal to
A E
R qL2 qL2
But, 2 = σ 2 (A) (B)
A 8 12
σ 2 = Eα T = σ σ 2 = σ
qL2
(C) zero (D)
Hence, the correct answer is option (A). 10
Question Number 5 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 Solution: If a two-hinged (or) three-hinged parabolic arch
A simply supported beam is subjected to a uniformly dis- is subjected to UDL throughout is length, then the bending
tributed load. Which one of the following statements is true? moment is zero everywhere.
(A) Maximum or minimum shear force occurs where Hence, the correct answer is option (D).
the curvature is zero. Question Number 8 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
(B) Maximum or minimum bending moment occurs List I lists the type of gain or loss of strength in soils. List II
where the shear force is zero. lists the property of process responsible for the loss or gain
(C) Maximum or minimum bending moment occurs of strength in soils.
where the curvature is zero.
(D) Maximum bending moment and maximum shear List I List II
force occur at the same section. P. Regain of strength with time 1. Boiling
Q. Loss of strength due to cyclic loading 2. Liquefaction
Solution: A simply supported team is subjected to uni-
R. Loss of strength due to upward seepage 3. Thixotropy
formly distributed load; then, the maximum (or) minimum
bending moment occurs where the shear force is zero. S. Loss of strength due to remoulding 4. Sensitivity

Hence, the correct answer is option (b). The correct match between List I and List II is:
Question Number 6 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 Codes:
According to IS:456-2000, which one of the following (A) P–4, Q–1, R–2, S–3 (B) P–3, Q–1, R–2, S–4
statements about the depth of neutral axis xu,bal for a bal-
(C) P–3, Q–2, R–1, S–4 (D) P–4, Q–2, R–1, S–3
anced reinforced concrete section is correct?
(A) xu,bal depends on the grade of concrete only. Solution: Regain of strength with time—Thixotropy
(B) xu,bal depends on the grade of steel only. Loss of strength due to cyclic loading—Liquefaction
(C) xu,bal depends on both the grade of concrete and Loss of strength due to upward seepage—Boiling
grade of steel. Loss of strength due to remoulding—Sensitivity
(D) xu,bal does not depend on the grade of concrete ∴ P–3, Q–2, R–1, S–4.
and grade of steel. Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 2 6/27/2017 3:16:23 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xix

Question Number 9 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 Question Number 10 Correct: 1; Wrong: –0.33
A soil sample is subjected to a hydrostatic pressure, s. The A strip footing is resting on the ground surface of a pure
Mohr circle for any point in the soil sample would be clay be having an undrained cohesion cu. The ultimate bear-
(A) a circle of radius s and center at the origin ing capacity of the footing is equal to
(B) a circle of radius s and center at a distance s from (A) 2pcu (B) pcu
the origin (C) (p + 1)cu (D) (p + 2)cu
(C) a point at a distance s from the origin
Solution: Footing is at surface. Hence,
(D) a circle of diameter s and center at the origin.
Df = 0
Solution: Under hydrostatic pressure for a point (object) qv = CNc + gDf  Nq + 0.5 gBNr
in fluid, the pressure would be same in all directions by
⇒ for clay
Pascal’s law
Nr = 0, Nq = 1
σ ∴ qu = CNc
As per Terzaghi, Nc = 5.7, and as per Meyerhoff and Prondtl,
Nc = 5.14
σ σ qu = (A + 2)Cu = 5.14Cu.
Hence, the correct answer is option (D).
Question Number 11 Correct: 1; Wrong: –0.33
σ
A uniformly distributed line load of 500 kN/m is acting on
Mohr’s circle for a state of stress is as follows: the ground surface. Based on Boussinesq’s theory, the ratio
of vertical stress at a depth 2 m to that at 4 m, right below
σy the line of loading, is
(A) 0.25 (B) 0.5
(C) 2.0 (D) 4.0
σx
Solution: Uniformly distributed load = 500 kN/m
xy Ratio of vertical stress at depth 2 m to that at 4 m below the
line of loading is, in general,
Circle is identified by following: 2q′  1 
σz =
  (i) Centre π z   x 2 

(ii) Radius 1+  z  
   
Centre of Mohr’s circle,
If it is just below the line of action of load (x = 0)
σx +σ y 
c = c ,0 Then,
 2 
σ y = −σ , σ x = −σ 2q′ .2 2q′
σz = (1) =
πz πz
∴ Circle = (-σ, 0)
 2q′ 
Radius of Mohr’s circle,
(σ z )at 2 m  π × 2  4
= = =2
σ y +σx 
2
(σ z )at 4 m  2q′  2
R=   + τ xy
2 π ×4 
2  
 
σ y = −σ , σ x = −σ Hence, the correct answer is option (C).
τ xy = 0 Question Number 12 Correct: 1; Wrong: –0.33
2
For a steady incompressible laminar flow between two infi-
 −σ + σ  nite parallel stationary plates, the shear stress variation is
R=   +σ
2
 2  (A) linear with zero value at the plates
R=0 (B) linear with zero value at the centre
Point at a distance σ from origin. (C) quadratic with zero value at the plates
Hence, the correct answer is option (C). (D) quadratic with zero value at the centre

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 3 6/27/2017 3:16:24 PM

 xx | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

Solution: The stress variation between parallel stationary Question Number 15 Correct: 1; Wrong: –0.33
plates is as follows Which one of the following is NOT present in the acid rain?
(A) HNO3 (B) H2SO4
max
(C) H2CO3 (D) CH3COOH
Solution: CH3COOH is a base which does not harm
O environment. HNO3, H2SO4, and H2CO3 are formed from
max NOx, SOx, and CO2. Hence, they form acid rain.
Hence, the correct answer is option (D).
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). Question Number 16 Correct: 1 Wrong : –0.33
Question Number 13 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 A super-elevation e is provided on a circular horizon-
The reaction rate involving reactants A and B is given by tal curve such that a vehicle can be stopped on the curve
−k [ A]α [ B]β . Which one of the following statements is without sliding. Assuming a design speed v and maximum
valid for the reaction to be a first-order reaction? coefficient of side friction fmax, which one of the following
criteria should be satisfied?
(A) a = 0 and b = 0 (B) a = 1 and b = 0
(A) e ≤ f max
(C) a = 1 and b = 1 (D) a = 1 and b = 2
⋅

(B) e > fmax

Solution: Reaction rate = r = K(A)α(B)β, where order of the (C) No limit on e can be set
reaction = α + β
1 − ( f max )2
For first-order reaction, (D) e =
f max
α+β=1
Among the options given, this is possible only when α = 1, v2
Solution: For sliding to occur, e > f and > f
β = 0. gR
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). v2
For overturning to occur, e < f and e <
Question Number 14 Correct: 1; Wrong: –0.33 gR
The wastewater from a city, containing a high concentration Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
of biodegradable organics, is being steadily discharged into Question Number 17 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
a flowing river at a location S. If the rate of aeration of the
A runway is being constructed in a new airport as per the
river water is lower than the rate of degradation of organics,
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recom-
then the dissolved oxygen of the river water
mendations. The elevation and the airport reference tem-
(A) is lowest at the location S. perature of this airport are 535 m above the mean sea level
(B) is lowest at a point upstream of the location S. and 22.65°C, respectively. Consider the effective gradient of
(C) remains constant all along the length of the river. runway as 1%. The length of runway required for a design-
aircaft under the standard conditions is 2000 m. Within the
(D) is lowest at a point downstream of the location S.
framework of applying sequential corrections as per the
Solution: As the given rate of aeration is less than the rate ICAO recommendations, the length of runway corrected for
of degradation, which decreases with time (or) distance, the temperature is:
minimum DO is observed downstream of point of disposal (A) 2223 m (B) 2250 m
‘S’, where both rate of reaction and degradation become (C) 2500 m (D) 2750 m
equal.
Solution: Correction for elevation = 7% increase per
300 m
7 535
DOsat So, correction = × × 2000 = 249.66 m
100 300
O2 deficit curve Corrected length = 2000 + 249.6 = 2249.6 m
‘S’ Correction for temperature
DO = 15 − 0.0005 × 535 = 11.5225°C
Rise of temp = 22.65°C − 11.523°C = 11.127°C
DOmin
2249.6
Correction = × 11.127 = 250.320 m
distance 100
Correct length = 2249.66 + 250.32 = 2499.9 m ≈ 2500 m.
Hence, the correct answer is option (D). Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 4 6/27/2017 3:16:24 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxi

Question Number 18 Correct: 1; Wrong: –0.33 Question Number 21 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
The accuracy of an Electronic Distance Measuring lim  tan x  is equal to ______.
Instrument (EDMI) is specified as ±(a mm + b ppm). Which x →0  2 
x −x
one of the following statement is correct?
Solution:
(A) Both a and b remain constant, irrespective of the
distance being measured.  tan x   sec2 x 
lim  2  = lim   ( By L’Hospital’s Rule)
x →0  x − x  x →0  2 x − 1 
(B) a remains constant and b varies in proportion to
the distance being measured. sec 2 0
=
(C) a varies in proportion to the distance being meas- 2 × 0 −1
ured and b remains constant. = −1
(D) Both a and b vary in proportion to the distance Hence, the correct answer is −1.
being measured. Question Number 22 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
Solution: Accuracy of EDMI is generally stated in terms A 3 m thick clay layer is subjected to an initial uniform pore
of constant instruments error and a measuring error propor- pressure of 145 kPa as shown in the figure.
tional to the distance being measured: ±(a mm + b ppm).
Sand
The first part indicates a constant instrument error that is
independent of length of line measured, while the second Clay
component is a distance-related error. Cv = 3.0 mm2/min
3m
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). Tv(90) = 0.85

Question Number 19 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 Impermeable Stratum

The number of spectral bands in the Enhanced Thematic
Mapper sensor on the remote sensing satellite Landsat-7 is For the given ground conditions, the time (in days, rounded
(A) 64 (B) 10 to the nearest integer) required for 90% consolidation would
(C) 8 (D) 15 be _______.

Solution: Total number of spectoral bands in an enhanced Solution: As per Terzaghi’s 1D consolidation theory
thematic mapper sensor is 8.
Cv t
Tr = ( here d = 3 m)
Hence, the correct answer is option (C). d2
Question Number 20 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0 t
(Tr )90 = Cv 902
Consider the following partial differential equation: d
t90
0.85 = 3 × 10 −6 ×
∂ 2φ ∂ 2φ
∂2φ
32
3 +B + 3 2 + 4φ = 0
∂x 2 ∂x∂y ∂y 0.85 × 9
t90 = min
For this equation to be classified as parabolic, the value of 3 × 10 −6
B2 must be ______. = 1770.83  1771 days

Solution: Given partial differential equation is Hence, the correct answer is 1771 days.
∂ 2φ ∂ 2φ ∂ 2φ
3 +B + 3 2 + 4φ = 0 (1) Question Number 23 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
∂x 2 ∂x∂y ∂y
A triangular pipe network is shown in the figure.
A second-order partial differential equation of the form
Q = 70
∂ 2u ∂ 2u ∂ 2u B
A + B + C + f ( x, y, u, ux , u y ) = 0
∂x 2 ∂x∂y ∂y 2
r=1 r=2
is parabolic, if B 2 − 4 AC = 0
Q = 30
From Eq. (1), A = 3, B = B, and C = 3

∴ B 2 − 4 AC = 0 ⇒ B 2 − 4 × 3 × 3 = 0 Q = 100 A C

⇒ B 2 = 36 The head loss in each pipe is given by hf = rQ1.8, with the

Hence, the correct answer is 36. variables expressed in a consistent set of units. The value of

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 5 6/27/2017 3:16:25 PM

 xxii | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

r for the pipe AB is 1 and for the pipe BC is 2. If the dis- ⇒ 1143.26 − 439.42 = r(50)1.8
charge supplied at the point A (i.e., 100) is equally divided ⇒ r = 0.62
between the pipes AB and AC, the value of r (up to two Hence, the correct answer is 0.62.
decimal places) for the pipe AC should be ______.
Question Number 24 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
Solution: Given hf = r ⋅ Q1.8
The ordinates of a 2-hours unit hydrograph for a catchment
Under condition of an equal discharge distribution in are given as
pipes AB and AC, the discharges in AB and AC will be 50
and 50. Time (hour) 0 1 2 3 4
For a closed loop ABCA Ordinate (m3/s) 0 5 12 25 41
Σhf = 0 The ordinate (in m3/s)
of a 4-hours unit hydrograph for this
⇒ 1(50)1.8 − 2(20)1.8 − r(50)1.8 = 0 catchment at the time of 3 hours would be ________.

