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TECHNICAL NOTE
Analysis of self-boring pressuremeter tests in overconsolidated clays
H. S. YU

and I . F. COLLI NS{

KEYWORDS: clays; in-situ testing; plasticity; shear
strength; stress analysis.
INTRODUCTION
The main advantages of the pressuremeter test over
other in situ tests are: (a) the boundary conditions
imposed by the pressuremeter test are relatively
well dened; (b) the pressuremeter test can be used
to measure both deformation and strength para-
meters at the same time; and (c) a further attrac-
tion of the self-boring pressuremeter is that it
potentially offers the closest approach to undis-
turbed soil testing of any in situ test by its ability
to tunnel its way into the ground with minimal soil
disturbance prior to a test being carried out. The
basis of the test is the expansion of a long cylin-
drical membrane installed in the ground, and there-
fore cavity expansion theory can be used to ana-
lyse the pressuremeter test.
Until fairly recently the analysis of cavity ex-
pansion problems in clay has mainly been re-
stricted to the total stress analysis (Hill, 1950;
Gibson & Anderson, 1961; Palmer, 1972; Houlsby
& Withers, 1988). In fact, in almost all the
analyses of the undrained pressuremeter tests the
behaviour of soils has been modelled by an elastic
perfectly plastic model. In the analysis of un-
drained deformations, it is common to work with
total stresses. However, this is no longer appro-
priate in models in which the strength of the soil
is a variable, since the strength is a function of
the effective stresses rather than the total stresses.
In particular, unlike the effective stress approach,
the total stress analysis can not take account of
the inuence of soil stress history on the beha-
viour of the soil. As a result, these interpretation
methods may only be used to analyse the pres-
suremeter test in normally or lightly overconsoli-
dated clays where the soil strength does not vary
signicantly with loading history. For heavily over-
consolidated clays, the methods based on the total
stress analysis are not strictly correct as they
ignored the variation of soil strength with effective
stresses.
Although Carter et al. (1979) and Randolph et
al. (1979) have used nite-element methods to
study the expansion of cavities in critical state
soils, the yield surface of the modied Cam Clay
model used by these authors is known to be un-
suitable for modelling heavily overconsolidated
clays as it tends to overestimate the soil strength
signicantly. Most recently, Collins & Yu (1996)
have presented analytical solutions for undrained
expansion of cavities in both normally and over-
consolidated clays using a variety of critical state
soil models. These analytical solutions for cavities
expanding from a nite initial radius can be used
to analyse the self-boring pressuremeter test in
soil.
The present paper is concerned with the effec-
tive stress analysis of the self-boring pressuremeter
test in overconsolidated clays. The pressuremeter is
simulated as an undrained cylindrical cavity expan-
sion process. The soil will be modelled by the
critical state theory (Schoeld & Wroth, 1968;
Atkinson & Bransby, 1978; Muir Wood, 1990).
UNDRAINED CAVITY EXPANSION SOLUTIONS
Four fundamental equations need to be solved in
analysing cavity expansion problems:
(a) conservation of mass or `continuity'
(b) quasi-static equilibrium
(c) the yield condition
(d) the elastic/plastic ow rule.
In an undrained expansion (a) is automatically
satised since the total volume of each soil ele-
ment remains constant. This results in a simple
relationship between the nite shear strain and the
position coordinates of the element, which is valid
in both the elastic and plastic regions. The equili-
brium equation (b) serves only to determine the
excess pore pressure distribution at the end of the
calculation after the effective stress distributions
Yu, H. S. & Collins, I. F. (1998). Geotechnique 48, No. 5, 689693
689
Manuscript received 24 March 1997; revised manuscript
accepted 16 March 1998.
Discussion on this technical note closes 1 January 1999;
for further details see p. ii.

The University of Newcastle, New South Wales.

