NPCIL INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE:
1)Shared by divyanshu Mishra
Gd evening sir, i am done with my npcil interview today itself, and as i am waiting at the station
for my train, i thought i might utilize this time by sharing my experience, which can be useful for
my fellow mates since still there are 2 to 3 days of interview left....
I entered at nearly 11:40 and it continued upto 12:30. There were 5 members (1 ladies)
They started with "How are you feeling?" and then some general questions about me. Then they
asked me about the drop and i replied that i was preparing and looking for jobs and about the
offer that i got from my college and stuff. Then they asked about their entrance test, the pattern
and quality of questions, i said overall it was tricky, but a few questions were quite difficult to
solve without calc.
Then the member sitting in the centre said, " Okay then lets talk some technical stuff, lets begin
with power plant"
I said, as u wish sir and he asked me how many types of power plants are there. I started with
classification on the basis of source of energy, he interrupted in between and said just come to
the point so i mentioned different types (hydel, thermal, nuclear, wind etc)
The next natural question was about the total installed capacity of India, i wasnt very sure but i
knew about nuclear so i told them that for nuclear its 5780mw and its only 3% of total so if u wish
i can calculate the total too, he nodded and i calculated, (it was some 3 lakh mw)
Then he took out one sheet from a pile lying next to him and gave it to me...it was a pipe with
constant heat flux and entry and exit temperature of 30 & 300 °C respectively (no change in
pressure was mentioned). They asked me to draw temp profile along the length, i told them it will
be a linearly increasing one, they asked me to justify, i derived the eqn. Then one of the panelists
asked me what will be the state of water at the exit, and i realised the blunder i have committed. I
apologised and rectified myself by drawing a horizantal line for the section of phase change. It
wasnt over yet, now he asked me can you compare the lengths of the sections of sensible and
latent heating. I did the same and they were satisfied apparently (it was ratio of latent to specific
heat of water something) and by the time next sheet was slipped to me.
It was a beam with springs at both the ends and a load at .75L from right end, they wanted me to
find the reactions, i did them from equilibrium conditions, he complied but said it can be directly
told from seeing. I said yes sir but perhaps my brain isnt working so sharply at the moment.
Anyways that wasnt the end, he replaced one of the spring with fixed support and asked me to
repeat the analysis. I realised that it has become a statically indeterminate case and all he was
interested in how to find the third unknown ( the moment rxn)
I explained it with proper compatibility eqn (it was a detailed one, he insisted on writing each and
every step in detail). Anyways once he was satisfied i thought its over and then he comes with so
okay.....now design this beam tongue emoticon . I started from the two basic theories of rigidity
and strength in that order and told whatever i knew regarding the same. (There were questions
regarding critical section, economic sections, why depth is kept larger, how to get either
dimensions etc,most of which i was comfortable answering).
There was yet another sheet in waiting apparently and it was given to me, it was a simple
diagram of siphon principle, he gave me a reservoir and hill and asked me how to get the water
on the other side. I was not very sure with the working principle of siphon so i told them explicitly
that i know sir that it can be arranged using a siphon but i dont know the exact functioning. One
of the panelists hepled me to begin and the discussion ended into a lot of things including
centrifugal pumps, NPSH, maximum limit of suction for siphon (a few of which i knew, few didnt)
Then there was this last question what is steel. I replied that its an alloy of carbon in steel (%C
<2). He asked and what is stainless steel. I told its an alloyed form of steel with chromium in
more than 11% conc. He asked how it becomes stainless, i answered about the chromia layer it
forms on the surface. He said so????
I then mentioned that it prevents the direct contact of iron with moisture and thus prevents the
rusting. Meanwhile one of the panelists asked me wittingly, so if i scratch the surface will it
become prone to corrosion again. I was a bit puzzled for a moment, but then luckily came up with
the answer. I replied no sir since the chromium is alloyed homogeneously so the chromium in the
newly exposed layer will again form the protective layer and it will remain stainless. He complied
and the interview was over.
I wasnt asked about my favourite subjects, but the panelists where very cordial and supporting,
and they were offering hints everytime i got stuck (at times even retrograded ones). Language
wasnt a problem as a part of my interview was also in hindi.
I dont know regarding my performance or result but it was an experience worth sharing for sure.