Solution:
Time Ordinate of 2-hours Ordinate of 2-hours Unit Ordinate of Ordinate of DRH
(Hour) Unit Hydrograph Hydrograph Lag by 2 Hours 4-hours DRH Ordinate of 4-hours Unit Hydrograph = 2 cm
0 0 - 0 0
1 5 - 5 2.5
2 12 0 12 6
3 25 5 30 15
4 41 12 53 26.5
25 25 12.5
41 41 20.5

Ordinate of 4-hours UH at 3 hours duration = 15 m3/s. For ƒ(x) to be a probability density function,
Hence, the correct answer is 15 m3/s. ∞

Question Number 25 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0 ∫ f ( x )dx = 1

−∞
Vehicles arriving at an intersection from one of the approach 1 1
x2 
roads follow the poisson distribution. The mean rate of ⇒ ∫ ( a + bx )dx = 1 ⇒ ax + b  = 1
arrival is 900 vehicles per hour. If a gap is greater than 8 0
2 0
seconds is _______. b
Solution: The mean rate of arrival = λ = 900 veh/h ⇒a+ = 1 (1)
2
900 Among the pairs of values of a and b given in the options,
veh/s only the values a = 0.5 and b = 1 of option (B) are satisfying
60 × 60
∵ λ = 0.25 veh/s Eq. (1).
∴ a = 0.5, b = 1.
Probability that the gap is greater than 8 seconds Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
= P(t ≥ 8) = e−8λ
Question Number 27 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
= e−8 × 0.25
= e−2 dQ
The solution of the equation + Q = 1 with Q = 0 at t =
= 0.1353 dt
0 is
Hence, the correct answer is 0.1353. (A) Q(t ) = e − t − 1 (B) Q(t ) = 1 + e − t
Question Number 26 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
For the function f ( x ) = a + bx, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, to be a valid (C) Q(t ) = 1 + e t (D) Q(t ) = 1 − e − t
probability density functions, which one of the following Solution: Given the differential equation is
statement is correct?
dQ
(a) a = 1, b = 4 (B) a = 0.5, b = 1 + Q = 1 (1)
dt
(c) a = 0, b =1 (d) a = 1, b = -1
=
where Q 0=
at t 0
Solution: Given f ( x ) = a + bx; 0 ≤ x ≤ 1
From Eq. (1),

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 6 6/27/2017 3:16:27 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxiii

dQ Rank of (A − 3I) = 1.
= 1− Q ∴ If λ is an eigenvalue of a matrix A of order n and r is
dt
1 the rank of A − λI, then the number of linearly independ-
⇒ dQ = dt ent eigenvectors of A corresponding to the eigen value λ
(1 − Q )
is x − r.
Integrating on both the sides, Here, n = 2 and r = 1
1 ∴ n − r = 2 - 1 = 1.
∫ 1 − Q dQ = ∫ dt ∴ The number of linearly independent eigen vectors of A
⇒ − ln(1 − Q ) = t + c is 1.
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
⇒ ln(1 − Q ) = −t − c
Question Number 29 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
⇒ 1 − Q = e −t −c A planar truss tower structure is shown in the figure.
⇒ Q = 1 − e −t e − c
⇒ Q = 1 − c1e −t where c1 = e − c
Given, Q = 0 at t = 0
⇒ 0 = 1 − 9e −0
⇒ 1 − c1 = 0 ⇒ c1 = 1
∴The solution of given differential equation is Q = 1 − e−t.
Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Question Number 28 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66

 5 −1
Consider the matrix   . Which one of the following
4 2 
statement is TRUE for the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of
this matrix?
(A) Eigenvalue 3 has multiplicity of 2, and only one
independent eigenvector exists. Consider the following statements about the external and
internal determinacies of the truss.
(B) Eigenvalue 3 has a multiplicity of 2, and two inde-
pendent eigenvectors exist. (P) Externally Determinate
(Q) External Static Indeterminacy = 1
(C) Eigenvalue 3 has a multiplicity of 2, and no inde-
pendent eigenvector exists. (R) External Static Indeterminacy = 2
(D) Eigenvalues are 3 and -3. And two independent (S) Internal Determinate
eigenvectors exist. (T) Internal Static Indeterminacy = 1
(U) Internal Static Indeterminacy = 2
5 − 1
Solution: Let A =   Which one of the following options is correct?
 4 1 (A) P-False; Q-True; R-False; S-False; T-False; U-
The characteristic equation of A is, True
5 − λ −1  (B) P-False; Q-True; R-False; S-False; T-True; U-
A− λI = 0  =0 False
 4 1 − λ 
(C) P-False; Q-False; R-True; S-False; T-False; U-
⇒ (5 − λ )(1 − λ ) + 4 = 0 True
⇒ 5 − 6λ + λ 2 + 4 = 0 (D) P-True; Q-True; R-False; S-True; T-False; U-
⇒ λ 2 − 6λ + 9 = 0 True
⇒ (λ − 3) 2 = 0 Solution: Dse = r − s = 4 − 3 = 1°
⇒ λ = 3, 3 Dsi = m − (2j − 3) = 15 − (2 × 8 − 3) = 2°.
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
∴λ = 3 is eigenvalue of A of multiplicity 2.
Question Number 30 Correct: 2; Wrong: –0.66
5 − 3 −1   2 −1 List I contains three broad classes of irrigation supply canal
Now consider, A − 3I =  = 
 4 1 − 3  4 −2  outlets. List II presents hydraulic performance attributes.

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 xxiv | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

List I List II Question Number 32 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66

P. Non-modular 1. Outlet discharge depends on the water The following observations are made while testing aggre-
outlet levels in both the supply canal as well as gate for its suitability in pavement construction:
the receiving water course
     (i) Mass of oven-dry aggregate in air = 1000 gm
Q. Semi-modular 2. Outlets discharge is fixed and is inde-
outlet pendent of the water levels in both the   (ii)  Mass of saturated surface-dry aggregate in air
supply canal as well as the receiving = 1025 gm
water course (iii) Mass of saturated surface-dry aggregate under water
R. Modular 3. Outlet discharge depends only on the = 625 gm
outlet water level in the supply canal
Based on the above observations, the correct statement is
The correct match of the items is List I with the items in (A) bulk specific gravity of aggregate = 2.5 and Water
List II is absorption = 2.5%
Codes: (B) bulk specific gravity of aggregate = 2.5 and Water
(A) P–1; Q–2; R–3 (B) P–3; Q–1; R–2 absorption = 2.4%
(C) P–2; Q–3; R–1 (D) P–1; Q–3; R–2 (C) apparent specific gravity of aggregate = 2.5 and
Water absorption = 2.5%
Solution:
(D) apparent specific gravity of aggregate = 2.5 and
P—Non- Outlet discharge depends on water levels in
modular outlet both the supply canal as well as receiving
water absorption= 2.4%
water course
Solution: Mass of saturated surface dry aggregate = wa
Q—Semi- Outlet discharge is fixed and is independent
+ ww
modular outlet of water levels in both the supply canal as
well as the receiving water course ww = 1025 − 1000 = 25 g
R—Modular Outlet discharge depends only on the water Mass of saturated surface dry aggregate under water =
outlet level in supply canal 625 g
Hence, the correct answer is option (D).
⇒ wa − (Va ) ρ w = 625 g
Question Number 31 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66 Va = 375 cc
A 1 m wide rectangular channel has bed slope of 0.0016 ww 25
and the Manning’s roughness coefficient is 0.04. Uniform Vv = Vw = = = 25 cc
ρw 1
flow takes place in the channel at a flow depth of 0.5 m. At a
particular section, gradually varied flow (GVF) is observed wa 1000
Bulk density of aggregate = ρba = = g/cc
and the flow depth is measured as 0.6 m. The GVF profile at va + vv 375 + 25
that section is classified as
ρba 2.5
(A) S1 (B) S2 ∴ Bulk specific gravity = = = 2.5
ρw 1
(C) M1 (D) M2
ww 25
1 Water absorption = × 100 = × 100 = 2.5%.
Solution: Q = × A × R 2 / 3 × S1/ 2 wa 1000
n
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
A = 1× 0.5 = 0.5 m 2
Question Number 33 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
P = 1 + ( 0.5 × 2 ) = 2 m
The queue length (in number of vehciles) versus time (in
2/3
1  0.5  seconds) plot for an approach to a signalized intersection
× ( 0.0016 )
1/ 2
Q= × 0.5 ×  
0.04  2  with the cycle length of 96 seconds is shown in the figure
(not drawn to scale).
= 0.1984 m3 /s
Queue
Q length
q=
= 0.1984 m3 /s/m
1
10
For rectangular channel:
1/ 3 1/ 3
 q2   0.1984 2 
yc =   =  = 0.159 m
 g   9.81  0
0 60 90 96 Time
Since yn > yc. (Thus, it is a mild slope)
Hence, the correct answer is option (C). Eff. red time Eff. green time

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 8 6/27/2017 3:16:29 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxv

At time t = 0, the light has just turned red. The effective v2

green time is 36 seconds, during which vehicles discharge e+ f =
gR
at the saturation flow rate, s (in veh/hour). Vehicle arrive at
2
a uniform rate, v (in veh/hour), throughout the cycle. Which  5
one of the following statements is TRUE?  60 × 18 
e + 0.15 =  
(A) v = 600 veh/hour, and for this cycle, the average 9.8 × 120
stopped delay per vehicle = 30 seconds. 1
e= = 0.08
(B) s = 1800 veh/hour, and for this cycle, the average 4.6
stopped delay per vehicle = 28.125 seconds. (when full fraction is considered)
(C) v = 600 veh/hour, and for this cycle, the average 2
stopped delay per vehicle = 45 seconds.  5
 60 × 18 
(D) s = 1200 veh/hour, and for this cycle, the average 0+ f =  
stopped delay per vehicle = 28.125 seconds. 9.8 × 120
Solution: ⇒ f = 0.24 (when no super elevation is considered).
Hence, the correct answer is option (C).
Queue length
Question Number 35 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
The observed bearing of a traverse are given below:
10
Line Bearing Line Bearing
De

l
iva 46o15′ 226o15′
pa

PQ QP
r
Ar
rtu

QR 108o15′ RQ 286o15′
re

V S RS 201o30′ SR 20o30′
Time
0 60 90 96 ST 321o45′ TS 141o45′

10 veh 1 The station(s) most likely to be affected by the local attrac-

=V = veh/s = 600 veh/h
60 seconds 6 tion is/are.
10 1 (A) Only R (B) Only S
=S = veh/s veh/s = 1200 veh/h (C) R and S (D) P and Q
30 3
0 + 60 Solution:
Average stopped delay = = 30 seconds.
2 Line Bearing
Hence, the correct answer is option (A). PQ 46°15′
Question Number 34 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66 QR 108°15′
The radius of a horizontal circular curve on a highway is RS 201°15′
120 m. The design speed is 60 km/h, and the design coeffi- ST 321°15′
cient of lateral friction between the tyre and the road surface QP 226°15′
is 0.15. The estimated value of superelevation required (if RQ 286°15′
full lateral friction is assumed to develop), and the value of
SR 20°30′
coefficient of friction needed (if no superelevation is pro-
TS 141°45′
vided) will, respectively, be
1 Fore bearing − Back bearing = 180°
(A) and 0.10
11.6 PQ, QR, and ST have this difference of 180°
1 ∴Points P, Q, S, and T are free from local attraction. Hence,
(B) and 0.37 only R is affected by local attraction.
10.5
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
1
(C) and 0.24 Question Number 36 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
11.6
The laboratory tests on a soil sample yields the follow-
1
(D) and 0.24 ing results: natural moisture content = 18%, liquid limit =
12.9 60%, plastic limit = 25%, percentage of clay sized fraction
Solution: R = 120 m = 25%.
Vdesign = 60 km/h The liquidity index and activity (as per the expression pro-
f = 0.15 posed by Skempton) of the soil, respectively, are

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 xxvi | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

(A) -0.2 and 1.4 (B) 0.2 and 1.4 From Eqs. (2) and (4),
(C) -1.2 and 0.714 (D) 1.2 and 0.714 ∴Error = 10 − 2 = 8.
Solution: Hence, the correct answer is 8.
wn − wpL 0.18 − 0.25 Question Number 38 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
IL = =
wLL − wpL 0.6 − 0.25 A pre-tensioned rectangular concrete beam 150 mm wide
and 300 mm depth is prestressed with three straight ten-
IP wLL − wpL 0.6 − 0.25
Activity = = = = 1.4 dons, each having a cross-sectional area of 50 mm2, to an
% of day 0.25 0.25 initial stress of 1200 N/mm2. The tendons are located at 100
Hence, the correct answer is option (A). mm from the soffit of the beam. If the modular ratio is 6, the
loss of prestressing force (in kN, up to one decimal place)
Question Number 37 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
due to the elastic deformation of concrete only is _______.
du
Consider the equation = 3t 2 + 1 with u = 0 at t = 0. Solution: Prestressing force, P = 3 × 50 × 1200 = 180000 N
dt
This is numerically solved by using the forward Euler P   300 
e =  − 100  =  − 100  = 50 mm
method with a step size, Dt = 2. The absolute error in the 2   2 
solution at the end of the first time step is ______.
Stress in concrete at the location of steel:
Solution: Given differential equation is
P Pe 180000 180000 × 50 2
du + e= +
= 3t 2 + 1 (1) A L 150 × 300  150 × 3003 
dt  
 12 
where u = 0 at t = 0.
Solution by Euler’s method: = 4 + 1.33 = 5.333
du Loss of stress = m × fc
= 3t 2 + 1; u = 0 at t = 0
dt = 6 × 5.33 = 32 N/mm2
h = ∆t = 2; u0 = 0; t0 = 0 Loss of prestressing force:
and f (t , u ) = 3t 2 + 1
30 × 50 × 32
∴ By Euler’s method, = 4.8 kN.
1000
u1 = u0 + hf (t0 , u0 ) Hence, the correct answer is 4.8 kN.
= u0 + h 3t02 + 1 Question Number 39 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
= 0 + 2 [3 × 0 2 + 1] Consider the stepped bar made with a linear elastic mate-
rial and subjected to an axial load of 1 kN, as shown in the
∴ u1 = 2
figure.
∴ u = 2 at t = 2 (2)
Solution by analytical method:
du A1 = 100 mm2
= 3t 2 + 1 L1 = 400 mm 1
dt E1 = 2 × 105 MPa
⇒ du = (3t 2 + 1)dt
⇒ ∫ du = ∫ (3t 2 + 1)dt

⇒ u = t 3 + t + c (3) A2 = 60 mm2
L2 = 900 mm 2
E2 = 3 × 105 MPa
=
Given u 0=
at t 0.

