What is considered when placing spoils after excavation to prevent lateral loading?

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Prepare for the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Civil Exam with multiple choice questions, hints, and detailed explanations. Maximize your study efficiency and ace your exam!

The correct answer involves the distance from the excavation site when placing spoils to prevent lateral loading. In excavation projects, proper management of the spoils is crucial to maintain the stability of the excavation and surrounding structures. By placing the excavated material at an adequate distance from the edge of the excavation, the risk of lateral earth pressure or loading on the excavation walls is minimized. This is important because if the spoils are too close, their weight can exert additional lateral forces on the walls, potentially leading to instability or collapse.

When considering other factors such as the weight of the spoils, type of soil, and moisture content, while they can impact the overall conditions of the excavation site, they are not as directly influential in preventing lateral loading as the distance from the excavation. The placement distance provides a straightforward solution to manage and reduce the dynamic and static loads that might affect the excavation, thereby ensuring safety during the construction process.

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