COMPUTATIONAL PROGRAM FOR EVALUATING PRESSUREMETER TEST RESULTS OF CLAY SOIL

Abstract

Pressuremeters are often used in applications to test soils onsite; major developments for these devices are related to methods of manufacturing and analytical solutions to enable operation with different types of soils. In this study, pressuremeter tests were conducted in situ to obtain information on the horizontal at-rest pressure, elastic modulus, undrained shear strength, limit pressure, and horizontal coefficient of consolidation. Owing to the increasing importance of pressuremeter test results and their applicability in determining the engineering properties of soils, different methods and theories have been used to analyze and interpret pressuremeter parameters; many of the assumptions for these parameters reflect the uncertainties of soil properties: some assumptions are that the soil is elastic perfectly plastic and that the tests ensure plain strain conditions; furthermore, horizontal at-rest and limit pressures are critical to the design of foundations. A computational program was thus developed to explore the results of conventional and theoretical limit pressures using different analysis methods. This program was intended to simplify the methods used to determine the conventional and theoretical limit pressures without obtaining the curves necessary for determining the various parameters used in the conventional analysis; moreover, the program could unify the metrics used in the different analysis methods. Using the proposed program, the results of the conventional and theoretical limit pressures were shown to have distinct differences when using different analysis methods.