⇒ 0 = 03 + 0 + c (From Eq. (3))

⇒c=0 P = 1 kN
∴From Eq. (3),
u = t3 + t Segments 1 and 2 have cross-sectional area of 100 mm2 and
60 mm2, Young’s modulus of 2 × 105 MPa and 3 × 105 MPa,
Now, u at t = 2 is and length of 400 mm and 900 mm, respectively. The strain
uat t = 2 = 23 + 2 = 10 energy (in N-mm, up to one decimal place) in the bar due to
∴ u( 2) = 10 (4) the axial load is _____.

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 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxvii

Solution: P = 1000, N = P1 = P2 The value of support reaction (in kN) at B should be equal
to _________.
Solution: Two spans AB and BC
A1 = 100 mm2 Fixed end moment (FEM):
1
E1 = 2 × 105 MPa Span AB,
L1 = 400 mm
−WL2
M AB =
12
A2 = 60 mm2 −30 × 4 2
2 M AB = = −40 kN-m
E2 = 3 × 105 MPa 12
L2 = 900 mm
+WL2
M BC = = 40 kN-m
12
Span BC, MBC = 0
P = 1 kN
MBC = 0
A1 = 100 mm2 MI = 0
E1 = 2 × 105 MPa [ No load on beam]
L1 = 400 mm Stiffness at joint B.
A2 = 60 mm2
n
E2 = 3 × 105 MPa K B = ∑ Ki
L2 = 900 mm 121

Strain energy,  4 EI   3EI 

=  + 
PL2  L  AB  L  BC
U=
2 EA 4 EI 3EI
= +
U = U1 + U 2 4 6
P1 L12 P L2 KB = 1.5 EI.
U= + 1 2
2 A1 E1 2 A2 E2 Distribution factor (DF) at joint B,
1000 × 4002 1000 × 9002 4 EI
= +
2 × 100 × 2 × 105 2 × 60 × 3 × 105 K BA 4 = 0.67
=
DFBA =
U = 26.5 N-mm K 1.5 EI
Hence, the correct answer is 26.5 N-mm. 3EI
K BC 6 = 0.33
Question Number 40 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0 =
DFBC =
K 1.5 EI
The value of M in the beam ABC shown in the figure is such
By moment distribution method:
that the joint B does not rotate.
M
30 kN/m C
M
C
A
4m 6m
B B

Span AB BA BC CB
DF 0.67 0.33 0
FEM −40 − M M + 40
Distributed moment −0.67M − 26.8 −13.2 − 0.33M
Carryover moment −0.34M − 13.4
Net moment −53.4 − 1.34M 0.33M + 13.2 −13.2 − 0.33M 0
MAB MBA MBC MCB

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 xxviii | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

From given data, For a moving concentrated load of 50 kN on the beam, the
θB = 0 magnitude of the maximum bending moment (in kN-m)
End moments, M BA = K BA ⋅ θ B obtained at the support C will be equal to ________.
⇒ MBA = 0 Solution:
Moreover, MBA = 0.33M + 13.2 = 0 A B C D

−13.2
M=
0.33 AB = BC = 4 m, CD = 10 m
M = -40
Introduce a moment hinge at C with disturbing boundary
Support reaction at B: conditions:
Individual span analysis
M
C ymax

M A B C D
MBA MBC
= + y y
θc = 1 θc = 1=
BC 4
Span AB, ⇒ ymax = 4
MAB This is all for the unit moving load.
M
MBA
Total moving load is 50 kN.
Mmax = 50 × 4
RAB RBA
Mmax = 200 kN-m.
Moment equilibrium at AB: Hence, the correct answer is 200 kN-m.
About A, ΣMA = 0 Question Number 42 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
30 × 4 2 Consider two axially loaded columns, namely, 1 and 2,
⇒ + M + M BA + M AB − RBA × 4 = 0 made of a linear elastic material with Young’s modulus 2 ×
2
105 MPa, square cross-section with side 10 mm, and length
⇒ 240 − 40 + 0.2 − 53.4 − (1.34 × −40) = 4 RBA
1 m. For column 1, one end is fixed and the other end is free.
RBA = 50 For column 2, one end is fixed and the other end is pinned.
MBC
Based on the Euler’s theory, the ratio (up to one decimal
place) of the buckling load of column 2 to the buckling load
of column 1 is ______.
RBC Solution: E = 2 × 105 MPa
Moment equilibrium at BC: L = 1 m = 1000 mm
About C, ΣMC = 0 b = 10 mm, d = 10 mm
⇒ M BC + RBC × 6 = 0 10 × 103
I= = 833.3 mm 4
⇒ ( −13.5 − 0.33 × ( −40)) + 6 RBC = 0 12
0 = −6 RBC Two columns
⇒ RBC = 0
Reaction, RB = RBA + RBC
RB = 50.
Hence, the correct answer is 50.
Question Number 41 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
Consider the beam ABCD shown in the figure.
A B C D
AB = BC = 4 m
CD = 10 m
1 2
internal hinge

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 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxix

Effective length Le Solution: m = 2 kg, V0 = 1.5 m/s

Column (1) Le 1 = 2L = 200 mm t

L 1000 ∫ F (t )dt = m(V − V0 )

Column (2) L=
e2 = 0
2 2 2
Le 2 = 707 1 mm. ∫ 3t 2 dt = 2(v − 1.5)
0
Euler’s buckling load,
⇒ [t 3 ]02 = 2(V − 1.5) ⇒ (8 − 0) = 2(V − 1.5) ⇒ V = 5.5 m/s
π 2 EI
Pcr = Hence, the correct answer is 5.5 m/s.
Le 2
Ratio of buckling loads, Question Number 45 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
2 The activity details of a project are given below:
Pcr2 Le 1
= 2
Pcr1 Le Activity Depends on Duration (in days)
2
P – 6
2000 2
= Q P 15
707.12
R Q, T 12
Ratio = 8 S R 16
Hence, the correct answer is 8. T P 10
Question Number 43 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0 U Q, T 14
A column is subjected to a load through a bracket as shown V U 16
in the figure.
The estimated minimum time (in days) for the completion
of the project will be __________.
10 cm 15 cm P = 10 kN
Solution:
1
Activity Depends on Duration (in Days)
90°
P - 6
Q P 15
10 cm R Q, T 12
S R 16
T P 10
The resultant force (in kN, up to one decimal place) in the U Q, T 14
bolt 1 is _____. V U 16
Solution:
On the basis of the data given, the activity on arrow diagram
p 10
F1 = = = 2.5 kN can be drawn as below
n 4
Pe 10 × 15 5 S = 16
F2 = × × 5 = 7.5 kN R = 12
∑ r12 4 × 52 P=6 Q = 15
1 2 4 7
FR = F12 + F22 + 2 F1 F2 U = 14 6 V = 16
T = 10
3
= 2.52 + 7.52 + ( 2 × 2.5 × 7.5 × cos 135°) = 6 kN.
Hence, the correct answer is 6 kN. Time along path 1 - 2 - 4 - 5 - 7 = 6 + 15 + 12 + 16
Question Number 44 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0 = 49 days
A particle of mass 2 kg is travelling at a velocity of 1.5 m/s. Time along path 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 6 - 7 = 6 + 10 + 14 + 16
A force f(t) = 3t2 (in N) is applied to it in the direction of = 46 days
motion for a duration of 2 seconds, where t denotes time Time along path 1 - 2 - 4 - 6 - 7 = 6 + 15 + 14 + 16
in seconds. The velocity (in m/s, up to one decimal place) = 51 days
of the particle immediately after the removal of the force Minimum time for completion of project = 51 days
is ______. Hence, the correct answer is 51 days.

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 13 6/27/2017 3:16:34 PM

 xxx | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

Question Number 46 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0 Solution:

It is proposed to drive H-piles up to a depth of 7 m at a Effective stress
Factor of Safety =
construction site. The average surface area of the H-pile is Total stress
3 m2 per metre length. The soil at the site is homogeneous
γ sub H cos 2 β tan φ
sand, having an effective friction angle of 32°. The ground =
water table (GWT) is at a depth of 2 m below the ground γ sat H cos β sin β
surface. The unit weights of the soil above and below the γ tan φ
1 = sub
GWT are 16 kN/m3 and 19 kN/m3, respectively. Assume γ sat tan β
the earth pressure coefficient, K = 1.0, and the angle of wall ( 21 − 9.81) tan φ 21 tan 20°
friction, d = 23°. The total axial frictional resistance (in kN, 1= ⇒ tan φ =
21 tan 20° 11.19
up to one decimal place) mobilized on the pile against the
driving is __________. φ = 34.33°.
Hence, the correct answer is 34.33°.
Solution:
Question Number 48 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
A sluice gate used to control the flow in a horizontal chan-
krL1 = k × 16 × 2 = 32 nel of unit width is shown in the figure.
2m

5m

d1 = 1.0 m

d2 = 0.2 m

K ( rL1 + r ′L2 ) = (16 × 1× 2) + (19 − 9 − 1) × 5 = 77.95 1 2

1 1
θ sf = K γ L1 tan δ AS1 + K (γ L1 + γ ′L2 ) tan δ AS2 It is observed that the depth of flow is 1.0 m upstream of
2 2 the gate, while the depth is 0.2 m downstream of the gate.
1 1 Assuming a smooth flow transition across the sluice gate,
= × 1× 16 × 2 tan 23°(3 × 2) +
2 2 i.e., without any energy loss, and the acceleration due to
× (16 × 2 + 77.95) × tan 23°× (5 × 3) gravity as 10 m/s2, the discharge (in m3/s, up to two decimal
places) passing under the sluice gate is _________.
= 390.8 kN
Solution: Given, d1 = 1 m, d2 = 0.2 m
Hence, the correct answer is 390.8 kN.
Question Number 47 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
The infinite sand slope shown in the figure is on the verge
of sliding failure. The ground water table coincides with the
ground surface. Unit weight of water, gw = 9.81 kN/m3. d1

d2

1 2

3 As there is no energy loss,

N/m
1k E1 = E2
=2
γ sat V12 V2 Q Q
d1 + = d2 + 2 ⇒ 1 + 2
= 0.2 +
2g 2g 2 gA1 2 gA22
5m
Q2  1 1  Q2  1 1
 2 − 2  = 1 − 0.2 ⇒  − 2  = 0.8
2 g  A2 A1  2 × 10  0.2 1 
2
20°
16 2
Q2 = ⇒ Q 2 = ⇒ Q = 0.82 m3 /s.
The value of the effective angle of internal friction (in 24 3
degrees, up to one decimal place) of the sand is __________. Hence, the correct answer is 0.82 m3/s.

