ABSTRACT
There is a range of pressuremeters such that a form of pressuremeter can be chosen for any ground condition. There are a number of national and international standards that specify the probe and its calibrations, installation and test procedures and methods of interpretation. Tests can be used to obtain design parameters directly, determine ground properties, as a control for ground improvement schemes and to validate constitutive models. An aim is to install a pressuremeter with minimum or repeatable disturbance. Hence, skilled operators should be employed. A site investigation should be designed at the outset to drill boreholes and test pockets to undertake quality pressuremeter tests. Tests can be interpreted using empirical, semi-theoretical, theoretical and numerical methods. There are many published case studies of ground properties produced from pressuremeter tests in establishing site-specific correlations with results from other test types, in predicting ground response to loading or unloading, and in design of geotechnical structures.
