Original question written by FE Exam AI Prep from the public FE Civil exam specification. Before release, a solver model re-derived the answer twice from the question alone, without its answer key, and a critic model checked the result, and the arithmetic was re-run as an executable calculation. No licensed engineer reviews these questions. It is not an NCEES question and does not come from any NCEES practice exam. FE Exam AI Prep is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCEES.
Factored Loads and Tributary Width: FE Civil practice problem 1
For work package 367 on the campus drainage correction, the project controls engineer performs a contractor change evaluation and applies a gravity load combination to dead load 60 psf and live load 56 psf. What factored load equals 1.2D + 1.6L?
- A161.6 psf
- B175.8 psf
- C208.4 psf
- D229.4 psf
Show the answer and worked solution
Answer: A — 161.6 psf
Worked solution
- Step 1. Apply load combination
U = 1.2D + 1.6L
- Step 2. Substitute loads
U = 1.2(60) + 1.6(56) = 161.6 psf
Why the other choices are wrong
- Choice B
- This total does not follow from a single clean substitution error in the load combination; applying U = 1.2D + 1.6L to the 60 psf dead load and 56 psf live load correctly gives 161.6 psf, and no simple factor swap reproduces this figure.
- Choice C
- No obvious one-step mistake, such as swapping the dead and live load factors, produces this result; the governing factored load comes from U = 1.2D + 1.6L = 1.2*60 + 1.6*56 = 161.6 psf.
- Choice D
- This number cannot be traced to one defensible arithmetic slip in applying the load factors; the correct factored gravity load is U = 1.2D + 1.6L, which equals 161.6 psf for the stated 60 psf dead and 56 psf live loads.