CELE Hydraulics and Geotechnical Engineering Review
CELE Hydraulics and Geotechnical Engineering Review
Hydraulics and Principles of Geotechnical Engineering is the CELE's Day 2 afternoon subject, 2:00–6:00 p.m., worth 30% of your weighted average. It comes right after the five-hour math and surveying block, so stamina matters. You need at least 50% in it, and 70% weighted across all three subjects.
PRC doesn't publish topic-level item counts. Here's what to cover.
Hydraulics
- Fluid statics: pressure, forces on submerged surfaces, buoyancy
- Fluid kinematics: velocity fields, continuity
- Fluid dynamics: Bernoulli's equation, energy and momentum
- Pipe flow: Darcy-Weisbach, Hazen-Williams, minor losses, pipes in series and parallel
- Open channels: Manning's equation, hydraulic jump, weirs
- Hydrology: rainfall, runoff, basic statistics
Geotechnical
- Soil properties: phase relations, classification (USCS, AASHTO)
- Permeability and seepage
- Stress distribution (Boussinesq, Newmark chart)
- Consolidation: Terzaghi's one-dimensional theory
- Shear strength: Mohr-Coulomb
- Slope stability: factor of safety
- Lateral earth pressure: at-rest, active, passive (Rankine, Coulomb)
- Foundations: bearing capacity and settlement
- Piles: capacity and group efficiency
A 6-week drill plan
| Week | Focus | Volume target |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fluid statics, kinematics and dynamics | 60 problems |
| 2 | Pipe flow and open channels | 60 problems |
| 3 | Hydrology and soil properties | 40 problems |
| 4 | Soil mechanics and slope stability | 60 problems |
| 5 | Foundation engineering | 60 problems |
| 6 | Four-hour timed practice test and remediation | 1 practice test + 50 problems |
Try week 6's practice test in the afternoon, after a morning of math problems, to match exam-day fatigue.
Where Super Tutor fits
Super Tutor's CELE reviewer covers hydraulics and fluid mechanics and geotechnical engineering, with practice quizzes, an AI tutor that explains any problem step by step, and full mock exams from a bank of 3,600+ CELE-style questions. Start free — 5-day trial, no card.
What to read next
The CELE guide covers the full format and a 5-month plan.
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