CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 01

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 01

INTRODUCTION

1.1 SOIL NAILING

Soil nailing consists of the passive reinforcement of existing ground by installing

closely spaced steel bars, which may be subsequently encased in grout.
As construction proceeds from the top to bottom, shotcrete or concrete is also applied
on the excavation face to provide continuity. In a soil-mailed retaining wall, the
properties and material behaviour of three components-the native soil, the
reinforcement (mils) and the facing element and their mutual interactions significantly
affect the performance of the structure.
Soil nailing is typically used to stabilize existing slopes or excavations where top-to-
bottom construction is advantageous compared to other retaining wall systems. For
certain conditions, soil nailing offers a viable alternative from the viewpoint of
technical feasibility, construction costs, and construction duration when compared to
ground anchor walls, which is another popular top-to bottom retaining system.

Fig.No. 1.1: Soil nailing

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

Fig.No. 1.2: C/S of soil nailing

1.2 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT

 Tunneling Method in the 1960's.One of the first applications of soil nailing

was in 1972 for a railroad widening project near Versailles, France, where an
18 m (59 ft) high.
 The origin of soil mailing can be traced to a support system for underground
excavations in rock referred to as the New Austrian cu-slope in sand was
stabilized.
 In Germany, the first use of a soil nail wall was in 1975 (Stocker et al.
1979).
 The United States first used soil nailing in 1976 for the support of a 13.7 m
deep foundation excavation in dense sands.
 In India use of soil nailing technology is gradually increasing and guidelines
have been made by IRC with the help of Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

1.3 APPLICATIONS OF SOIL NAILS

 Stabilization of railroad and highway cut slopes.

 Excavation retaining structures in urban areas for high-rise building and
underground facilities.
 Tunnel portals in steep and unstable stratified skipes.
 Construction and retrofitting of bridge abutments with complex boundaries
involving wall support under piled foundations Stabilizing steep cuttings to
maximize development space.
 The stabilizing of existing over-steep embankments.
 Soil Nailing through existing concrete or masonry structures such as failing
retaining walls and bridge abutments to provide long term stability without
demolition and rebuild costs.

1.4 TYPES OF SOIL NAILS

The types of nails used in the construction of soil nailed walls are as follows:
 Drilled and grouted soil nails
 Driven soil nails
 Self drilling soil nails
 Jet grouted soil nails
 Launched soil nails

1.4.1 Drilled and grouted soil nail

Steel bars, with diameters ranging from 15 to 46 mm, stronger than driven nails
(about 60 ksi).Grouted nails are inserted into boreholes of 10-15 cm and then cement-
grouted.Ribbed bars are also used to increase soil adhesion.Corrosion-protected nails
For aggressive soils as well as for permanent structures.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

1.4.2 Driven soil nails

Generally small-diameter nails (15-46 mm) with a relatively limited length (to about
20 m) made of mild steel (about 50 ks) that are closely spaced in the wall (two to four
nails per square meter).Nails with an axial channel can be used to permit the addition
of grout sealing.Driven nails are the quickest (four to six per hour) and most
economical to install (with a pneumatic or hydraulic hammer)

1.4.3 Self drilling Soil Nail

In this method, the hollow bars are used. Hollow bars are da drifted into the slope
surface and grout is injected simultaneously during the drilling process. This method
of soil nailing is faster than grouted nailing. This method provides more corrosion
resistance to nails than driven nails.

1.4.4 Jet Grouted Soil Nail

In this method, jets are used for eroding the soil for creating holes in the slope
surface. Steel bars are then installed in this hole and grouted with concrete. It provides
good corrosion protection for the steel bars (nails).

1.4.5 Launched Soil Nail

In this method of soil nailing, the steel bars are forced into the soil with very high
speed using compressed air mechanism. The installation of soil nails are fast, but
control over length of bar penetrating the ground is difficult

1.5 MACHINERY USED IN SOIL NAILING

The following tools or machineries are used for soil nailing:

 Drilling Equipments
 Grout Mixing Equipments
 Shotcreting / Guniting Equipments
 Compressor

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

1.5.1 Drilling Equipments

It's a rotary air-flushed and water-flushed system. It consists of a down the hole
hammer with a tri-cone bit. It is important to procure drilling equipment with
sufficient power and rigid drill rods.