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 14 6/27/2017 3:16:35 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxxi

Question Number 49 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0 Taking moment equation in y-direction

Water flows through a 90o bend in a horizontal plane as
Q
depicted in the figure. Fy = ρ Q  
Fx  A2 
2 1
= 103 × 1.3692 ×
Fy π 0.14 2
×
P2 4 π
90° = 382.98 kN
2
FR = Fx2 + Fy2
Atmosphere
= 105.52 + 382.92
x = 398.25 kN
Hence, the correct answer is 397.25 kN.
1 1 y
Question Number 50 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
P1 A Consolidated undrained (CU) tri-axial compression test
A pressure of 140 kPa is measured at Section 1-1. The inlet is conducted on a normally consolidated clay at a confining
27 pressure of 100 kPa. The deviator stress at failure is 80 kPa,
diameter marked at Section 1-1 is cm, while the noz-
⋅
and the pore-water pressure measured at failure is 50 kPa.
π The effective angle of internal friction (in degrees, up to one
14 decimal place) of the soil is ________.
zle diameter marked at Section 2-2 is cm. Assume the
⋅

π
following: Solution: CU test is conducted
I. Acceleration due to gravity = 10 m/s2. σ 3 = 100 kPa, σ d = 80 kPa, U = 50 kPa
II. Weights of both the bent pipe segment as well as water σ 1 = σ 3 + σ d = 100 + 80 = 180 kPa
are negligible.
σ 1 = σ 1 − U = 180 − 50 = 130 kPa
III. Friction across the bend is negligible.
The magnitude of the force (in kN, up to two decimal places) σ 3 = σ 3 − U = 100 − 50 = 50 kPa
that would be required to hold the pipe section is _______.  φ′   φ′ 
σ 1 = σ 3 − tan 2  45 +  + 2c′ tan  45 + 
Solution: By applying energy equation  2   2
P1 V12 P V2 assume c′ = 0
+ + Z1 = 2 + 2 + Z1
eg 2 g eg 2 g
 φ′ 
140 × 103 V12 V22 σ 1 = σ 3 tan 2  45 + 
+ =  2
103 × 10 2 g 2 g
 φ′ 
1 130 = 50 tan 2  45 + 
14 = V22 − V12   2
2 ×110 
φ = 264°.
 1 1 
14 × 2 × 10 = Q 2  2 − 2  Hence, the correct answer is 264°.
 A2 A1 
 1 1  Question Number 51 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
280 = Q 2  −
π (0.14) 2 π (0.27) 
2 An effective rainfall of 2-hour duration produced a flood
 × ×  hydrograph peak of 200 m3/s. The flood hydrograph has a
4 π 4 π 
base flow of 20 m3/s. If the spatial average rainfall in the
Q = 1.369 m 3 /s watershed for the duration of storm is 2 cm and the average
Taking moment equation in x-direction loss rate is 0.4 cm/h, the peak of 2-hours unit hydrograph (in
ρQ2 m3/s-cm, up to one decimal place) is ________.
Fx = P1 A1 +
A1 Solution: Flood peak = 200 m3/s
1000 × 1.36992  Base flow = 20 m3/s
 3 π 0.272   
= 14 × 10 × ×  +  π 0.272  = 105.52 kN Rainfall excess = 2 cm
 4 π   × 
 4 π f = 0.4 cm/h

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 15 6/27/2017 3:16:36 PM

 xxxii | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

Effective rainfall = 2 − (0.4 × 2) = 1.2 cm The 5-day BOD (in mg/lit, up to one decimal place) of the
Peak of DRH = 200 − 20 = 180 m3/s stream C, calculated at 10°C, is _________.
180 Solution: For stream A: T = 20°C
Peak of 2-horus unit hydrograph = = 150 m3 /s.
1.2 BOD5 = 50 mg/lit
Hence, the correct answer is 150 m3/s. For stream B: BOD5 = ?
For stream C: T = 10°C
Question Number 52 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
The equivalent sound power level (in dB) of the four sources KD = 0.115 per day
20 C

with the noise levels of 60 dB, 69 dB, 70 dB and 79 dB is For C: (BOD5) = BODU (1 − 10 − kD10 t )
__________.
BOD5 = ( BODU ) × (1 − 10 − kDt )
Solution: The noise levels of four different sources are 60
dB, 69 dB, 70 dB, and 79 dB 50
BOD = = 68.13 mg/lit
1− 10 −0.115 ×5
1 
Li 
Leq = 10 log 1010  K D10 = K D20 × (1.135)10−20
N  
= 0.115 × (1.135)–10 = 0.0324
1
60 69 70 77 
= 10 log 10 10 + 10 10 + 10 10 + 10 10  (BODU)A = (BODU)B
4   (BODU)C = 68.13 mg/lit
Leq = 73.91 dB = 68.13 [1 − 10−0.0324 × 5] = 21.21 mg/lit.
Hence, the correct answer is 73.91 dB. Hence, the correct answer is 21.21 mg/lit.

Question Number 53 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0 Question Number 55 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
The spherical grit particles, having a radius of 0.01 mm The wastewater having an organic concentration of 54 mg/
and specific gravity of 3.0, need to be separated in settling lit is flowing at a steady rate of 0.8 m3/day through a deten-
chamber. It is given that tion tank of dimensions 2 m × 4 m × 2 m. If the contents
of the tank are well mixed and the decay constant is 0.1 per
•• g = 9.81 m/s2 day, the outlet concentration (in mg/lit, up to one decimal
• The density of the liquid in the settling chamber = 1000 place) is ______.
kg/m3
•• The kinematic viscosity of the liquid in the settling cham- Solution: L0 = 54 mg/lit
ber = 10–6 m2/s Q = 0.08 m3/day
V = 16 m3
Assuming laminar conditions, the settling velocity (in
mm/s, up to one decimal place) is ________. 16
td = = 20 days
Solution: g = 9.81 cm/s2 0.8
gL = 1000 kg/m3 Lt = 10 × 10 −( 0.1×20 )

VS = 156 m2/s = 54 × 10 −( 0.1×20 )

= 0.54 mg/lit
(3 × 9810 − 9810) × ( 2 × 10 −5 )2
Setting velocity = vs = Hence, the correct answer is 0.54 mg/lit.
1.8 × 10 −3
= 4.36 × 10 −4 m/s = 0.436 mm/s Question Number 56 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
Hence, the correct answer is 0.44 mm/s. The bacteria in milk are destroyed when it ______ heated
to 80°C.
Question Number 54 Correct: 2; Wrong: 0
(A) would be (B) will be
Two wastewater streams A and B, having an identical ulti-
mate BOD are getting mixed to form the stream C. The tem- (C) is (D) was
perature of the stream A is 20°C and the temperature of the Solution: The word ‘are’ shows that the sentence is in sim-
stream C is 10°C. It is given that ple present tense. Hence, the answer is ‘is’.
•• The 5-day BOD of the stream A measured at 20°C = 50 Hence, the correct answer is option (C).
mg/lit
Question Number 57 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
• BOD rate constant (base 10) at 20°C = 0.115 per day
•• Temperature coefficient = 1.135. ______ with someone else’s email account is now a very
serious offence.

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 16 6/27/2017 3:16:37 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I | xxxiii

(A) Involving (B) Assisting Solution: The volume of a right circular cone of base radius
(C) Tampering (D) Incubating 1
r and height h is π r 2 h. If the radius increases from r to
⋅

3
Solution: The word ‘tampering’, which means to meddle, 3r 9v
especially for the purpose of altering, damaging, or misus- , the volume increases from V to . It increases by
ing, is the correct answer. Rest of the options is irrelevant. 2 4
5v
The word incubating means ‘to maintain a favorable tem- or 125%.
perature and other conditions promoting development’. 4
Hence, the correct answer is option (C). Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

Question Number 58 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 Question Number 60 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
Consider the following sentences: The following sequence of number is arranged in increas-
ing order: 1, x, x, x, y, y, 9, 16, 18. Given that the mean and
All benches are beds. No bed is a bulb. Some bulbs are
median are equal, and are also equal to twice the mode, the
lamps.
value of y is:
Which of the following can be inferred?
(A) 5 (B) 6
I. Some beds are lamps
(C) 7 (D) 8
II. Some lamps are beds.
(A) Only I (B) Only II Solution: The given sequence is l, x, x, x, y, y, 9, 16, 18
where 1 ≤ x < y ≤ 9. The median is y. Therefore, the mean
(C) Both I and II (D) Neither I nor II
is also y,
Solution: The data are represented in two possible Ven i.e., 44 + 3 x + 2 y = 9 y ⇒ 44 + 3 x = 7 y.
diagrams below. Benches, beds, balls, and lamps are repre- Moreover, the mode is x, and the mean, y = 2x
sented by Bc, Bd, Bl, and L.
∴ 44 + 3x = 7( 2 x ) ⇒ x = 4, y = 8.
Bd Hence, the correct answer is option (D).

Bl Question Number 61 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66

Bc
The old concert hall was demolished because of fears that the
L foundation would be affected by the construction of the new
metro line in the area. Modern technology for underground
metro construction tried to mitigate the impact of pressur-
ized air pockets created by the excavation of large amounts
of soil. But even with these safeguards, it was feared that the
soil below the concert hall would not be stable.
Bd
From this, one can infer that
Bl
Bc (A) the foundations of old buildings create pressurized air
pockets underground, which are difficult to handle dur-
ing metro construction.
(B) metro construction has to be done carefully considering
its impact on the foundations of existing buildings.
(C) old buildings in an area from an impossible hurdle to
metro construction in that area.
L
(D) pressurized air can be used to excavate large amount of
We see that I may be true but is not necessarily true. soil from underground areas.
Statement II is logically the same as I. Neither statement Solution: The paragraph talks about how pressurized air
follows. pockets make buildings unstable during the excavations of
Hence, the correct answer is option (D). large amount of soil. The old building mentioned in the par-
Question Number 59 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 agraph had to be demolished, though the problem of pres-
surized air pockets has been solved with the help of modern
If the radius of a right circular cone is increased by 50%, its
technology. This shows that option (A), which specifically
volume increases by
says that ‘foundations of old buildings create air pockets’,
(A) 75% (B) 100% where, as the paragraph says, they are created by excavation
(C) 125 % (D) 237.5 % of large amounts of soil, is false. Option (B) that generalizes

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 17 6/27/2017 3:16:38 PM

 xxxiv | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – I

the idea of the paragraph is the apt answer. Both options (C) M1 can perform job R on 1 object and job S on 4 objects,
and (D) are incorrect. taking a total of 2 hours. In the same 2 hours, M2 can per-
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). form job P on 2 objects and job Q on 3 objects. The mini-
mum time required is 2 hours.
Question Number 62 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
Students applying for hostel rooms are allotted rooms in
order of seniority. Students already staying in a room will Question Number 65 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
move if they get a room in their preferred list. Preferences The given bar graph shows the output of five carpenters over
of lower ranked applicants are ignored during allocation. one month, each of whom made different items of furniture:
From the given data, which room will Ajit stay in? chairs, tables and beds.
Student Current Room
Name
Seniority Room Preference List 20 Bed
Table

Number of furniture items

Amar 1 P R, S, Q 18
Chair
Akbar 2 None R, S 16
Anthony 3 Q P 14
Ajit 4 S Q, P, R
12
(A) P (B) Q 10
(C) R (D) S 8
Solution: Amar will be allotted R; Akbar will be allotted S; 6
Anthony will be allotted P; Ajit will be allotted Q. 4
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). 2

Question Number 63 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66 0

C1 C2 C3 C4 C5
The last digit of (2171) + (2172)9 + (2173)11 + (2174)13 is
7

(A) 2 (B) 4 Carpenter (C)

(C) 6 (D) 8
Consider the following statements:
Solution: The last digit of the given expression =
The last digit of (17 + 29 + 311 + 413) = I. The number of beds made by carpenter C2 is exactly
the same as the number of tables made by carpenter C3.
The last digit of (13 + 21 + 33 + 41) =
The last digit of (1 + 2 + 7 + 4) = 4. II. The total number of chairs made by all carpenters is
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). less than the total number of tables.
Which one of the following is true?
Question Number 64 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
(A) Only I
Two machines M1 and M2 are able to execute any of four
jobs P, Q, R and S. The machines can perform one job on (B) Only II
one object at a time. Jobs P, Q, R and S take 30 minutes, (C) Both I and II
20 minutes, 60 minutes and 15 minutes each respectively.
(D) Neither I nor II
There are 10 objects each requiring exactly 1 job. Job P is
to be performed on 2 objects. Job Q on 3 objects, Job R on Solution: Number of beds made by C2 = 20 - 12 = 8
1 object and Job S on 4 objects. What is the minimum time Number of tables made by C3 = 13 - 5 = 8.
needed to complete all the jobs?
∴ I is true.
(A) 2 hours (B) 2.5 hours
II Total number of chairs = 2 + 10 + 5 + 2 + 4 = 23
(C) 3 hours (D) 3.5 hours
Total number of tables = 7 + 2 + 8 + 3 + 10 = 30
Solution: The data are tabulated as follows:
II is false.
Jobs Time (minutes) Number of Objects
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
P 30 2
Q 20 3
R 60 1
S 15 4

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 1.indd 18 6/27/2017 3:16:38 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper
CE: Civil Engineering
Set - II
Number of Questions: 65 Total Marks: 100.0

Wrong answer for MCQ will result in negative marks, (-1/3) for 1-mark questions and (-2/3) for 2-mark questions.