{ The University of Auckland.
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have been found by integrating the constitutive
equations (c) and (d).
By solving the above four equations, Collins &
Yu (1996) have derived large-strain analytical solu-
tions for cavity expansion in soils with various
critical state plasticity models. In this paper, the
combined Cam Clay and Hvorslev yield surface
shown in Fig. 1 is used in the analysis of the self-
boring pressuremeter tests in clays. This is because
this combined yield surface can adequately model
the stressstrain behaviour of both normally con-
solidated and heavily overconsolidated clays (see
Collins & Yu (1996) for more discussion and
detailed formulations). The variables q and p9 de-
note the effective shear and mean stresses respec-
tively. The denitions for the critical state soil
properties N, M, k, are well known and can also
be easily found in Schoeld & Wroth (1968),
Atkinson & Bransby (1978) or Muir Wood (1990).
TOTAL STRESS ANALYSIS OF PRESSUREMETER
TESTS IN CLAY
It is well known that if the pressuremeter test is
modelled by cylindrical cavity expansion in a
perfectly plastic soil, the plastic part of the pres-
suremeter curve should be a straight line when the
test results are plotted as the total cavity pressure
against the volumetric strain V=V in the log
scale (see Fig. 2). As shown by Gibson & Ander-
son (1961), the slope of this straight line is equal
to the undrained shear strength of the soil. This
method has been used widely to derive the un-
drained shear strength from the results of pressure-
meter tests in clay. In fact, it was recommended by
Mair & Wood (1987) as the preferred method for
deriving undrained shear strength from self-boring
pressuremeter tests in clays.
As pointed out by Clarke (1993), experience
with the use of Gibson & Anderson's method sug-
gests that in soft clays (normally consolidated
clays) the pressuremeter tends to give higher values
of undrained shear strength when compared with
those from triaxial tests. On the other hand, in stiff
overconsolidated clays (such as London Clay) the
results from the pressuremeter are similar to triaxial
results. Since ignoring the nite pressuremeter
length tends to overestimate the shear strength
signicantly (Yu, 1990, 1993; Yeung & Carter,
1990; Houlsby & Carter, 1993), it is logical that the
pressuremeter would give a higher shear strength,
and this is the case for soft clays. Using the total
stress analysis, we would expect a similar pattern
for stiff clays but the reality is the pressuremeter
shear strength is similar to the triaxial undrained
shear strength in stiff clays. To provide a theoretical
explanation for this difference in comparison be-
tween soft and stiff clays, the analytical solutions
for undrained cavity expansion in a critical state
soil developed by Collins & Yu (1996) will be used
in the next section to analyse the results of pres-
suremeter tests in both soft and stiff clays.
EFFECTIVE STRESS ANALYSIS OF PRESSURE-
METER TESTS IN CLAY
The values of the critical state parameters cho-
sen are those relevant to London Clay: 2
:
759,
0
:
161, k 0
:
062, the critical state friction
angle 9
cs
22
:
758 and the Hvorslev friction angle
0
.
8
0
.
4
0
q
p
e
Me

0 0
.
2 0
.
4 0
.
6 0
.
8 1
.
0
p
p
e
h
1
Critical state line

p
e
exp

N v

Fig. 1. The original Cam ClayHvorslev yield surface

and typical stress path of undrained cavity expansion
8
7
6
5
4
3

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
ln
V
V
1
s
m
s
u
Fig. 2. Pressuremeter loading curve in a perfectly
plastic Tresca soil
690 YU AND COLLINS
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9
hc
19
:
78 (Atkinson & Bransby, 1978; Muir
Wood, 1990). Poisson's ratio is assumed to be
03. If the critical state friction angle of the soil is
assumed to be the same for both the triaxial and
plane strain loading conditions (see Muir Wood
(1990) for experimental evidence and further dis-
cussion), the values of M and h for cylindrical
cavity expansion can be determined using M
2 sin 9
cs
and h 2 sin 9
hc
, respectively.
The rst set of results is obtained for self-boring
pressuremeter tests in London Clay with an over-
consolidation ratio of n
p
5 and three different
values of initial specic volume 1
:
5, 20 and
25. Fig. 3 shows the pressuremeter expansion
curves derived from the cylindrical cavity expan-
sion solutions. It can be seen that although the
initial specic volume has some effect on the loca-
tion of the pressuremeter curves, it has very little
effect on the slope of pressuremeter curves. In
other words, the initial specic volume has no
inuence on the undrained shear strength derived
from a pressuremeter test. For this reason, the rest
of the results presented in this paper will be
limited to the case when the specic volume of the
soil is equal to 20. Results showing pressure-
meter curves for seven different overconsolidation
ratios of n
p
1
:
001, 25, 5, 75, 10, 15 and 20 are
presented in Fig. 4. Note only the plastic part of
the pressuremeter curve is presented in the gure.
The reason for using n
p
1
:
001 to represent a
normally consolidated clay is that when n
p
1 the
shear strain required to reach the yield surface is
zero, which will cause the radius of the elastic-
plastic boundary indeterminate (see Collins & Yu,
1996). The pressuremeter pressure (i.e. cavity pres-
sure) has been normalized by the theoretical tri-
axial undrained shear strength of the soil, which
is related to the soil properties by s
u
0
:
5M
exp( )=). The plastic portion of the pressure-
meter curve for n
p
2
:
5 is shorter than those for
the other values of overconsolidation ratio n
p
. This
is because the case n
p
2
:
5 is very close to the
situation where under undrained loading conditions
the soil behaves purely elastically before reaching
the critical state (i.e. n
p
2
:
718 corresponds to the
critical state for the original Cam Clay model). As
a result, the elastic cavity strain attained before
plastic portion of the pressuremeter curve is larger
than those for the other values of overconsolidation
ratio n
p
used in the calculation.
The interpretation procedure of Gibson & An-
derson (1961) is then used to derive undrained
shear strength s
m
from pressuremeter curves in the
range of cavity strains between 5 and 15%. Appli-
cation of the method of Gibson & Anderson
(1961) to the theoretical pressuremeter curves (Fig.
4) obtained from the present effective stress analy-
sis suggests that for normally consolidated and
lightly overconsolidated clays the derived pressure-
meter undrained shear strength is equal or close to
the theoretical undrained shear strength s
u
used in
the calculation. For heavily overconsolidated clays,
however, the shear strength derived from the pres-
suremeter curves is signicantly less than the ac-
tual value with the difference increasing with the
value of overconsolidation ratio. The variation of
the ratio of pressuremeter to actual undrained shear
strengths with the value of overconsolidation ratio
n
p
is presented in Fig. 5.
As presented in Collins & Yu (1996), the over-
consolidation ratio n
p
is dened in terms of the
mean effective stress. In practice, the overconsoli-
6
5
4
3
2
1