1.5.2 Grout Mixing Equipments

In order to produce uniform grout mix, high speed shear colloidal mixer should be
considered. Powerful grout pump is essential for uninterrupted delivery of grout mix.
If fine aggregate is used as filler for economy, special grout pump shall be used.

1.5.3 Shotcreting / Guniting Equipments

Dry mix method will require a valve at the nozzle outlet to control the amount of
water injecting into the high pressurized flow of sand/cement mix (Fig 6.3).For
controlling the thickness of the shoterete, measuring pin shall be installed at fixed
vertical and horizontal intervals to guide the nozzle man.

1.5.4 Compressor:
The compressor shall have minimum capacity to delivered shotcrete at the minimum
rate of 9m³/min. Sometimes, the noise of compressor can be an issue if the work is at
close proximity to residential area, hospital and school.

1.6 MATREIALS USED IN SOIL NAILING

 Steel Reinforcement
 Grout mix
 Shotcrete/Gunite

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

1.6.1 Steel Reinforcements

Steel reinforcements are used in the construction of soil nailed walls. For corrosion
protection; all steel component shall be galvanized. If machine threading after
galvanization is unavoidable, then proper zinc based coating shall be applied onto the
thread. For double corrosion protection, the PVC corrugated pipe used shall be of
good quality and adequate thickness.

1.6.2 Grout Mix

For conventional soil nail, the water cement ratio of the grout mix ranges from 0.4 to
0.5.As most cementitious grout will experience some grout shrinkage, non-shrink
additive can be used to reduce breeding and grout shrinkage. The resistance at grout-
soil interface of nail will significantly reduced when the grout shrink.

1.6.3 Shotcrete/Gunite

Shotcrete or gunite can be continuous flow of mortal or concrete mixes projected at

high speed perpendicularly onto the exposed ground surface by means of pneumatic
air blowing for dry mix or spraying for wet mix.

1.7 Advantages of Soil nailing

 Soil nailing helps limit the slopes boundaries.Hence more space is available.
 It needs minimum slope preparation for nailing operation.
 No restriction on wall height.
 The cost is generally lesser than constructing a Retaining wall instead.
 It may prevent slope erosion with applied with mesh and shotcrete.
 This technique is flexible,relatively quick and easy to insall.
 Time saving,cost saving and requires less labour.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

1.8 Limitations of Soil nailing

 High water table is not a desirable condition for soil nailing.

 Soil nailing is not a good choice for non-cohesive soils, fine- grained soils,
highly corrosive soils, and loose granular soils.
 The soil nail density increases with a decrease in the soil's shear strength.
 The use of nails is restricted for permanent long-term applications in
sensitive and expansive soil.
 Metal nails will corrode.
 Soils with high plasticity have a higher liquid limit and hence lesser
undrained shear strength, which can lead to long-term deformations.
 The soil might be overexposed prior to the installation of the nail.
 Sand and gravel might not be compatible with soil techniques.
 Specialists may be required to design and install the nails.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 02

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 02

LITERATURE REVIEW

G.L. Sivakumar Babu, Vikas Pratap Singh (2009);

His study was conducted regarding soil nail walls designed on basis of conventional
procedure given by FHWA (2003). Various design parameters were compared which
were obtained from conventional design and numerical simulation. Appraisal of all
this was done based on close monitoring of in-situ numerical simulation and full scale
laboratory study. It's derived that conventional design method provided
the safe design.

Veerabhadra M. Rotte, Bhamidipati V.S Viswanadham (2014);

Studies on centrifuge model regarding the necessity of slope facing and its effect on
performance of soll nailed slopes subjected to seepage were indicated in this paper.
Soil nail slope without facing and those with flexible, stiff facing had a maximum
crest settlement at 1.63m and 0.145m respectively. Local failure at edges was shown
by slope reinforced with flexible facing whereas stability for seepage time more than
21 days was observed for slope reinforced with rigid facing.