Question Number 1 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 dw ∂w dx ∂w dy

Consider the following simultaneous equations (with c1 and = ⋅ + ⋅ .
dt ∂x dt ∂y dt
c2 being constants):
Hence, the correct answer is option (C).
3 x1 + 2 x2 = c1
Question Number 3 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
4 x1 + x2 = c2
Given that the scope of the construction work is well-defined
The characteristic equation for these simultaneous equa- with all its drawing, specifications, quantities and estimates,
tions is which one of the following types of contract would be most
(A) λ − 4λ − 5 = 0
2
(B) λ 2 − 4λ + 5 = 0 preferred?
(C) λ 2 + 4λ − 5 = 0 (C) λ 2 + 4λ + 5 = 0 (A) EPC contract
Solution: Given simultaneous equations are, (B) Percentage rate contract
3 x1 + 2 x2 = c1 (C) Item rate contract
4 x1 + x2 = c2 (D) Lump sum contract
The coefficient matrix of these simultaneous equations is, Solution: When the scope of construction work is well
3 2 defined with all its drawings, specifications, quantities, and
A=  .
4 1 estimates, then the type of contract most preferred is item
∴ The characteristic equation of A is rate contract.
A− λI = 0 Hence, the correct answer is option (C).

3−λ 2 Question Number 4 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33

⇒ =0 Let G be the specific gravity of soil solids, w the water con-
4 1− λ
tent in the soil sample gw the unit weight of water, and gd
⇒ (3 − λ )(1 − λ ) − 8 = 0 the dry unit weight of the soil. The equation for the zero air
⇒ λ 2 − 4λ − 5 = 0. voids line in a compaction test plot is
Hence, the correct answer is option (A). Gγ w Gγ w
(A) γ d = (B) γ d =
Question Number 2 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 1 + Gw Gw
Let w = f ( x, y ) , where x and y are functions of t. Then, Gw Gw
(C) γ d = (D) γ d =
dw 1+ γ w 1− γ w
according to the chain rule, is equal to
dt Gγ w
dw dx dw dt Solution: γ d = (1 − na ) (if na = 0)
(A) + 1 + wG
dx dt dy dt
Gγ w
∂w ∂x ∂w ∂y γd =
(B) + 1 + wG
∂x ∂t ∂y ∂t
Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
∂w dx ∂w dy
(C) + Question Number 5 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
∂x dt ∂y dt
Consider the following statements related to the pore pres-
dw ∂x dw ∂y sure parameters, A and B:
(E) +
dx ∂t dy ∂t P. A always lies between 0 and 1.0
Solution: Given w = ƒ(x, y), where x and y are functions Q. A can be less than 0 or greater than 1.0
of t R. B always lies between 0 and 1.0
∴ By chain rule, S. B can be less than 0 or greater than 1.0

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 xxxvi | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – II

For these statements, which one of the following options is Question Number 8 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
correct? As per Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules
(A) P and R (B) P and S 2000 of India, the day time noise limit for a residential zone,
(C) Q and R (D) Q and S expressed in dB(A) Leq, is
(A) 55 (B) 65
Solution: Pore pressure parameter B lies in between 0 and
1, and pore pressure parameter A may be as low as −0.5 and (C) 75 (D) 85
as high as 3. Solution: As per Noise Pollution Rules 2000 of India, the
Hence the correct answer is option (C). daytime noise limit for a residential zone, expressed indeci-
Question Number 6 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 bel, is 55.
Consider a rigid retaining wall with partially submerged Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
cohesionless backfill with a surcharge. Which one of the Question Number 9 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
following diagrams closely represents the Rankine’s active
Following observations have been made for the elevation
earth pressure distribution against this wall?
and temperature to ascertain the stability of the atmosphere:
(A) (B)
Elevation (in m) Temperature (in oC)
10 15.5
60 15.0
130 14.3

The atmosphere is classified as

(C) (D) (A) stable (B) unstable
(C) neutral (D) inverse
15.5 − 15
Solution: ELR1− 2 = = 10°C/km
(60 − 10) × 10 −3
15 − 14.3
ELR 2 −3 = = 10°C/km
Solution: (130 − 60) × 10 −3
q (kN/m) As ELR > ALR (9.8°C/km), the atmosphere is unstable.
Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
γ
Question Number 10 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
H
The most important type of species involved in the degrada-
tion of organic matter in the case of activated sludge process
is
Kaq Kaγ H
(A) Autotrophs (B) Heterotrophs
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). (C) Prototrophs (D) Photo-autotrophs
Question Number 7 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
Solution: Activated sludge process is designed primarily
If a centrifugal pump has an impeller speed of N (in rpm), for satisfaction of carbonaceous BOD, which is done by
discharge Q (in m3/s) and the total head H (in m), the heterotrophs.
expression for the specific speed Ns of the pump is given by
Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
NQ 0.5 NQ 0.5
(A) N s = (B) N s =
H 0.5 H Question Number 11 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
NQ 0.5 NQ For a broad gauge railway track on a horizontal curve of
(C) N s = (D) N s = radius R (in m), the equilibrium cant e required for a train
H 0.75 H 0.75 moving at a speed of V (in km/h) is
N Q
Solution: Specific speed (Ns) of the pump = 3 V2 V2
(A) e = 1.676 (B) e = 1.315
H 4 R R
NQ 0.5
= 0.75 . V2 V2
H (C) e = 0.80 (D) e = 0.60
Hence, the correct answer is option (C). R R

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 2.indd 2 6/27/2017 3:23:07 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – II | xxxvii

Gv 2 Solution: Kinematic indeterminacy is degree of freedom

Solution: e = of all joints of structure.
127 R
Gauge length (G) = 1.676 C D
1.676 × V 2 V2
e= × 100 = 1.315
127 R R
Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
B E
Question Number 12 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
The safety within a roundabout and the efficiency of a
roundabout can be increased respectively, by
A F
(A) increasing the entry radius and increasing the exit Ax Fx
Ay Fy
radius.
(B) increasing the entry radius and decreasing the exit
radius. nk = nd − (nm + nr)
(C) decreasing the entry radius and increasing the exit nd = 3 × j (joint − j)
radius. nm = Number of axially rigid members (= 6 for the given
frame)
(D) decreasing the entry radius and decreasing the exit
radius. nr = Number of reaction ( = 4(Ax, Ay, Fx, Fy))
Option: Reduction due to axial shear deformation is negli-
Solution: The safety within a roundabout and the efficiency gible; nm = 6.
of a roundabout are increased by decreasing the entry radius
Hence, the correct answer is option (B).
and increasing the exit radius.
Question Number 15 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
Hence, the correct answer is option (C).
Let the characteristic strength be defined as that value,
Question Number 13 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 below which not more than 50% of the result are expected
The method of orientation used, when the plane table occu- to fall. Assuming a standard deviation of 4 MPa, the target
pies a position not yet located on the map, is called as mean strength (in MPa) to be considered in the mix design
(A) traversing (B) radiation of a M25 concrete would be
(C) levelling (D) resection (A) 18.42 (B) 21.00
(C) 25.00 (D) 31.58
Solution: The method of orientation used, when plane
table occupies a position not yet located on map is called Solution:
as resection.
Hence, the correct answer is option (D).
Question Number 14 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
Consider the frame in the figure:

fck = fm

If fck is value below which not more than 50% of test results
are expected then fm = fck
So, target mean strength of design mix = Mean strength
= fm = fck = 25 MPa.
If the axial and shear deformations in different members of
the frame are assumed to be negligible, the reduction in the Hence, the correct answer is option (C).
degree of kinematical indeterminacy would be equal to Question Number 16 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33
(A) 5 (B) 6 In a material under a state of plane strain a 10 × 10 mm square
(C) 7 (D) 8 cantered at a point gets deformed as shown in the figure.

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 xxxviii | GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – II

Question Number 18 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0

y
For a construction project, the mean and standard devia-
tion of the completion time are 200 days and 6.1 days,
10 mm ­respectively. Assume normal distribution and use the value
of standard normal deviate, z = 1.64 for the 95% confidence
level. The maximum time required (in days) for the comple-
10 mm tion of the project would be ______.
π x Solution: Expected project completion time = tc = 200 days
+ 0.0005 rad
2 0.004 mm Standard deviation of project completion time = σc = 6.1
days
If the shear strain gxy at this point is expressed as 0.001k We know that,
(in rad), the value of k is t − tc
z=
σc
(A) 0.50 (B) 0.25
t − 200
(C) -0.25 (D) -0.50 ⇒ 1.64 =
6.1
Solution: ⇒ t = 200 + 1.64 × 6.1
= 210.004 days
∴The maximum time required for the completion of the
project = 210 days.
Hence, the correct answer is 210 days.
γ
xy
Question Number 19 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
The divergence of the vector field V = x 2 i + 2 y 3 j + z 4 k at
x =
x 1,= y 2, z = 3 is ______.
π
+ 0.0005 rad γ Shear strain
2     xy Solution: Given vector field V = x 2 i + 2 y 3 j + z 4 k
    Fig. 1             Fig. 2 ∂ 2 ∂ ∂
div V = ( x ) + (2 y3 ) + ( z 4 )
From the figures, ∂x ∂y ∂z
= 2x + 6 y2 + 4 z3
π  π
Shear strain, (γ xy ) =  + 0.0005  − At x = 1, y = 2, z = 3
2  2
div V = 2 × 1 + 6 × 22 + 4 × 33
∴ γ xy = 0.0005 rad (1)
= 134.
But also, given in question,γxy = 0.005 rad (2) Hence, the correct answer is 134.
From Eqs (1) and (2)
Question Number 20 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
0.0005 = 0.001k ⇒ k = 0.5.
A two-faced fair coin has its faces designated as head (H)
Hence, the correct answer is option (A). and tail (T). This coin is tossed three times is succession to
Question Number 17 Correct: 1; Wrong: -0.33 record the following outcomes: H, H, H. If the coin is tossed
one more time, the probability (up to one decimal place) of
The plate load test was conducted on a clayey strata by
obtaining H again, given the previous realizations of H, H
using a plate of 0.3 m × 0.3 m dimensions and the ultimate
and H, would be ______.
load per unit area for the plate was found to be 180 kPa.
The ultimate bearing capacity (in kPa) of a 2 m wide square Solution: We know that the outcome of a toss of a fair coin
footing would be is independent of the outcomes of its preceding tosses.
1
(A) 27 (B) 180 ∴ Probability of getting heads in the fourth toss = = 0.5.
2
(C) 1200 (D) 2000 Hence, the correct answer is 0.5.
Solution: Bearing capacity for plate is 180 kPa Question Number 21 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
The ultimate bearing capacity in case of clay is independent A sheet pile has an embedment depth of 12 m in a homo-
of width of footing; hence, the ultimate bearing capacity for geneous soil stratum. The coefficient of permeability of soil
footing will be 180 kPa. is 10–6 m/s. Difference in the water levels between the two
Hence, the correct answer is option (B). sides of the sheet pile is 4 m. The flow net is constructed

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 2.indd 4 6/27/2017 3:23:08 PM

