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4. Une méthode pratique de dimensionnement des pieux énergétiques basée sur les résultats des essais pressiométriques

This paper proposes a method for designing energy piles based on the results of in situ pressuremeter tests. The method involves integrating thermal effects into a numerical model of cylindrical cavity expansion. In a first part, a finite difference analysis was performed, considering large strains and thermal effects. The model assumed that the soil is a homogeneous elastic perfectly plastic material with a Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion. The numerical model produced pressuremeter profiles that represent the limit pressure at different temperature variations. The bearing capacity of the pile was subsequently determined using the conventional procedure outlined in Eurocode 7 for designing a pile, based on pressuremeter tests. Thus, from pressuremeter curves resulting from a conventional pressuremeter test, the proposed method is enabled to provide the mobilized base resistance, shaft friction and the bearing capacity of an energy pile. In a second part, a case study of an energy pile located in a silty clay was conducted to explain the different steps of the proposed method and to examine the impact of thermal effects on the mobilized bearing capacity of the pile. The study revealed that the bearing capacity exhibits an increase when heating which reaches 3% at =40 °C and a decrease of 4% at =-40 °C when cooling. In the absence of a standard for the design of energy piles, the proposed approach could offer engineers a practical method for designing energy piles.

8th International Symposium on Pressuremeters (ISP2025)

Applications in Foundation Engineering