Dr. Jean Benoit

• Professor of Civil Engineering

Professor Benoît has been involved in drilling, sampling and field testing starting more than 25 years ago on hydroelectric projects in Canada. His research and consulting work has been conducted throughout the US as well as overseas including France, Italy, Egypt, Iran and Algeria.

Some significant projects include the Central Artery in Boston, MA, the Olmsted Locks and Dam in Illinois, the Loire River in France and the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.

Other activities include management of the National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites (NGES) program since 1988, geo-environmental research of highway pavement structures and bedrock bioremediation. Professor Benoît has published over 50 technical papers related to geotechnical engineering.
 

Selected Research Projects

Project:
Use of drilling parameters to detect anomalies in contaminated bedrock fractures.

Project:
Stratigraphic profiling and properties of soils and rocks using drilling parameters.

Project:
Testing and Interpretation of field measurements using an instrumented dilatometer.

Project:
Modeling of infiltration into pavement structures using unsaturated water movement models.
 

Selected Publications

National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites NGES, Benoît, J. and Lutenegger, A.J., Editors, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 93, April 2000, 408 p.

Satyanarayana, R., Benoît, J. and Stetson, K., “The National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites Database”, National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites NGES, Benoît, J. and Lutenegger, A.J., Editors, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 93, April 2000, pp. 347-371.

Benoît, J., “The United States National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites Program: The First Decade”, National Geotechnical Experimentation Sites NGES, Benoît, J. and Lutenegger, A.J., Editors, ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 93, April 2000, pp. 1-25.

Sève, G., Russo, C., Magnan, J.P., Pouget, P. and Benoît, J., “In Situ Measurement of Lateral Pressure in a Landslide and Its Use in Numerical Modelling”, Seventh International Symposium on Numerical Models in Geomechanics, NUMOG VII, Austria, September 1999.

Benoît, J., Eighmy, T.T. and Crannell, B.S., “Landfilling Ash/Sludge Mixtures”, ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geo-Environmental Engineering, Vol. 125, No. 10, October 1999, pp. 877-888.

Bellotti, R., Benoît, J., Fretti, C. and Jamiolkowski, M., "Stiffness of Toyoura Sand from Dilatometer Tests", ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 123, No. 9, September 1997, pp. 836-846.

Murray, R.F. and Benoît, J., "Evaluation of the Wissa Piezocone in a Marine Clay Deposit", Proceedings of the International Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing, CPT95, Linköping, Sweden, October 4-5, 1995, Vol. 2, pp. 239-244.

Benoît, J., "Advances in Pressuremeter Technology with Specific Reference to Clays", State-of-the-Art on the Application of Pressuremeter Testing to Clay, Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Pressuremeters (ISP4), G. Ballivy, Editor, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada, May 17-19, 1995, A.A. Balkema, Publisher, pp. 125-139.

Selected Grants

Bedrock Bioremediation Center

Principal Investigators: Nancy E. Kinner with T.P. Ballestero, J. Benoît, F.S. Birch, L. Brannaka, W.A. Bothner, L.S. Tisa, J.M. Davis and S.H.Jones.

Funded by: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1999 to 2002

Laboratory Qualification and Field Behavior Studies of Piezometers for Measuring Earthquake-Induced Pore Pressures

Principal Investigators: Pedro A. de Alba and Jean Benoît

Funded by: National Science Foundation, 1998 to 2001

Classes Taught

Soil Mechanics

Foundation Design I and II

Introduction to Geo-Environmental Engineering

In Situ Geotechnical Testing

Geological Engineering

Advanced Soil Mechanics

 
Current Graduate Students

Kevin W. Milender, doctoral candidate, working on the use of drilling parameters in Civil Engineering.