Soil

Nailing
 INTRODUCTION
• Soil nailing is a technique used to reinforce and strengthen existing ground.

• Soil nailing consists of installing closely spaced bars into a slope or excavation
as construction proceeds from top down.

• It is an effective and economical method of constructing retaining wall for

excavation support, support of hill cuts, bridge abutments and high ways.

• This process is effective in cohesive soil, broken rock, shale or fixed face
conditions.
 Origins
• Soil nailing evolved from the New Austrian Tunneling method which is a
system for underground excavations in rock.
• This concept of combining passive steel reinforcement and shotcrete has
also been applied to the stabilization of rock slopes since the early 1960s.
• The first application of soil nailing was implemented in 1972 for a railroad
widening project near Versailles, France.
• The technique included installing high-density, grouted soil nails into a
60-ft.-high wall and facing it with reinforced concrete.
• The United States first used soil nailing in 1976 for the support of a 13.7
m deep foundation excavation in dense silty sands.
 Applications
• 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 slopes

• 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.

• Temporary support can be provided to excavations without the need for bulky and intrusive scaffold type
temporary works solutions.
 Nails
• Driven Nails

• Grouted Nails

• Corrosion Protected Nails

• Jet grouted Nails

• Launched Nails
 Driven Nails
• Generally small-diameter nails (15-46 mm) with a relatively limited
length (to about 20 m) made of mild steel (about 50 ksi) 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).
 Grouted Nails
• 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.

 Jet-grouted Nails
• A composite of grouted soil and a central steel rod, up to 40 cm thick.

• Nails are installed using a high-frequency vibro percussion hammer,

and cement grouting is injected during installation.

• This method has been shown to increase the pullout resistance of the
composite, and the nails are corrosion-resistant.
 Launched Nails
• Nails between 25 and 38 mm in diameter and up to 6 m or longer are
fired directly into the soil with a compressed-air launcher.

• Used primarily for slope stabilization.

• This technique involves the least site disturbance.

Typical soil nail wall arrangement
 Design
• After a preliminary analysis of the site, initial designs of the soil nail
wall can be begin.
• This begins with a selection of limit states and design approaches.
• The two most common limit states used in soil nail wall design is
strength limit and service limit states.
 Limit States
• The strength limit state is the limit state that addresses potential
failure mechanisms or collapse states of the soil nail wall system.

• The service limit state is the limit state that addresses loss of service
function resulting from excessive wall deformation and is defined by
restrictions in stress, deformation and facing crack width under
regular service conditions.
 Design Approaches
• The two most common design approaches for soil nail walls are
limit state design and service load design.
• Initial design considerations include wall layout (wall height and length),
soil nail vertical and horizontal spacing, soil nail pattern on wall face, soil
nail inclination, soil nail length and distribution, soil nail material and
relevant ground properties.
• The next step is to use simplified charts to preliminarily evaluate nail
length and maximum nail force.
• Nail length, diameter and spacing typically control external and internal
stability of the wall.
Cont..
• These parameters can be adjusted during design until all external and
internal stability requirements are met.

• After the initial design is completed, final design progresses where the
soil nail wall has to be tested for external and internal failure modes,
seismic considerations and aesthetic qualities.

• Drainage, frost penetration and external loads such as wind and

hydrostatic forces also have to be determined and included in the final
examination of the design.
 Machineries Used For Soil Nailing
• Drilling Equipments

• Grout Mixing Equipments

• Shotcreting / Guniting Equipments

• Compressor
 Drilling Equipment
• Rotary air-flushed and water-flushed

• Down-the-hole hammer

• Tri-cone bit

• It is important to procure drilling equipment with sufficient power and

rigid drill rods.
 Grout Mixing Equipment
• 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.
 Shotcreting/Guniting Equipment
• 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.

• For controlling the thickness of the shotcrete, measuring pin shall be

installed at fixed vertical and horizontal intervals to guide the nozzle
man.
 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.
 Materials Used For Soil Nailing
• Steel Reinforcements

• Grout Mix

• Shotcrete/Gunite
 Steel Reinforcements
• 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.

• Preferably galvanized corrugated steel pipe shall be used.

 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.
 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.
Typical soil nail head plate and shotcrete details
 Initial Excavation
• This initial excavation will be carried out by trimming the original ground profile
to the working platform level where the first row of soil nails can be practically
installed.

• The pre-requisite of this temporary excavation shall be in such a way that the
trimmed surface must be able to self support till completion of nail installation.

• Sometimes, sectional excavation can be carried out for soil with short self
support time.

• If shotcrete/gunite is designed as facing element, the condition of the trimmed

surface shall be of the satisfactory quality to receive the shotcrete.
 Drilling of Holes
• Drilling can be done by either air- flushed percussion drilling, auguring or rotary wash
boring drilling depending on ground condition.

• The size of drilled hole shall be as per the designed dimension. Typically, the hole size
can range from 100mm to 150mm.

• In order to contain the grout, the typical inclination of the drill hole is normally tilted
at 15º downward from horizontal.

• Flushing with air or water before nail insertion is necessary in order to remove any
possible collapsed materials, which can potentially reduce the grout- ground interface
resistance.
 Insertion of Nail Reinforcement And
Grouting
• The nail shall be prepared with adequate centralizers at appropriate spacing and for
proper grout cover for first defense of corrosion protection.

• In additional to this, galvanization and pre- grouted nail encapsulated with corrugated
pipe can be considered for durability.

• A grouting pipe is normally attached with the nail reinforcement during inserting the
nail into the drilled hole.

• The grouting is from bottom up until fresh grout return is observed from the hole.

• The normal range of water/cement ratio of the typical grout mix is from 0.45 to 0.5.
 Advantages
• With the right soil and site conditions, a rapid and economical means of
constructing earth retention support systems and retaining walls.
• Creates less noise and traffic obstructions.
• Less impact on nearby properties
• Allow in-situ strengthening on existing slope surface with minimum excavation
and backfilling, particularly very suitable for uphill widening, thus environmental
friendly.
• Allow excellent working space in front of the excavation face,
• Can be used for strengthening of either natural slope, natural or man- made cut
slopes,
• Grouting only once is required, saving time and labor.
• The technique is flexible, easily modified.
 Disadvantages

• Nail encroachment to retained ground rendering unusable underground space,

• Generally larger lateral soil strain during removal of lateral support and ground surface
cracking may appear,

• Tendency of high ground loss due to drilling technique, particularly at course grained soil,

• Less suitable for course grained soil and soft clayey soil, which have short self support
time, and soils prone to creeping,

• Suitable only for excavation above groundwater

 Conclusion
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.
 References
• http://www.deepexcavation.com/en/soil-nail-wall
• http://www.moretrench.com/b_literature_article.php
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_nailing