This classic title deals presents all one needs to know about pressuremeter test, a soil and rock test used in civil engineering. It consists of placing a cylindrical probe in the ground and expanding the probe to pressurize the soil or the rock horizontally. The pressure on the soil and the relative increase in cavity radius are obtained and give an in situ stress strain curve. The pressuremeter test is repeated at various depths in order to obtain profiles of soil parameters.

The design applications of the preboring pressuremeter test include: shallow foundations under vertical loads, deep foundations under vertical and horizontal loads, ground anchors, cantilever drilled shaft walls and anchored bulkheads, pavements, stone columns, ground improvement and compaction control. The preboring pressuremeter is of little use in slope stability analysis and in conventional active and passive earth pressure problems, although there is potential for future developments in the earth pressure problem area.