107
Proceedings of the 18
th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris 2013
1
Ménard Lecture
The pressuremeter test: Expanding its use
Conférence Ménard
L’essai pressiometrique : élargissement de son utilisation
Briaud J.-L.
President of ISSMGE, Professor, Texas A&M University, Zachry Dpt. of Civil Engineering, College Station, Texas, 77843-
3136, USA
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this contribution is to show how the use of the PMT can be expanded further than current practice. The
topics covered in a first part include the amount of soil testing necessary to meet a reliability target, the influence of the lack of tensile
resistance of soils on the PMT modulus, how to recreate the small strain early part of the curve lost by the decompression-
recompression process associated with the preparation of the PMT borehole, best practice for preparing the PMT borehole, commonly
expected values of PMT parameters, the use of the PMT unload-reload modulus, and correlations with other soil parameters. The
second part deals with foundation engineering and includes the use of the entire expansion curve to predict the load settlement
behavior of shallow foundations, the load displacement behavior of deep foundations under horizontal loading, foundation design of
very tall structures, long term creep loading, cyclic loading, and dynamic vehicle impact. Finally an attempt is made to generate
preliminary soil liquefaction curves base on the normalized PMT limit pressure.
RÉSUMÉ : Le but de cette contribution est de montrer comment l’utilisation du PMT peut être étendu au-delà de la pratique courante.
Les sujets abordés dans une première partie comprennent la quantité de reconnaissance de sol nécessaire pour atteindre un objectif de
fiabilité, l’influence de l’absence de résistance des sols à la traction sur le module du PMT, comment recréer la partie de la courbe en
petites déformations perdue pendant la décompression-recompression associée à la préparation du trou de forage, les meilleures
pratiques pour la préparation du trou de forage, les valeurs communes des paramètres PMT, l’utilisation du module décharge-
recharge, et des corrélations avec d’autres paramètres du sol. La deuxième partie traite des travaux de fondation et les sujets suivants
sont abordés: l’utilisation de la courbe d’expansion du PMT pour prédire le comportement des fondations superficielles, et le
comportement des fondations profondes sous charge horizontale, la conception des fondations des structures de grande hauteur, le
comportement de fluage, chargement cyclique, et chargement par impact de véhicules. Enfin, on propose des courbes préliminaires de
liquéfaction du sol sur la base de la pression limite normalisée du PMT.
KEYWORDS: pressuremeter, modulus, limit pressure, shallow foundations, deep foundations, retaining walls, liquefaction.
1 HOW I GOT INTERESTED IN THE PMT?
The year is 1974 and I am a Master student at the University of
New Brunswick, Canada working with Arvid Landva. I had
learnt that the triaxial test was the reference test in the
laboratory. I had also read from Terzaghi that the action was in
the field. So I sat down one late afternoon and tried to invent an
in situ triaxial test. I drew some complex systems with double
tube samplers and the pressure applied between the two tubes
on an internal membrane. It was very complicated and failed the
Einstein test of optimum simplicity. I had also learnt from many
months behind a drill rig that anything complicated had very
little chance of success in the field so I kept searching and
designing and then it dawned on me. What if I inverted the
problem, drew an inside out triaxial test, and applied the
pressure from inside the tube and pushed outward on the soil.
And so I designed my first pressuremeter. I was very excited
about my new invention and could not sleep that night. I waited
anxiously to go to the library the next morning to see what I
could dig on this idea. I went to the library and there it was
Louis Menard 1957, Jean Kerisel as his advisor, the Master in
Illinois with Ralph Peck, the development of the design rules,
Sols Soils, 1963 and on and on. I came out of the library that
morning, very disappointed that my idea had already been
invented. After much reflection that day, I finally decided that I
should be happy because it was obviously a good idea since it
had received that much attention. This is how I got interested in
the pressuremeter. I then went to The University of Ottawa to
work with Don Shields who was connected with Francois
Baguelin and Jean Francois Jezequel writing the pressuremeter
book. Don gave me the manuscript in early Sept 1976 and said
read this and correct any mistake. I did and came back 3 months
later with the corrected manuscript again rather depressed and
telling Don, there is nothing left for me to do, everything has
been done. Don smiled and told me don’t worry, there is much
more to be done on the PMT; I feel that it is still true today and,
in fact, it is the topic of this lecture. So this is my story on the
PMT and I have been a fan of the PMT ever since.
2 SPECIAL THANKS TO LOUIS MENARD
I met Louis Menard (Fig. 1) on 15 December 1977, one month
before he died of cancer. I was a PhD student at the University
of Ottawa in Canada working on my pressuremeter research
with Don Shields. I was coming back home for Christmas that
year and Louis Menard was kind enough to take some time
from his very busy schedule to visit with me at the Techniques
Louis Menard in Longjumeau near Paris. I waited for 30
minutes but finally got to meet the man who had invented the
tool I was so fond of. Around 7 o’clock that day, I entered a
huge deep office much like you see in castles. At the other end
behind a big desk was Louis Menard waving at me to come
closer and take a seat. I introduced myself and we started to talk
about the pressuremeter. Very quickly, I found myself enjoying
the discussion and time flew by. We talked and argued and
talked again and quoted data and theory and reasoning so much
so that at the end we had connected. I was mad because I
promised myself that I would take notes of what Menard was
saying but in the heat of the action I forgot all about it and was
left with no notes and it was already 8 O’clock. This is where I
got really lucky. Louis Menard asked me: “do you have any
plans tonight? I said no and he said: “why don’t you stay for
dinner?” Whaoh! That would be wonderful. We got up and he
took his cane to walk from his office to his house which was a
