Soil Nailing

CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
3. FAVOURABLE UNDER-GROUND CONDITIONS
4. TYPES OF GROUNDS SUITABLE FOR SOIL NAILING
5. COMPONENTS OF A SOIL NAILWALL
6. TYPES OF NAILS USED
7. DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
8. MACHINERIES USED
9. MATERIALS USED
10. CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCES
11. APPLICATIONS
12. ADVANTAGES
13. CONCLUSION
14. REFERENCES
 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.
 ORIGIN AND DEVELOPEMENT
 It evolved from the New Austrian Tunneling method which is a system for
underground excavations in rock in 1960

 The first application of soil nailing was implemented in 1972 for a railroad
widening project near Versailles, France. A 18m (59ft) high wall was to be
soil nailed

 Germany and USA first used soil nailing in 1975 and 1976 respectively

 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.
 FAVOURABLE UNDER-GROUND
CONDITIONS
 The excavated soil should be able to stand unsupported in 1m-
2m high vertical cut for maximum 2 days

 Soil nails should be located above the ground –water table

 The ground conditions should allow drill holes to be

advanced without using drill casings
 TYPES OF GROUND SUITABLE FOR SOIL
NAILING
 Stiff to Hard Fine-Grained Soils: Includes hard clays, silt clays and
sandy silts. Have SPT value(N) around 9blows/300mm. Fine-
grained soils possess low plasticity i.e. P.I. <15

 Dense to Very Dense Granular Soils: Includes sand and gravel

with SPT values > 30 and fines about 10 to 15 percent

 Weathered rock with no Weakness Planes: May provide a suitable

supporting materials for soil nails until there are no weakness planes
i.e. planes dipping into the excavation

 Glacial Soils: Glacial outwash materials are suitable for soil nailing
as they are dense, well graded materials
 COMPONENTS OF A SOIL NAILWALL
 Nail Bars: Steel reinforcing bars of nominal tensile strength of
420 Mpa (Grade 60) and 520 Mpa (Grade 75) are used.
 Nail Head: Two main parts: A) bearing plate, hex nut and washers;
B) the headed-stud.
 Grout: A neat cement grout is used. Sand-cement grout can also
be used. Water/cement ratio for grout ranges from 0.4 to 0.5
 Centralizers: Made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC).It ensures that
a minimum thickness of grout completely covers the nail bar.
Contd….

Grout is being placed with

then help of pipes

Main components of a Soil Nail wall

Typical PVC centralizer

 TYPES OF NAILS USED
 Drilled and Grouted Soil Nail: Approximately 100-200mm in diameter.
 Spaced at about 1.5m apart.

 Driven Soil Nails: Relatively small in diameter about 19 to

25mm.Spaced at approx 1 to 1.2m apart. Mechanically driven.
Allows faster installation

 Self Drilling Soil Nails: Consist of hollow bars which can be drilled
and grouted in one operation. Allows faster installation than drilled
grouted nails and provides corrosion protection

 Jet-Grouted Soil Nails: First step, allows advancement of the nail to

the final location. In second step, the bars are installed using vibro-
percussion drilling methods

 Launched Soil Nails: Bare bars are launched into the soil using a firing
 DESIGN REQUIREMENTS
 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 Modes of failure
 MACHINERIES USED
• Drilling Equipments

• Grout Mixing Equipments

• Shotcreting/ Guniting Equipments

• Compressor
Contd..

Grout Mixing
Typical drilling
Instrument
equipment

Shotcreting is done using a

pipe
 Materials Used For Soil Nailing
 Steel
Reinforcements
 Grout Mix
 Shotcrete/Gunite

Grouted Reinforcements bars

Grout Mix
 CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCES
1. Excavation
2. Drilling nail
holes
3. Installation and
grouting nails
4. Construction of
temporary
shotcrete facing
5. Construction of
subsequent
levels
 Contd.

Initial excavation lift and

nail installation

Typical drilling of soil nails with

Rotary Method
 APPLICATIONS
 Stabilization of railroad and highway cut slopes
 Excavating 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
 Stabilizing steep cuttings
 Stabilizing of existing over-steep embankments
 Providing long term stability to existing concrete structures
without demolition and rebuild costs
 ADVANTAGES
CONSTRUCTION:
 Requires smaller space as they are shorter
 Less disruptive to traffic
 Rapid and uses less construction materials
 Advantageous at sites with remote access
PERFORMANCE:
 Relatively flexible
 Total deflections are within tolerable limits
 Performed well during seismic events
COST:
 Economical
 Shotcrete facing is less costly
 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
 Manual for Design and Construction Monitoring of Soil Nail
walls, US Department of Transportation, Federal Highway
Administration.
 Guide to Soil Nail Design and Construction, Geotechnical
Engg Office, Civil Engineering and Development
Department, The Government of the Hong Kong.
 http://www.google.com
THANK YOU……!!