CHAPTER 7

FIELD INSPECTION AND MONITERING

7.1 Introduction

Field inspection and monitoring is an important part in construction of soil nailing system.
This includes minute inspection for quality control of the construction materials and checking
of their required specifications, continuous monitoring of construction work. After
construction, the performance (deformation, load carrying capacity, etc.) of nailed slope is
also monitored for improvement of future construction and design of such structures. This
chapter presents a detailed discussion on the field inspection of various construction materials
and stages in soil nailing and monitoring process of nailed structure.  

7.2 Field quality control of construction materials

Field quality control of construction materials is necessary to maintain the material

specifications as per the design. The quality of material is controlled by following methods:
¾ Visual examination of materials for defects in workmanship, contamination or
damage from handling.
¾ Checking for the certification of the supplier or manufacturer whether the materials
comply with the specification requirements.
¾ Laboratory testing of representative samples from the supplied sample
The details of quality control of construction material are given here along with a check list in
Table 7.1.

• Checking for specification- Steel components (soil nail tendons, bearing plates, nuts,
washers, and facing reinforcement steel), centralizers, and drainage materials are
generally accepted based on satisfactory Mill Test Certificates. Sometimes they are
checked by testing for compliance with the specifications. Nail tendon centralizers are
also checked to confirm whether they are fabricated with the specified material and of
correct diameter. Visual checking is carried out for all soil nail tendons and

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 reinforcing steel for damage and defects upon delivery and prior to use. A special
attention is given in checking of epoxy coated or encapsulated tendons (corrosion
protected tendons) for voids in the grout fill placed in the annular portion between the
tendon and corrugated tube. This check is accomplished by lightly tapping the
encapsulation with a steel rod and listening for hollow sounds that indicate the
presence of void. The exterior of epoxy coatings or corrugated encapsulation is
visually examined for damage, both upon delivery and prior to insertion into the soil
nail drill hole. Mix design for grouting and shotcreting is checked for design strength
and specification.

• Storage and handling- Cement to be used in grouting are stored in a dry place for
avoiding lump formation. Steel reinforcements are handled carefully and kept away
from the ground to protect those from corrosion or rusting. Geocomposite drainage
materials are protected from dirt and sunlight.

Table 7.1. Check-list for quality control of construction material in soil nailing
Sl No. Specification to be verified
1 Steel components (soil nail tendons, bearing plates, nuts, washers, and facing
reinforcement steel), centralizers, and drainage materials should be accepted based
on satisfactory Mill Test Certificates and obtain samples for testing (when specified)
for compliance with the specifications.
2 Visual check for all soil nails tendons and reinforcing steel for damage and defects
upon delivery and prior to use.
3 Visual check of epoxy coated or encapsulated tendons for compliance with the
specifications and for any damage to the corrosion protection.
4 Mix design of soil nail grout and facing shotcrete should be according to the
specification. When specified, grout (cubes) and/or shotcrete samples (test panels
and cores) are collected for testing.
5 Verification for specification of geocomposite drainage materials with the contract
one.
6 Proper field storage of construction materials (cement, reinforcement steel and
drainage material) to prevent damage or degradation.

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7.3 Construction monitoring
During the construction of soil nailing, it is important to monitor whether it is carried out as
per the design specification and some general guideline. These are mentioned in the check list
given in Table 7.2.  

Table 7.2. Check-list for monitoring construction of soil nailing 

Sl No. Construction work to be monitored
1 Excavation
• At the starting, check is required for any variance between the actual ground
surface elevations along the slope face and those shown on the plans.
• Frequent checking should be carried out to assure that stable excavation
conditions are maintained, both for general mass excavation and slope face
excavation. Daily inspection is required for the ground next to the slope.
• Verification of excavations whether they are constructed within specification
tolerances of the design outline.
• Over excavation should be avoided at each excavation step.
2 Soil nail hole drilling
• Soil nail hole should be drilled within acceptable tolerances of the specified
alignment, length, and minimum diameter.
• Check for loss of ground or any drill hole interconnection.
3 Tendon installation
• Tendons should be inserted to the minimum specified length.
• Verification for the specified intervals during installation of the centralizers.
Centralizers should provide clearance for the minimum specified grout cover
and that openings through the centralizer support arms should not
obstructed.
• During handling and installation of tendon, a careful monitoring is required
to prevent damage to the corrosion protection.

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4 Grouting
• Grout should be injected by the tremie pipe at bottom of the hole, and the
end of tremie pipe should always remain below the level of grout as it is
extracted.
• Grout should continue to be pumped as the grout tube, auger, or casing, is
removed.
• Measurement and record of the volume of grout placed in the hole
• Auger rotation should not be reversed while grouting by auger-cast methods,
except as necessary to initially release the tendon.
• “Auger-cast” or “cased” nails have been installed with the specified tendon
length grouted.
• Checking should be done whether grout is batched in accordance with
approved mix designs and the required grout strength test samples have
been obtained in accordance with the specifications.
• Verification for the bonded and unbonded lengths of test nails.
5 Slope facing and drainage
• Geocomposite drain strips and weep hole outlet pipes should be installed as
specified and checking is required for interconnection and continuous
drainage paths of drain elements.
• Reinforcing steel should be installed at appropriate locations as per the
dimensions specified and care should be given to ensure that it is tied
securely and is clean.
• Slope face finish line and grade should be in accordance with the plans and
specifications.
• Shotcrete should be batched in accordance with the approved mix design and
applied as per the specification
• Construction joints should be clean and acceptable for shotcrete placement.