 GATE 2017 Solved Paper CE: Set – II | xxxix

with five number of flow lines and eleven number of equi- f p = f c + ( f o − f c )e − kh t

potential lines. The quantity of seepage (in cm3/s per m, up
to one decimal place) under the sheet pile is ______. 90 = 25 + ( 200 − 25)e − kh ×1
Solution: Nf = 5 − 1 = 4 90 − 25 = ( 200 − 25)e − kh
Nd = 11 − 1 = 10 90 − 25
e − kh = = 0.371
200 − 25
H=4m
−kh log e = log(0.371)
KHN f 4
Discharge, q = = 10 −6 × 4 × = 16 × 10 −7 m3 /s/m log( 0.371)
Nd 10 − kh = = −0.991
log e
q = 16 × 10 −7 × 106 cm3 /s/m kh = 0.991 per hour
q = 1.6 cm3/s
per length of dam. Hence, the correct answer is 0.991 per hour.
Hence, the correct answer is 1.6. Question Number 25 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
Question Number 22 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0 While aligning a hill road with a ruling gradient of 6%, a
The VPI (vertical point of intersection) is 100 m away horizontal curve of radius 50 m is encountered. The grade
(when measured along the horizontal) from the VPC (verti- compensation (in percentage, up to two decimal places) to
cal point of curvature). If the vertical curve is parabolic, be provided for this case would be _____________.
the length of the curve (in metre and measured along the  75 30 + R 
Solution: Grade compensation = Least of  or
horizontal) is ______.  R R 
Solution: Distance between point of curvature and point of 75 75 
= = 1.5 
intersection is half the length of the curve. R 50
 Least of two values
LS = 2 × 100 = 200 m 30 + R 30 + 50
= = 1.6 
Hence, the correct answer is 200 m. R 50 
Grade compensation = 1.5%
Question Number 23 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0
Hence, the correct answer is 1.5%.
During a storm event in a certain period, the rainfall inten-
sity is 3.5 cm/h and the ϕ-index is 1.5 cm/h. The intensity of Question Number 26 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
effective rainfall (in cm/h, up to one decimal place) for this The tangent to the curve represented by y = xlnx is required
period is ______. to have 45° inclination with the X-axis. The coordinates of
Solution: Total rainfall = 3.5 cm/h × t hours = 3.5t the tangent point would be
Total infiltration = ϕ-index × t = 1.5t (A) (1, 0) (B) (0, 1)
Total rainfall excess (C) (1, 1) (D) ( 2 , 2 )
Intensity of rainfall excess =
Time period Solution: Given curve is y = x ⋅ ln x (1)
Tangent to have 45° inclination with the X-axis
3.5t − 1.5t
= = 2 cm/h dy
t ⇒ tan 45° =
dx
Hence, the correct answer is 2 cm/h.
1
⇒ 1 = x ⋅   + ln x
Question Number 24 Correct: 1; Wrong: 0 x
The infiltration capacity of a soil follows the Horton’s expo- ⇒ ln x + 1 = 1
nential model, f = c1 + c2 e − kt . During an experiment, the ⇒ ln x = 0
initial infiltration capacity was observed to be 200 mm/h.
⇒ x = e0 = 1
After a long time, the infiltration capacity was reduced to 25
mm/h. If the infiltration capacity after 1 hour was 90 mm/h. From Eq. (1), y = 1 ⋅ ln 1 = 0
the value of the decay rate constant, k (in per hour, up to two ∴The coordinates of the tangent point is (1, 0).
decimal places) is ______. Hence, the correct answer is option (A).
Solution: fC = 25 mm/h Question Number 27 Correct: 2; Wrong: -0.66
fo = 200 mm/h Consider the following definite integral:
1
fp = 90 mm/h (sin −1 x ) 2
I =∫ dx
From Horton’s equation, 0 1 − x2

Civil Engineering_2015 Paper_Set 2.indd 5 6/27/2017 3:23:10 PM

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
with the Bill of Rights. Babbitt stood around for a dozen years,
waiting for Lewis; the rest of the novelists of the land gaped at him
without seeing him. How long will they gape at the American
politician? At the American university president? At the American
policeman? At the American lawyer? At the American insurance
man? At the Prohibition fanatic? At the revival evangelist? At the
bootlegger? At the Y. M. C. A. secretary? At the butter-and-egg
man? At the journalist?

2
I have put the politician at the top of my list. He probably embodies
more typical American traits than any other; he is, within his limits,
the arch-Americano. Yet how seldom he gets into a novel! And how
seldom, having got there, is he real! I can recall, indeed, but one
American political novel of any value whatever as a study of
character, and that is Harvey Fergusson’s story of Washington,
“Capitol Hill”—a series of casual sketches, but all of them vivid and
true. Fergusson really understands the American politician. There is,
in “Capitol Hill,” no division of the dramatis personæ between
Democrats and Republicans, progressives and reactionaries,
materialists and idealists, patriots and traitors; the only division is
between men and women who have something, and men and
women who want it. In that simple fact lies most of the book’s
curious reality. For the truth about Washington is that it is not a town
of politics, in the conventional and romantic sense; it is, if anything, a
town almost devoid of politics. The people in the industrial cities and
out on the farms take political ideas seriously; what they cherish in
that department they refuse passionately to surrender. But so far as I
know there are not a dozen professional politicians in Washington,
high or low, who would not throw overboard, instantly and gladly,
every political idea they are assumed to be devoted to, including
especially every political idea that has helped them into public office,
if throwing it overboard would help them to higher and gaudier and
more lucrative office. I say high or low, and I mean it literally. There
has not been a President of the United States for half a century who
did not, at some time or other in his career, perform a complete volte
face in order to further his career. There is scarcely a United States
Senator who does not flop at least three times within the limits of a
single session.
The novelists who write about Washington are partly recruited from
the ranks of the Washington newspaper correspondents, perhaps
the most naïve and unreflective body of literate men in Christendom,
and for the rest from the ranks of those who read the dispatches of
such correspondents, and take them seriously. The result is a
grossly distorted and absurd picture of life in the capital city. One
carries off the notion that the essential Washington drama is based
on a struggle between a powerful and corrupt Senator and a sterling
young uplifter. The Senator is about to sell out the Republic to the
Steel Trust, J. P. Morgan or the Japs. The uplifter detects him,
exposes him, drives him from public life, and inherits his job. The
love interest is supplied by a fair stenographer who steals the
damning papers from the Senator’s safe, or by an Ambassador’s
wife who goes to the White House at 3 a. m., and, at the peril of her
virtue, arouses the President and tells him what is afoot. All this is
poppycock. There are no Senators in Washington powerful enough
to carry on any such operations single-handed, and very few of them
are corrupt: it is too easy to bamboozle them to go to the expense of
buying them. The most formidable bribe that the average Senator
receives from year’s end to year’s end is a bottle or two of very
dubious Scotch, and that is just as likely to come from the agent of
the South Central Watermelon Growers’ Association as from John D.
Rockefeller or the Mikado of Japan. Nor are there any sterling young
uplifters in the town. The last was chased out before the Mexican
War. There are to-day only gentlemen looking for something for
themselves—publicity, eminence, puissance, jobs—especially jobs.
Some take one line and some another. Further than that the
difference between them is no greater than the difference between a
Prohibition agent and a bootlegger, or tweedledum and tweedledee.
Ideas count for nothing in Washington, whether they be political,
economic or moral. The question isn’t what a man thinks, but what
he has to give away that is worth having. Ten years ago a
professional Prohibitionist had no more standing in the town than a
professional astrologer, Assyriologist or wart-remover; five years
ago, having proved that his gang could make or break
Congressmen, he got all the deference that belonged to the Chief
Justice; now, with the wet wolves chasing him, he is once more in
eclipse. If William Z. Foster were elected President to-morrow, the
most fanatical Coolidge men of to-day would flock to the White
House the day after, and try to catch his eye. Coolidge, while
Harding was living, was an obscure and impotent fellow, viewed with
contempt by everyone. The instant he mounted the throne he
became a Master Mind. Fergusson got all of this into “Capitol Hill,”
which is not the story of a combat between the True and the False in
politics, but the simple tale of a typical Washingtonian’s struggle to
the front—a tale that should be an inspiration to every Rotarian in the
land. He begins as a petty job-holder in the Capitol itself, mailing
congressional speeches to constituents on the steppes; he ends at
the head of a glittering banquet table, with a Senator to one side of
him and a member of the Cabinet to the other—a man who has
somehow got power into his hands, and can dispense jobs, and is
thus an indubitable somebody. Everybody in Washington who has
jobs to dispense is somebody.
This eternal struggle is sordid, but, as Fergusson has shown, it is
also extremely amusing. It brings out, as the moralists say, the worst
that is in human nature, which is always the most charming. It
reduces all men to one common level of ignominy, and so rids them
of their customary false-faces. They take on a new humanity.
Ceasing to be Guardians of the Constitution, Foes to the Interests,
Apostles of Economy, Prophets of World Peace, and such-like
banshees, they become ordinary men, like John Doe and Richard
Roe. One beholds them sweating, not liquid idealism, but genuine
sweat. They hope, fear, aspire, suffer. They are preyed upon, not by
J. P. Morgan, but by designing cuties. They go to the White House,
not to argue for the World Court, but to hog patronage. From end to
end of Fergusson’s chronicle there is absolutely no mention of the
tariff, or of the farmer and his woes, or of the budget system, or of
the Far Eastern question. I marvel that more American novelists
have not gone to this lush and delightful material. The supply is
endless and lies wide open. Six months in Washington is enough to
load an ambitious novelist for all eternity. (Think of what George
Moore has made of his one love-affair, back in 1877!) The
Washington correspondents, of course, look at it without seeing it,
and so do all the Washington novelists save Fergusson. But that is
saying nothing. A Washington correspondent is one with a special
talent for failing to see what is before his eyes. I have beheld a whole
herd of them sit through a national convention without once laughing.
Fergusson, in “Capitol Hill,” keeps mainly to that end of Pennsylvania
avenue which gives his book its name. I believe that the makings of
a far better novel of Washington life are to be found at the other end,
to wit, in and about the alabaster cage which houses the heir of
Washington, Lincoln and Chester A. Arthur. Why, indeed, has no one
ever put kaiserliche Majestät into fiction—save, of course, as a
disembodied spirit, vaguely radiating idealism? The revelations in the
Daugherty inquiry gave a hint of unworked riches—but there is
enough dramatic and even melodramatic material without
descending to scandal. A President is a man like the rest of us. He
can laugh and he can groan. There are days when his breakfast
agrees with him, and days when it doesn’t. His eyes have the
common optical properties: they can see a sweet one as far as they
can see a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission. All the
funnels of intrigue are aimed at him. He is the common butt of every
loud-speaker. No other man in this sad vale has so many jobs to give
out, or one-half so many. Try to imagine a day in his life, from dawn
to midnight. Do it, and you will have the best American novel ever
heard of.

3
But I am forgetting my other candidates—for example, the American
university president. I mean, of course, the university president of the
new six-cylinder, air-cooled, four-wheel-brake model—half the
quack, half the visionary, and wholly the go-getter—the brisk,
business-like, confidential, button-holing, regular fellow who
harangues Rotary and Kiwanis, extracts millions from usurers by
alarming them about Bolshevism, and so builds his colossal
pedagogical slaughter-house, with its tens of thousands of students,
its professors of cheese-making, investment securities and cheer-
leading, its galaxy of football stars, and its general air of Barnum’s
circus. Why has this astounding mountebank not got into a book? He
fairly yells for loving embalming à la Babbitt. He is not only
stupendously picaresque and amusing in himself—the final heir, at
once, of Abelard, Cagliostro, Increase Mather, the Fox sisters,
Pestalozzi, Dr. Munyon, Godey of the Ladies’ Book, and Daniel Drew
—; he is also thoroughly and magnificently characteristic of the great
land we live in. No other country has ever produced anything quite
like him. No other country, I suspect, would tolerate him. But here he
lives and flourishes, a superb and perfect American—and yet our
novelists all neglect him.
Worse and more incredible still, they neglect the most American of
all Americans, the very Ur-Amerikaner—to wit, the malignant
moralist, the Christian turned cannibal, the snouting and
preposterous Puritan. Where is there the American novel in which he
is even half limned? There are, to be sure, glimpses of him in “The
Song of the Lark,” by Willa Cather, and in “Babbitt,” and there is a
more elaborate but still incomplete sketch in E. W. Howe’s “The
Story of a Country Town.” But Howe, unfortunately, had other fish to
fry: he slapped in his bucolic wowser brilliantly, and then passed on
to melodrama and the agonies of young love. So, too, with Lewis
and Miss Cather. Thus, though the Puritan Father lies embalmed
magnificently in the pages of Hawthorne, his heir and assign of the
present day, the high-powered uplifter, the prophet of harsh and
unenforceable laws, the incurable reformer and nuisance—this
sweet fellow yet awaits his anatomist.
What a novel is in him! Indeed, what a shelf of novels! For he has as
many forms as there are varieties of human delusion. Sometimes he
is a tin-pot evangelist, sweating to transform Oklahoma City or
Altoona, Pa., into the New Jerusalem. Sometimes he is a hireling of
the Anti-Saloon League, sworn to Law Enforcement. Sometimes he
is a strict Sabbatarian, bawling for the police whenever he detects
his neighbor washing bottles or varnishing the Ford on Sunday
morning. Again he is a vice-crusader, chasing the scarlet lady with
fierce Christian shouts. Yet again he is a comstock, wearing out his
eyes in the quest for smut. He may even be female—a lady Ph.D. in
a linoleum hat, patrolling the cow towns and the city slums, handing
out edifying literature, teaching poor Polish women how to have
babies. Whatever his form, he is tremendously grotesque and
tremendously amusing—and always he drips with national juices,
always he is as thoroughly American as a bootlegger or a college
yell. If he exists at all in other lands, it is only in rudimentary and
aberrant forms. Try to imagine a French Wayne B. Wheeler, or a
Spanish Billy Sunday, or a German William Jennings Bryan. It is as
impossible as imagining a Coolidge in the Rome of Julius.
Since the earliest days, as everyone knows, American jurisprudence
has been founded upon the axiom that it is the first duty of every
citizen to police his neighbors, and especially those he envies, or
otherwise dislikes. There is no such thing, in this grand and puissant
nation, as privacy. The yokels out in Iowa, neglecting their horned
cattle, have a right, it appears—nay, a sacred duty!—to peek into my
home in Baltimore, and tell me what I may and may not drink with my
meals. An out-at-elbow Methodist preacher in Boston sets himself up
to decide what I may read. An obscure and unintelligent job-holder in
Washington, inspired by God, determines what I may receive in the
mails. I must not buy lottery tickets because it offends the moral
sentiment of Kansas. I must keep Sunday as the Sabbath, which is
in conflict with Genesis, because it is ordered by persons who
believe that Genesis can’t be wrong. Such are the laws of the
greatest free nation ever seen on earth. We are all governed by
them. But a government of laws, of course, is a mere phantasm of
political theorists: the thing is always found, on inspection, to be
really a government of men. In the United States, it seems to me, the
tendency is for such men to come increasingly from the class of
professional uplifters. It is not the bankers who run the ostensible
heads of the state, as the Liberals believe, nor the so-called bosses,
as the bosses themselves believe, but the wowsers. And what is a
wowser? What does the word mean? It means precisely what you
think of inevitably when you hear it. A wowser is a wowser. He bears
a divine commission to regulate and improve the rest of us. He
knows exactly what is best for us. He is what Howe calls a Good
Man. So long as you and I are sinful, he can’t sleep. So long as we
are happy, he is after us.
I throw off the guess that there are at least forty novels in the wowser
—that is, forty good ones. He has, as I have said, as many forms as
the demons who ride him, and every one of them should make a
competent novelist, authentically called to the vocation, leap in air
with loud hosannas, and spit upon his hands. His psychology
remains mysterious. The Freudians, I believe, have misunderstood
him, and the psychiatrists have avoided him. What are the springs of
his peculiar frenzy to harass and punish his fellow men? By what
process of malign eugenics is he hatched? And what is his typical
life history? Here is work for the novelist, which is to say, for the
professional anatomist of character. I believe that Frank Norris, had
he lived, would have tackled it with enthusiasm, and made a great
success of its execution. Norris, like Dreiser after him, had a
romantic and even a mystical inclination, but at bottom he was a
satirist—and the American Puritan was made for satirists as catnip
was made for cats. It is easy to laugh at him, but it is hard to hate
him. He is eternally in the position of a man trying to empty the
ocean with a tin-dipper. He will be mauled, and the chance he offers
thrown away, if the novelist who attempts him in the end forgets the
tragedy under his comedy. I have known many American wowsers in
my time, some of them intimately. They were all intensely unhappy
men. They suffered as vastly as Prometheus chained to his rock,
with the buzzards exploring his liver. A novelist blind to that capital
fact will never comprehend the type. It needs irony—but above all it
needs pity.

