Coupling hardening soil model and Ménard pressuremeter tests to predict pile behavior

Abstract

This paper presents a simple method to apply the Ménard Pressuremeter Test (PMT) results for the calibration of the soil stiffness due to primary deviatoric loading used in the Hardening Soil (HS) Model. A hyperbolic extension is used to rebuild the PMT pressure-expansion curve at small-strain values. The method was applied to simulate a series of PMT tests using axisymmetric finite element analysis (FEA) and was compared with the conventional HS model calibration using consolidated drained triaxial tests with reasonable accordance. Finally, the method was used in axisymmetric FEA of two static load tests in instrumented piles, performed in different sites. The results indicate good agreement between predicted and measured values of pile load-settlement behavior, average shear stresses at pile shaft and pile base pressure considering usual pile working loads. For highly mobilized piles, the numerical simulations indicated that an increase in soil cohesion was able to match the predictions of pile failure, in order to consider in a simplified way the effects of soil suction and pile execution procedure, which were not simulated herein.

Keywords:

• Pressuremeter test
• hardening soil model
• full-scale tests
• instrumented piles
• finite element analysis

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the University of Brasilia and the Federal University of Goiás, in particular the Geotechnical Postgraduate Programs for the support and infrastructure that allowed the elaboration of this research. A special attention should be given to the engineer M.Sc. Luiz Carlos Galvani Junior for his assistance with the PMT and pile load tests execution. Also to the Brazilian sponsorship organizations CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico) and CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) for the financial aid to our scholarships.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.