CEE 3770 Homework 8 Due 11/15/13

Problem 1 The foundation for a building is designed to rest on 100 piles based on a mean pile capacity of at least 80 tons. Nine test piles were driven at random locations into the supporting soil stratum and loaded until fracture of each pile occurred. The results are as follows: Test Pile # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pile Capacity 82 75 95 90 88 92 78 85 80

a. Estimate the mean and standard deviation of the individual pile capacity to be used at the site. b. At the 5% significance level, should the piles be accepted based on the results of the nine test piles? c. Establish the 98 percent confidence interval for the mean pile capacity, assuming that the standard deviation of the population is known (use answer from part a). d. Determine the 98 percent confidence interval for the mean pile capacity on the basis of unknown variance.

Problem 2 The average speed of vehicles on a highway is being studied. a. Suppose observations on 50 vehicles yielded a sample mean of 65mph and a sample standard deviation of 6 mph. Assume that the standard deviation of vehicle speed is known to be 6mph. Determine the two-sided 99 percent confidence intervals for the mean speed. b. In part (a), how many additional vehicles speed should be observed such that the mean speed can be estimated to within 1mph with 99% confidence? c. Suppose John and Mary are assigned to collect data on the speed of vehicles on this highway. After each person has separately observed 10 vehicles, what is the probability that Johns sample mean will exceed Marys sample mean by 2mph? d. Repeat part (c) if each person has separately observed 100 vehicles instead.

Problem 3 Concrete placed on a structure was subsequently cored after 28 days, and the following results were obtained of the compressive strengths from five test specimens: 4142, 3405, 3402, 4039, 3372psi a. Determine the 90 percent two-sided confidence interval of the mean concrete strength. Interpret this result. b. Suppose the confidence interval established is part (a) is too wide, and the engineer would like to have a confidence interval to be 300psi of the computed sample mean concrete strength. Generally, more specimens of concrete would be needed to obtain a narrower interval with the same confidence level. However, without additional samples, what is the confidence level associated with the specified interval half-width of 300psi based on the five measurements given above? c. If the required minimum compressive strength is 3500psi, perform a one-sided hypothesis test at the 2% significance level.

Problem 4 The height of a radio tower may be determined by measuring the horizontal distance L from the center of the tower base to the instrument, and the vertical angle , as shown in the figure below. The distance L is measured three times with the following readings: 124.30, 124.40, and 124.40ft a. Determine the estimated distance and its standard error. b. The angle is measured five times with the following readings:

Determine the estimated angle, and its standard error. c. Estimate the height of the tower H. Assume that the instrument is 3ft high with a standard deviation of 0.01ft. d. Evaluate the standard error of the estimated height of the tower. e. Determine the 98 percent confidence interval of the actual height of the tower.