4
So does another type that also awaits its Thackeray: to wit, the
American journalist. Most American novelists, before they challenge
Dostoevski, put in an apprenticeship on the public prints, and thus
have a chance to study and grasp the peculiarities of the journalistic
mind; nevertheless, the fact remains that there is not a single
genuine newspaper man, done in the grand manner, in the whole
range of American fiction. As in the case of the wowser, there are
some excellent brief sketches, but there is no adequate portrait of
the journalist as a whole, from his beginnings as a romantic young
reporter to his finish as a Babbitt, correct in every idea and as hollow
as a jug. Here, I believe, is genuine tragedy. Here is the matter that
enters into all fiction of the first class. Here is human character in
disintegration—the primary theme of every sound novelist ever
heard of, from Fielding to Zola and from Turgeniev to Joseph
Conrad. I know of no American who starts from a higher level of
aspiration than the journalist. He is, in his first phase, genuinely
romantic. He plans to be both an artist and a moralist—a master of
lovely words and a merchant of sound ideas. He ends, commonly, as
the most depressing jackass in his community—that is, if his career
goes on to what is called success. He becomes the repository of all
its worst delusions and superstitions. He becomes the darling of all
its frauds and idiots, and the despair of all its honest men. He
belongs to a good club, and the initiation fee was his soul.
Here I speak by the book, for I have been in active practice as a
journalist for more than a quarter of a century, and have an immense
acquaintance in the craft. I could name a man who fits my
specifications exactly in every American city east of the Mississippi,
and refrain only on the advice of counsel. I do not say that all
journalists go that route. Far from it! Many escape by failing; some
even escape by succeeding. But the majority succumb. They begin
with high hopes. They end with safe jobs. In the career of any such
man, it seems to me, there are materials for fiction of the highest
order. He is interesting intrinsically, for his early ambition is at least
not ignoble—he is not born an earthworm. And he is interesting as a
figure in drama, for he falls gradually, resisting all the while, to forces
that are beyond his strength. If he can’t make the grade, it is not
because he is unwilling or weak, but because the grade itself is too
steep. Here is tragedy—and here is America. For the curse of this
country, as of all democracies, is precisely the fact that it treats its
best men as enemies. The aim of our society, if it may be said to
have an aim, is to iron them out. The ideal American, in the public
sense, is a respectable vacuum.
I heave this typical American journalist to the massed novelists of the
Federal Union, and invite them to lay on. There is a capital novel in
him—a capital character sketch and a capital picture of the American
scene. He is representative and yet he is not commonplace. People
will recognize him, and yet they are not familiar with him. Let the
fictioneers have at him! But let them bear in mind that, like the
wowser, he is not to be done to the tune of superior sneers. He is a
wreck, but he has not succumbed to the gales without resistance.
Let him be done ironically, as Lewis did Babbitt, but let him be done
also with pity. He is not a comedian, but a tragedian. Above all, let
him be done without any mouthing of theories. His simple story is
poignant enough.
Is he too difficult? Then I offer a substitute: the American policeman.
Certainly it is high time for him to get into a book. I dedicate him to
the novelists of the nation at once, and provide them simultaneously
with all the plot they will need. A moron with an IQ of 53, despairing
of ever getting a better job, goes on the force and begins pounding a
beat. A chance favor to a saloonkeeper makes a sergeant of him,
and thereafter he slowly mounts the ladder. At the end he is an
inspector, and in charge of operations against a fabulous crime
wave, imagined by the city editor of a tabloid newspaper. Isn’t that
enough? What a vivid and exhilarating picture of American life could
be got out of it! What humors are there, and what genuine drama!
Nor are the materials esoteric. Every newspaper reporter’s head is
stuffed with them. I myself could do such a work in ten volumes folio.
Nine young journalists out of ten, I believe, aspire to the novel. Well,
here is a chance to write a novel as good as “Babbitt.”
 XI. ON LIVING IN BALTIMORE
SOME time ago, writing in an eminent Baltimore newspaper upon
the Baltimore of my boyhood, I permitted myself an eloquent
passage upon its charm, and let fall the doctrine that nearly all of that
charm had vanished. Mere rhetoric, I greatly fear. The old charm, in
truth, still survives in the town, despite the frantic efforts of the
boosters and boomers who, in late years, have replaced all its
ancient cobblestones with asphalt, and bedizened it with Great White
Ways and suburban boulevards, and surrounded it with stinking steel
plants and oil refineries, and increased its population from 400,000
to 800,000. I am never more conscious of the fact than when I return
to it from New York. Behind me lies the greatest city of the modern
world, with more money in it than all Europe and more clowns and
harlots than all Asia, and yet it has no more charm than a circus lot
or a second-rate hotel. It can’t show a single genuinely distinguished
street. It hasn’t a single park that is more lovely than a cemetery lot.
It is without manner as it is without manners. Escaping from it to so
ancient and solid a town as Baltimore is like coming out of a football
crowd into quiet communion with a fair one who is also amiable, and
has the gift of consolation for hard-beset and despairing men.
I have confessed to rhetoric, but I surely do not indulge in it here. For
twenty-five years I have resisted a constant temptation to move to
New York, and I resist it more easily to-day than I did when it began.
I am, perhaps, the most arduous commuter ever heard of, even in
that Babylon of commuters. My office is on Manhattan Island and
has been there since 1914; yet I live, vote and have my being in
Baltimore, and go back there the instant my job allows. If my desk
bangs at 3 p. m. I leap for the 3.25 train. Four long hours in the
Pullman follow, but the first is the worst. My back, at all events, is
toward New York! Behind lies a place fit only for the gross business
of getting money; ahead is a place made for enjoying it.
What makes New York so dreadful, I believe, is mainly the fact that
the vast majority of its people have been forced to rid themselves of
one of the oldest and most powerful of human instincts—the instinct
to make a permanent home. Crowded, shoved about and exploited
without mercy, they have lost the feeling that any part of the earth
belongs to them, and so they simply camp out like tramps, waiting
for the constables to rush in and chase them away. I am not
speaking here of the poor (God knows how they exist in New York at
all!); I am speaking of the well-to-do, even of the rich. The very
richest man, in New York, is never quite sure that the house he lives
in now will be his next year—that he will be able to resist the
constant pressure of business expansion and rising land values. I
have known actual millionaires to be chased out of their homes in
this way, and forced into apartments. In Baltimore too, the same
pressure exists, to be sure, but it is not oppressive, for the
householder can meet it by yielding to it half way. It may force him
into the suburbs, even into the adjacent country, but he is still in
direct contact with the city, sharing in its life, and wherever he lands
he may make a stand. But on Manhattan Island he is quickly brought
up by the rivers, and once he has crossed them he may as well
move to Syracuse or Trenton.
Nine times out of ten he tries to avoid crossing them. That is, he
moves into meaner quarters on the island itself, and pays more for
them. His house gives way to a flat—one offering perhaps half the
room for his goods and chattels that his house offered. Next year he
is in a smaller flat, and three-fourths of his goods and chattels have
vanished. A few years more, and he is in two or three rooms. Finally,
he lands in an hotel. At this point he ceases to exist as the head of a
house. His quarters are precisely like the quarters of 50,000 other
men. The front he presents to the world is simply an anonymous
door on a gloomy corridor. Inside, he lives like a sardine in a can.
Such a habitation, it must be plain, cannot be called a home. A home
is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in its permanence, in
its capacity for accretion and solidification, in its quality of
representing, in all its details, the personalities of the people who live
in it. In the course of years it becomes a sort of museum of these
people; they give it its indefinable air, separating it from all other
homes, as one human face is separated from all others. It is at once
a refuge from the world, a treasure-house, a castle, and the shrine of
a whole hierarchy of peculiarly private and potent gods.
This concept of the home cannot survive the mode of life that
prevails in New York. I have seen it go to pieces under my eyes in
the houses of my own friends. The intense crowding in the town, and
the restlessness and unhappiness that go with it, make it almost
impossible for anyone to accumulate the materials of a home—the
trivial, fortuitous and often grotesque things that gather around a
family, as glories and debts gather around a state. The New Yorker
lacks the room to house them; he thus learns to live without them. In
the end he is a stranger in the house he lives in. More and more, it
tends to be no more than Job No. 16432b from this or that
decorator’s studio. I know one New Yorker, a man of considerable
means, who moves every three years. Every time he moves his wife
sells the entire contents of the apartment she is leaving, and
employs a decorator to outfit the new one. To me, at all events, such
a mode of living would be unendurable. The charm of getting home,
as I see it, is the charm of getting back to what is inextricably my
own—to things familiar and long loved, to things that belong to me
alone and none other. I have lived in one house in Baltimore for
nearly forty-five years. It has changed in that time, as I have—but
somehow it still remains the same. No conceivable decorator’s
masterpiece could give me the same ease. It is as much a part of me
as my two hands. If I had to leave it I’d be as certainly crippled as if I
lost a leg.
I believe that this feeling for the hearth, for the immemorial lares and
penates, is infinitely stronger in Baltimore than in New York—that it
has better survived there, indeed, than in any other large city of
America—and that its persistence accounts for the superior charm of
the town. There are, of course, thousands of Baltimoreans in flats—
but I know of none to whom a flat seems more than a make-shift, a
substitute, a necessary and temporary evil. They are all planning to
get out, to find house-room in one of the new suburbs, to resume
living in a home. What they see about them is too painfully not theirs.
The New Yorker has simply lost that discontent. He is a vagabond.
His notions of the agreeable become those of a vaudeville actor. He
takes on the shallowness and unpleasantness of any other homeless
man. He is highly sophisticated, and inordinately trashy. The fact no
doubt explains the lack of charm that one finds in his town; the fact
that the normal man of Baltimore is almost his exact antithesis
explains the charm that is there. Human relations, in such a place,
tend to assume a solid permanence. A man’s circle of friends
becomes a sort of extension of his family circle. His contacts are with
men and women who are rooted as he is. They are not moving all
the time, and so they are not changing their friends all the time. Thus
abiding relationships tend to be built up, and when fortune brings
unexpected changes, they survive those changes. The men I know
and esteem in Baltimore are, on the whole, men I have known and
esteemed a long while; even those who have come into my ken
relatively lately seem likely to last. But of the men I knew best when I
first began going to New York, twenty-five years ago, not one is a
friend to-day. Of those I knew best ten years ago, not six are friends.
The rest have got lost in the riot, and the friends of to-day, I
sometimes fear, will get lost in the same way.
In human relationships that are so casual there is seldom any
satisfaction. It is our fellows who make life endurable to us, and give
it a purpose and a meaning; if our contacts with them are light and
frivolous there is something lacking, and it is something of the very
first importance. What I contend is that in Baltimore, under a slow-
moving and cautious social organization, touched by the Southern
sun, such contacts are more enduring than elsewhere, and that life
in consequence is more agreeable. Of the external embellishments
of life there is a plenty there—as great a supply, indeed, to any
rational taste, as in New York itself. But there is also something
much better: a tradition of sound and comfortable living. A
Baltimorean is not merely John Doe, an isolated individual of Homo
sapiens, exactly like every other John Doe. He is John Doe of a
certain place—of Baltimore, of a definite house in Baltimore. It is not
by accident that all the peoples of Europe, very early in their history,
distinguished their best men by adding of this or that place to their
names.
 XII. THE LAST NEW ENGLANDER
THE late Prof. Barrett Wendell, of Harvard, whose letters have been
done into a stately volume by M. A. DeWolfe Howe, will probably go
down into history as the last flower of the Puritan Kultur. Himself by
no means a pure New Englander, for his surname was obviously