Sanvilate N. Simonini P, Bisson A,Cola S. (2013)

Soil nails of different types of facings, stiffness variations and continuity were made
to undergo some test which resulted into a conclusion that if facing lacks continuity
during excavation, its flexural stiffness gets hindered. Horizontal displacement of
front can be controlled if facing is characterized by low axial deformability, though is
flexurally deformable.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

Jian-Hua Yin, Cheng Yu Hong, Wan Huan Zhou (2012)

The motive of this research is calculation of maximum shear stress at soil nail
interface, a parametrical study was conducted which took whole radius, overburden
pressure, dilation angle and grouting pressure into consideration for analysis of their
effects. It was observed that in the absence of grouting pressure, maximum shear
stress increased with increasing overburden pressure, dilation angle or decreased drill
hole radius Also, larger grouting pressure values resulted in greater influence of
overburden pressure and consequently, larger was the maximum shear stress at
soil nail interface.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 03

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 03

METHODOLOGY

3.1 CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE

 Excavation
 Drilling of nail holes
 Installation and grouting of nails
 Construction of temporary shotcrete facing
 Construction of subsequent level
 Construction of final permanent facing

3.2 CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURE FOR SOIL NAILING

Most soil nail wall construction follows a specific procedure. First, a cut is excavated
and temporary bracing is put in place if necessary. This is done with conventional
earth moving equipment and hydraulic drills.Next, holes for the soil nails are drilled
at predetermined locations as specified by the design engineer. The equipment used
for this step is dependent on the stability of the material in which the soil nail wall is
supporting. Rotary or rotary percussive methods using air flush or dry auger methods
can be used with stable ground.For unstable ground, single tube and duplex rotary
methods with air and water flush or hollow stem auger methods are used.With the
holes drilled, the next step is to install and grout the nails into place. After all nails are
inserted, a drainage system is put into place. Synthetic drainage mat is placed
vertically between the nail heads, which are extended down to the base of the wall
where they are most commonly connected to a footing drain.A layer of shotcrete is
applied and bearing plates are installed before a final facing is put in place to
complete the soil nail wall.Variations of the steps described above may be necessary
to accommodate additional preparation tasks or supplementary activities for specific
project conditions.

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

In terms of construction, soil nail walls have a decisive advantage over other
alternatives. Soil nail walls require a smaller right-of-way than ground anchor walls
and have less environmental impact.Installation of soil nail walls is relatively rapid
and typically uses less materials and smaller construction equipment than
ground anchor walls.

Fig.No. 3.1: Excavation and drilling of hole

Fig.No. 3.2: Installation of nail,grout and temporary facing

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

Fig.No. 3.3: Construction of levels and permanent walls

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 04

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 CASE STUDY ON SOIL NAILING

CHAPTER 04

CONCLUSION

 Provision of facing results in the significant improvement of the stability and

performance of soil nail walls.
 Intermittent facing with a small offset in each construction stage is found to
be more effective in reducing the lateral deformation of soil mail walls than
regular continuous vertical facing.
 Soil nailing is an accepted technology, the theoretical aspects of which are
well understood and well reported in technical literature.
 However, research indicates that there are few practical guidelines available
that offer a comprehensive, experience-based insight into the construction
considerations that should be addressed before a soil nail system design is
finalized and implemented.
 With the help of soil nailing we can eliminate the soil or slope failures and
we can improve the strength and stabilization of instability slopes.

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REFERENCES

1. H.L. Sivakumar Babu, Vikas Pratap Singh, 2009: Appraisal of Soil Nailing Design.
Indian Geotechnical Journal, 39(1), 81-95
[2]Veerabhadra M. Rotte, Bhamidipati V.S Viswanadham,2014: Centrifuge and
Numerical Model Studies on the Behaviour of Soil-Nailed Slopes with and without
Slope Facing. Tunneling and Underground Construction GSP 242 ©
ASCE 2014, (581-591)
[3]Sanvilate N. Simonini P, Bisson A,Cola S, 2013: Role of the facing on the
behaviour of soil-nailed slopes under surcharge loading. Proceedings of the 18th
International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Paris
2013, (2001-2094)
[4]Jian-Hua Yin, Cheng Yu Hong, Wan Huan Zhou, 2012:
Simplified Analytical Method for Calculating the maximum Shear Stress of Nail-Soil
Interface.International Journal of Geomechanics ASCE, 12(3): 309- 317

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