Civil Engineering Interview Questions

We have come up with some of the frequently asked civil engineering interview questions along with their answers. Generally in interview, employer ask civil site engineers the simple questions to test their basic knowledge of civil engineering. If you are yourself appearing for it, you don’t need to worry too much about interviews and focus on basics. Rest of the thing, you will learn in training once you get selected for the job.

List of top 18 civil engineering interview questions

Here is the list of 18 questions commonly asked questions in civil engineering interviews to civil site engineers and project engineers:

1. Name various authorities or workers on a construction site?

• Senior Engineer/Project manager
• Site Engineer
• Contracter
• Mistri
• Mason/labor

2. What is least cover provided for different RCC Members?

• Footing = 50 mm
• Column = 40mm
• Beam = 25mm
• Slab = 20mm

3. What are the functions of column in a building?

Column is a verticle member in building whose primary function is to support structural load and transfer it through beams. Upper columns transfers the load to the lower columns and finally to the ground through footings.

4. What is the cement sand & aggregate ratios for various grades of concrete mix?

• M10 – 1:3:6
• M15 – 1:2:4
• M20 – 1:1.5:3
• M25 – 1:1:2
• M30 – 1:1:1

5. What do you mean by honeycomb in concrete?

Honeycomb, also known as airpocket, is nothing but the air voids in concrete. It is usually formed during concrete casting.

Already tired of reading these questions? Rather, you can listen to these civil engineering interview questions on our YouTube video, along with their answers here:

6. Does Water damage concrete?

Plain concrete is not affected or damaged by water but Reinforced Concrete (RCC) can be damaged due to water. This is because the water may seep into the concrete and corrode the steel reinforcement inside.

7. What is the initial and final setting time of ideal cement mix?

Initial setting time for ideal cement mix is around 30 minutes for almost all kind of cements. For masonry cement it can be 90minutes. Final setting time of ideal cement mix should be 10 hours at max. For masonry cement it shouldn’t exceed 24hours.

8. What are common methods of curing the concrete?

• Spraying
• Wet covering of Surface
• Ponding
• Application of curing chemicals
• Steam curing

9. What is the formula for weight of steel?

Weight of steel in kg can be calculate by formula (D²*L)/162; where D is diameter of steel bar in millimeter and L is total length of steel bar in meter.

10. What do you know about “TMT”?

TMT stands for “Thermo Mechanically Treated”. Generally we use TMT bars and sheet for construction purposes for the reason that they have high strength and high corrosion resistance compared to normal steels.

11. What is difference between working stress method and limit state method?

Working stress method is an elastic design method in which structure is designed to bear the load upto elastic limit. Whereas, limit state method is a plastic design method in which structure is designed to bear the load beyond plastic limit.

12. What field tests are required for quality check of cement?

Quality of cement can be checked with color, physical properties, etc. Cement should have grey color with light greenish shade. It should feel smooth when rubbed between fingers. If hand is inserted in a heap of cement or its bags, it should feel cool. When pinch of cement is thrown in Water then cement should float for some time before it sink. Also, it should be lump free.

13. What are the types of foundation used in construction?

There are basically two types of foundation: Shallow & Deep foundation. Again shallow foundation can be classified as spread footing, combined footing, strap or cantilever footing and finally mat or raft footing. Deep foundations can be classified as pile footing, pier footing, caissons footing and well foundation.

14. What are the types of cement?

There are various types of cement which are: Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), White Portland Cement (WPC), Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC), Low Heat Portland Cement, Coloured Portland Cement, Hydrophobic cement, Rapid Hardening Cement, Portland Slag Cement, Sulphate resisting Portland Cement, etc.

15. What is guniting?

It is a process in which mixture of cement & sand in proportion of 1:3 is shooted on concrete surface with the help of cement gun under pressure of 2 to 3 kg/cm². It is a highly effective process for repairing concrete walls or damaged surfaces.

16. What is the function of sand in mortar?

The main role of sand (aggregate) in mortar or plaster is to provide core strength, but it has other benefits too. If water is mixed with binder without adding sand to the mixture, both compressive and tensile strength of the mixture would be drastically lower than in mixture with added sand. It also helps to prevent mortar shrinkage, increases density and helps in setting.

17. What are various tests for checking brick quality?

We can use water absorption test, hardness test, shape & size, crushing strength test, soundness test, etc. to check the brick quality. In water absorption test, we dip the brick for 16 hours in water. If weight of brick after dipping in water doesn’t exceed by 20%, it can be considered as first class brick, if below 22.5% it can be considered as second class brick, if below 25% it can be considered as third class brick. In crushing test, it crushing strength should be minimum of 10 N/mm² for first class brick, 7.5 N/mm² for second class bricks. In hardness test, we scratch the brick with nails. It should be scratch free. In soundness test we check the metallic sound by striking two bricks with each other.

18. What is void ratio?

Void ratio is the ratio of volume of voids to volume of solids.

The civil engineering interview questions asked above are useful knowledge required in day-to-day work on field as a site engineer. Hence, it is vital to have sound knowledge of these basic questions.