Dutch, he yet had enough New England blood in him to feel himself
wholly of that forlorn region, and he was accepted as a fit
representative of it by all its tribal headmen. He was steeped in its
tradition, and venerated its heroes. What came out of New England
seemed to him to be virtuous and lovely, or, as he might have said,
gentlemanly; what came out of the rest of the country was simply
barbarous.
Nevertheless, Wendell was himself a walking proof that all he
admired was passing into the shadows, for, try as he would, he could
not, as a contemporary man, squeeze himself into the old Puritan
mold. Over and over again he would make an effort to do so, but
always, as he struggled with the lid, a diabolical, iconoclastic mood
would overcome him, and he would leap up and emit a ribald yell.
Harvard, startled and uneasy, never knew what to make of him. His
principles were apparently impeccable; he was, in the current
phrase, a consistent booster for the lost Golden Age, its glories and
high deeds. And yet, whenever the answering cheer came back, he
would make a mocking face and say something awful. The
Cambridge campus is still warmed by these mockings. What saved
him from downright infamy was the fact that, whenever they were
actually in contempt of the Puritan mores and gnosiology, they were
safely superficial—that is, they never questioned fundamentals.
Wendell had a lot to say about the transient excesses and
imbecilities of democracy, visible in his time, but he nevertheless
believed in all the primary democratic fallacies, and even defended
them eloquently. He was a tart critic of the whole educational
process, and went to the length, in his own department of English, of
denying it any value whatever; nevertheless, he remained a romantic
Harvard man to the end of his days, and venerated alma mater with
the best of them. He must have seen clearly that there was little that
was sound and solid left in the New England culture, that the rest of
the country had little need of it and would quickly surpass it; all the
same, he clung to the superstition that the preposterous theologians
of its early days constituted an intellectual aristocracy, and even
wrote a book eulogizing the most absurd of them, Cotton Mather.
Wendell, in fact, was two men, separate and distinct, and they were
often at war. One of these men was highly intelligent (though surely
not very learned); the other was a romantic under the spell of a
disintegrating tradition. The latter was the more charming, but often a
prey to mere lyrical fancy. The picture of the American character that
Wendell presented to gaping throngs in his Sorbonne lectures was a
sort of fantastic chromo of the primeval New England character,
seen through nine thicknesses of amber gelatine—in brief, a thing as
bizarre as the accounts of the Revolution that used to be in school-
books. Fundamentally, he once said somewhere else, we believe in
fair play. It would be hard to imagine a more inaccurate saying. If any
single quality, indeed, has marked off the Americano from all other
civilized men since the start, it is his incapacity to purge combat of
passion, his strong disinclination to allow any merit whatever to the
other fellow;—in brief, his bad sportsmanship. Our history is a history
of minorities put down with clubs. Even the duel, during the few
years it flourished in America, took on a ferocity unheard of
elsewhere. Gentlemen, going out at daybreak, shot to kill. Aaron Burr
was a thorough American; Hamilton was an Englishman. In other
fields, Wendell indulged himself in similar sentimentalities. He
reacted to the shock of the late war in the correct manner of a State
Street banker. He succumbed to the Coolidge buncombe far back in
1920. Yet always the sharply intelligent Wendell hauled up and
stayed the orthodox romantic. The tribute to him by Prof. Kuno
Francke, quoted by Mr. Howe, is a tribute not only to a gentleman,
but also to a man of sense. And even in the midst of his banal
speculation whether Coolidge, after all, would not turn out to be a
Yankee Lincoln, he saw clearly the “small, hatchet-faced, colorless
man, with a tight-shut, thin-lipped mouth”—in other words, the third-
rate, small-town attorney, stuffed with copy-book platitudes and quite
without imagination. He saw, too, the truth about Wilson, and stated
it blisteringly in a letter to his friend R. W. Curtis.
Wendell’s actual books, I believe, are now all dead, even his
arbitrary and ignorant but highly amusing “Literary History of
America.” His volume on Shakespeare, published in 1894, is
admired by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and Mrs. Edith Wharton, but no
one else seems to remember it. His novels and dramas are long
forgotten. His “English Composition” was and is a school-book; he
himself, in his old age, had doubts that it had accomplished even its
pedagogic purpose. His political essays, once so salacious, now
read like the heresies of the Jefferson era. What remains, then, of
Prof. Barrett Wendell, A.B., Litt.D.? A great deal more, I believe, than
a mere ghost. When, indeed, the roll of American literati is drawn up
at last, and the high deeds of each are set down, it will be found that
Wendell, too, did something, and that what he did was of
considerable importance. In a few words, he helped to divert
criticism from books to life itself—he was one of the first to see that
mere literature is, after all, mere literature—that it cannot be
understood without knowing something about the society which
produced it. Even Poe, masterly critic that he was, overlooked this
obvious and all-important fact. His discussion of books went on in a
sort of vacuum. He had brilliant (and often sound) opinions about
every technical problem imaginable, and about every question of
taste, but only too often he overlooked the fact that his author was
also a man, and that what the author wrote the man had first to think,
feel and endure. Wendell got rid of that narrow bookishness, still
lingering in Lowell. He was primarily a critic, not of literary manners
and postures, but of human existence under the Republic. There
was no scholarly affectation about him, for all his superficial play-
acting, his delight in impressing sophomores. He did not bury his
nose in books; he went out and looked at the world, and what he
saw there amused him immensely and filled him with ideas. In Mr.
Howe’s index the name of Longfellow appears but once, and that of
Gilder but once, and that of Aldrich not at all, but that of Blaine is
there six times, and after Democracy there are twenty-two entries.
It seems to me that this break with the old American tradition had its
high uses, and has left its mark upon American letters. Criticism
among us is vastly less cloistered than it once was. Even professors
of the loftiest tone, if they would have themselves attended to, must
descend from their ivory towers and show themselves at the sea-
level. The aloof and austere spirit is now viewed with suspicion.
There are, I daresay, ancients who deplore the change. A natural
regret, for it has made criticism vastly more difficult. But few deplore
it, I believe, who know what literature really is—few, that is, who
know the difference between mere intellectual prettiness and a body
of living ideas.
As for Wendell’s amazing contradictions and inconsistencies, his
endless flounderings between orthodoxy and heresy, I believe that
an adequate explanation of them is to be found in the compositions
of Prof. Dr. Sigmund Freud, the Viennese necromancer. Freud,
himself a Jew, discusses in one of his books the curious fact that
jokes at the expense of the Jews are chiefly circulated by Jews
themselves, and especially by the younger ones. Two Jewish
drummers in a Pullman smoking-room fall into an exchange of such
jocosities almost automatically. Why? Because, says Freud, they
attain thereby to an escape from their Jewishness, which often irks
them. It is not they are ashamed of being Jews; it is that the Jewish
practices of their elders are burdensome. They dare not revolt
openly, for their sense of filial piety is strong, so they take it out by
making jokes. By much the same psychological process, I believe,
Wendell arrived at his curious mixture of contrarieties. Sentimentally
and emotionally, he was moved powerfully by the New England
tradition, and felt a strong impulse to defend it against the world.
Intellectually, he saw clearly that it was in collapse around him—
worse, that it had been full of defects and weaknesses even when,
by his own doctrine, it had been strong. The result was his endless
shuttling between worship and ribaldry. The last of the New
Englanders, he clung pathetically to a faith which gradually
succumbed to doubts. In his later years he thus stood upon a
burning deck, whence all but him had fled.
Two things, for all his skepticism, he could never bring himself to
admit formally, both obvious: first, that the so-called culture of
Puritan New England was largely imaginary, that civilization was
actually introduced into the region by anti-Puritans, and second, that
when Transcendentalism came in, the leadership of Puritanism
passed from New England and went to the South and Middle West.
To admit the truth of either proposition was psychically impossible to
a man of his romantic feelings. Each, baldly stated, seemed to flout
the local Holy Ghost. And yet both were true, and their proofs were
visible at a glance. The first, I daresay, will never be granted formally,
or even heard patiently, by any genuine New Englander. Only a short
while ago Walter Prichard Eaton, a very able Puritan, was arguing
eloquently that his blue-nosed ancestors were really lovers of
beauty, nay, downright artists—and offering the charming old houses
on Nantucket Island as exhibits. Unfortunate examples, alas, alas!
The houses on Nantucket were not built until the Puritan theocracy
was completely demoralized and impotent—until Boston had a
theatre, and was already two-thirds of the way to hell. And if they
were actually built by Puritans at all, then it was by Puritans who had
gone out into the wide, wide word and savored its dreadful and
voluptuous marvels—Puritans who had come back from the Eastern
seas with gaudy silks in their sea-chests, and the perfume of strange
gals upon their whiskers, and a new glitter to their eyes.
Orthodox history, at least as it appears in school-books, assumes
that the witch-burners and infant-damners had it all their own way in
New England, even down to Revolutionary times. They actually met
with sturdy opposition from the start. All of their sea-ports gradually
filled up with sailors who were anything but pious Christian men, and
even the back-country had its heretics, as the incessant wars upon
them demonstrate. The fact that only Puritans could vote in the
towns has deceived the historians; they mistake what was the law for
what was really said and done. We have had proofs in our own time
that that error is easy. Made by students of early New England, it
leads to multiple absurdities. The fact is that the civilization that grew
up in the region, such as it was, owed very little to the actual
Puritans; it was mainly the product of anti-Puritans, either home-bred
or imported. Even the school system, so celebrated in legend, owed
whatever value was in it to what were currently regarded as
criminals. The Puritans did not found their schools for the purpose of
propagating what is now known as learning; they found them simply
as nurseries of orthodoxy. Beyond the barest rudiments nothing of
any worldly value was taught in them. The principal subject of study,
first and last, was theology, and it was theology of the most
grotesque and insane sort ever cherished by man. Genuine
education began in New England only when the rising minority of
anti-Puritans, eventually to become a majority, rose against this
theology, and tried to put it down. The revolt was first felt at Harvard;
it gradually converted a seminary for the training of Puritan pastors
into a genuine educational institution. Harvard delivered New
England, and made civilization possible there. All the men who
adorned that civilization in the days of its glory—Emerson,
Hawthorne and all the rest of them—were essentially anti-Puritans.
To-day, save in its remoter villages, New England is no more Puritan
than, say, Maryland or Missouri. There is scarcely a clergyman in the
entire region who, if the Mathers could come back to life, would not
be condemned by them instantly as a heretic, and even as an
atheist. The dominant theology is mild, skeptical and wholly lacking
in passion. The evangelical spirit has completely disappeared. Save
in a small minority of atavistic fanatics, there is a tolerance that is
almost indistinguishable from indifference. Roman Catholicism and
Christian Science are alike viewed amiably. The old heat is gone.
Where it lingers in America is in far places—on the Methodist
prairies of the Middle West, in the Baptist back-waters of the South.
There, I believe, it still retains not a little of its old vitality. There
Puritanism survives, not merely as a system of theology, but also as
a way of life. It colors every human activity. Kiwanis mouths it; it is
powerful in politics; learning wears its tinge. To charge a Harvard
professor of to-day with agnosticism would sound as banal as to
charge him with playing the violoncello. But his colleague of Kansas,
facing the same accusation, would go damp upon the forehead, and
his colleague of Texas would leave town between days.
Wendell, a sentimentalist, tried to put these facts behind him, though
he must have been well aware of them. There got into his work, in
consequence, a sense of futility, even when he was discussing very
real and important things. He opened paths that he was unable to
traverse himself. Sturdier men, following him, were soon marching
far ahead of him. He will live in the history of American criticism, but
his own criticism is already dead.
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