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7.4 Load testing of nails

During construction, soil nails are load tested in the field to verify whether nail design loads
can be sustained without excessive movement and with required factor of safety. Such testing
is also required for ensuring adequacy of the drilling, installation, and grouting operations
during construction of the soil nail wall. In practice, field testing of each row of nails are
completed prior to excavation and installation of the underlying row. The load tests carried
out for soil nails in the field are described in subsequent sections.

7.4.1 Verification or ultimate load test

This test is conducted to compare the pullout capacity and bond strengths used in design and
as observed from the installation. Verification load tests are performed on non-production,
“sacrificial” nails prior to the construction. The tests are continued up to failure or, as a
minimum, to a test load that includes the design bond strength and pullout factor of safety.
The number of verification test to be performed depends on size of the project and ground
variability. Two verification tests are recommended for each soil strata encountered. The field
test set-up for verification or ultimate load test of soil nail is presented in Fig. 7.1.

Fig.7.1 Field test set-up for verification or ultimate load test of soil nail
(Zhu et al. 2007)

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The criterion for acceptance in verification test is that-
a) No pullout failure should occur at 200 percent of the design load where pullout failure
is defined as the load at which attempts to further increase the test load increments
results in continued pullout movement of the tested nail.
b) The total measured movement ( ΔL ) at the test load of 200 percent of design load
must exceed 80 percent of the theoretical elastic movement of the unbonded length
(from back of the reference plate to the top of the grout length). This is expressed as
ΔL ≥ ΔLmin where ΔLmin is the minimum acceptable movement defined as:

P.Lu
ΔLmin = 0.8                              (7.1)
E. A
Where P = Maximum applied test load
A = Cross-sectional area of the nail bar
E = Young’s modulus of steel
Lu = Unbonded length

7.4.2 Proof tests

Proof tests are conducted during construction on a specified percentage (5%) of the total
production nails installed. Such tests are performed to confirm the uniformity of construction
procedure and to assure that the nails have not been drilled and grouted in a soil zone not
tested by the verification stage testing. Soil nails are proof tested to a load typically equal to
150 percent of the design load. The acceptance criterion requires no pull-out failure during
the loading and the displacement ( ΔL ) under 150 percent of the design load should exceed
the minimum acceptable movement ( ΔLmin ) as calculated from Eq. 7.1.

7.4.3 Creep test

Creep tests are performed as part of ultimate, verification, and proof testing to ensure that the
nail design loads can be safely carried throughout the structure’s service life. In such test, soil
nail displacement is measured at a constant load over a specified period of time. The
deflection-versus-log-time results are plotted on a semi-log graph, and they are compared
with the acceptance criteria presented in the construction specification. Acceptance criteria
typically requires that creep movement between the 1- and 10-minute readings, at maximum

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test load, must be less than 1 mm or that the creep movement between the 6-and 60-minute
readings must be less than 2 mm at maximum test load.

7.5 Performance monitoring

Nailed slopes are often instrumented to monitor several parameters for improvement of future
construction and design of such structures. The parameters monitored are as follows
9 Horizontal and vertical movement of slope face, surface and overall structure
9 Performance of any structure supported by the reinforced ground
9 Deterioration of facing and other soil nailing elements
9 Nail force magnitude, maximum nail force and change of force distribution with
time
9 Drainage behavior of ground
Slope inclinometer, electronic distance measuring equipments are installed at various survey
positions on the nailed structure and load cells are installed at nail head for such monitoring
purpose. Table 7.3 presents different monitored parameters along with their monitoring plan.

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 Table 7.3 Monitoring plan for various soil nail parameters
Soil nail parameters Monitoring plan

Monitoring during construction:

Face horizontal movements Using surface markers on the facing and surveying
methods, and inclinometer casings installed a short
distance (typically 1m) behind the facing
Vertical and horizontal movements Using optical surveying
of the top of slope facing and
surface of the retained ground
Ground cracks and other signs of Daily visual inspection during construction and if
disturbance in the ground surface required installation of crack gauges across the cracks
behind the top of slope

local movements and or Using visual inspections and instruments like crack
deterioration of the facing gauges or electronic distance measuring (EDM)
Drainage behavior of the structure Monitored visually by observing outflow points or
through standpipe piezometers installed behind the
facing
Long-term Monitoring

Magnitude and location of the Monitored through installation of strain gauge along
maximum nail load the length of nail (Fig. 7.2). Strain gauges are generally
attached to the nail bar in pairs, and are mounted at
1.5-m spacing in diametrically opposite position to
address bending effects.
Loads at the head of the nail Load cells are attached at the head of nail

Horizontal movement of the Inclinometers are installed on the ground surface

structure behind the slope facing at various horizontal distance
upto one time the slope height

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A typical instrumentation layout for performance monitoring of a vertical nailed slope cut is
depicted in Fig. 7.2.

Fig. 7.2 A typical instrumentation layout for performance monitoring of a vertical nailed
slope (Modified From: FHWA-SA-96-069R)

7.6 Summary
Various field inspection and monitoring methods for nailed slopes have been described. It
includes quality control techniques for the construction materials and the process itself; and
different nail load testing methods along with their acceptance criterion. Performance
monitoring of nailed slopes are also discussed with various parameters to be monitored and
proper instrumentation process.

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