s
u
6 5 4 3 2 1 0
ln
V
V
Fig. 3. Pressuremeter loading curves for overconsoli-
dation ratio of n
p
5 with specic volumes of 15,
20 and 25
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1

s
u
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ln
V
V
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Fig. 4. Plastic portion of pressuremeter loading curves
for overconsolidation ratios of n
p
1001 (curve 1),
25 (curve 2), 5 (curve 3), 75 (curve 4), 10 (curve 5),
15 (curve 6) and 20 (curve 7)
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dation ratio is often referred to the one-dimen-
sional denition, OCR, that is, in terms of the
vertical effective stress. As discussed by Muir
Wood (1990), the overconsolidation ratio n
p
can be
converted to the one-dimensional overconsolidation
ratio OCR. Although the relationship between n
p
and OCR is slightly dependent on the value of the
coefcient of earth pressure at rest for a normally
consolidated sample K
onc
, the average correlation
may be adequately represented by
OCR
n
p

4 n
p

8n
p
n
2
p
q
8
(1)
With equation (1), the result presented in Fig. 5
can be replotted in Fig. 6 in terms of the ratio of
pressuremeter to actual undrained shear strengths
against OCR. It is interesting to note from Figs 5
and 6 that for heavily overconsolidated clays the
use of the total stress analysis of Gibson & Ander-
son (1961) underestimates the actual shear strength
signicantly.
To explain why the shear strength derived from a
pressuremeter test is similar to triaxial results for
stiff clays (i.e. overconsolidated clays), but signi-
cantly higher than triaxial strength for soft clay (i.e.
normally consolidated or lightly overconsolidated
clays), it is useful to recall recent research on the
effect of pressuremeter geometry on undrained
shear strength derived from a pressuremeter test in
clay. Recent theoretical research, carried out by Yu
(1990, 1993) and Houlsby & Carter (1993) using
nite-element methods, suggests that neglecting the
pressuremeter geometry tends to give much higher
values of undrained shear strength. The overestima-
tion increases with increasing value of stiffness
index I
r
(which is dened as the ratio of shear
modulus G to undrained shear strength). For stiff-
ness indices of I
r
100500, the undrained shear
strength is overestimated by about 2040% if the
actual pressuremeter geometry is not accounted for.
As reported by Bond & Jardine (1991), the one-di-
mensional overconsolidation ratio of London Clay
is in the range of OCR 2050. From the result
presented in Fig. 6, it can be concluded that the use
of the total stress analysis of Gibson & Anderson
(1961) would underestimate the undrained shear
strength of London Clay by about 3040%. If both
the effect of pressuremeter geometry (overestimat-
ing undrained shear strength) and the effect of OCR
(underestimating undrained shear strength) are ta-
ken into account, the net effect is the pressuremeter
shear strength from the total stress analysis of
Gibson & Anderson (1961) would give similar
strength values to those from triaxial tests for
heavily overconsolidated clay. For a normally and
lightly overconsolidated clay, however, the effect of
OCR is negligible (see Fig. 6), and therefore the
method of Gibson & Anderson (1961) tends to
overestimate the triaxial shear strength as it ignores
the effect of pressuremeter geometry. As discussed
by Clarke (1993), this is the general trend observed
in recent years with the use of the self-boring
pressuremeter test in both soft and stiff clays.
CONCLUSION
The present paper describes an effective stress
analysis of the self-boring pressuremeter test in
undrained clay. The analysis is based on the as-
sumption that the pressuremeter can be simulated
by cylindrical cavity expansion process. The soil is
modelled by a realistic critical state plasticity mod-
el. Application of the present effective analysis to
1
.
0
0
.
8
0
.
6
0
.
4
0
.
2
0
S
m
S
u
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
n
p
Fig. 5. Ratio of pressuremeter strength to triaxial
undrained shear strength versus n
p
1
.
0
0
.
8
0
.
6
0
.
4
0
.
2
0
s
m
s
u
1 11 21 31 41 51 61 71
OCR
Fig. 6. Ratio of pressuremeter strength to triaxial
undrained shear strength versus OCR
692 YU AND COLLINS
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London Clay suggests that although the total stress
analysis may be adequately used to analyse un-
drained pressuremeter tests in normally consoli-
dated and lightly overconsolidated clays, it is not
suitable for interpreting the results of tests in heav-
ily overconsolidated clays. Because of the signi-
cant effect of pressuremeter geometry, a most
reliable interpretation method would need to take
account of the pressuremeter geometry as well as to
use an effective stress analysis with a realistic
critical state soil model.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Part of the work reported in this paper was
carried out in 1996 when the rst author was a
Visiting Scholar at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, USA. The authors wish to
thank Professor James K. Mitchell for his valuable
comments on the paper.
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SELF-BORING PRESSUREMETER TESTS 693