Comparative study on pullout behaviour of pressure grouted soil nails from field and laboratory tests

Pullout resistance of a soil nail is a critical parameter in design and analysis for geotechnical engineers. Due to the complexity of field conditions, the pullout behaviour of cement grouted soil nail in field is not well investigated. In this work, a number of field pullout tests of pressure grouted soil nails were conducted to estimate the pullout resistance of soil nails. The effective bond lengths of field soil nails were accurately controlled by a new grouting packer system. Typical field test results and the related comparison with typical laboratory test results reveal that the apparent coefficient of friction （ACF） decreases with the increase of overburden soil pressure when grouting pressure is constant, but increases almost linearly with the increase of grouting pressure when overburden pressure （soil depth） is unchanged. Water contents of soil samples at soil nail surfaces show obvious reductions compared with the results of soil samples from drillholes. After soil nails were completely pulled out of the ground, surface conditions of the soil nails and surrounding soil were examined. It is found that the water content values of the soil at the soil/nail interfaces decrease substantially compared with those of soil samples extracted from drillholes. In addition, all soil nails expand significantly in the diametrical direction after being pulled out of ground, indicating that the pressurized cement grout compacts the soil and penetrates into soil voids, leading to a corresponding shift of failure surface into surrounding soil mass significantly.

Stress Relaxation of Grouted Entirely Large Diameter B-GFRP Soil Nail

One of the potential solutions to steel-corrosion-related problems is the usage of fiber reinforced polymer （FRP） as a replacement of steel bars. In the past few decades, researchers have conducted a large number of experimental and theoretical studies on the behavior of small size glass fiber reinforce polymer （GFRP） bars （diameter smaller than 20 ram）. However, the behavior of large size GFRP bar is still not well understood. Particularly, few studies were conducted on the stress relaxation of grouted entirely large diameter GFRP soil nail. This paper investigates the effect of stress levels on the relaxation behavior of GFRP soil nail under sustained deformation ranging from 30% to 60% of its ultimate strain. In order to study the behavior of stress relaxation, two B-GFRP soil nail element specimens were developed and instrumented with fiber Bragg grating （FBG） strain sensors which were used to measure strains along the B-GFRP bars. The test results reveal that the behavior of stress relaxation of B-GFRP soil nail element subjected to pre-stress is significantly related to the elapsed time and the initial stress of relaxation procedure. The newly proposed model for evaluating stress relaxation ratio can substantially reflect the influences of the nature of B-GFRP bar and the property of grip body. The strain on the nail body can be redistributed automatically. Modulus reduction is not the single reason for the stress degradation.

A case study on behaviors of composite soil nailed wall with bored piles in a deep excavation

A complete case of a deep excavation was explored. According to the practical working conditions, a 3D non-linear finite element procedure is used to simulate a deep excavation supported by the composite soil nailed wall with bored piles in soft soil. The modified cam clay model is employed as the constitutive relationship of the soil in the numerical simulation. Results from the numerical analysis are fitted well with the field data, which indicate that the research approach used is reliable. Based on the field data and numerical results of the deep excavation supported by four different patterns of the composite soil nailed wall, the significant corner effect is founded in the 3D deep excavation. If bored piles or soil anchors are considered in the composite soil nailed wall, they are beneficial to decreasing deformations and internal forces of bored piles, cement mixing piles, soil anchors, soil nailings and soil around the deep excavation. Besides, the effects due to bored piles are more significant than those deduced from soil anchors. All mentioned above prove that the composite soil nailed wall with bored piles is feasible in the deep excavation.

Numerical modelling of pullout of helical soil nail

An investigation into the pullout response of helical soil nail using finite element subroutine Plaxis 2D is presented.The numerical modelling of actual pullout response is achieved by axisymmetric and horizontal loading condition.The effect of varying number of helical plates,helical plate spacing and helical plate diameter is studied to understand the pullout capacity behaviour.The failure surfaces for various helical soil nail configurations and their pullout mechanisms are also analysed and discussed.The pullout capacity is found to increase with increase in number of helical plates.The helical plate spacing ratio（s/D;） and diameter ratio（D;/D;） are found to increase the pullout only up to a critical value.The response of helical soil nail using axisymmetric finite element simulation is found similar to the uplift behaviour of helical piles and helical soil anchors.In the absence of literature regarding numerical modelling of helical soil nail,simulation results are validated with uplift responses of helical piles and soil anchors.A good agreement in their comparative study for pullout response is also observed.

Pullout of soil nail with circular discs: A three-dimensional finite element analysis

An internal failure mode for a soil-nailed system consists of failure at nail heads,slope facing,nail strength,along groutesoil interface and pullout failure.A better understanding of pullout of soil nail thus becomes important to assess the stability of a soil-nailed system.In the present study,an investigation into the pullout behaviour of soil nail with circular discs along the shaft has been carried out by a threedimensional finite element analysis using Abaqus/Explicit routine.A total of 67 simulations have been performed to accurately predict the pullout behaviour of soil nail.The soil nail under study has circular discs along its shaft varying in numbers from 1 to 4.The pullout of this soil nail in a pullout test box has been simulated with a constant overburden pressure of 20 kPa acting on the nail.The pullout load edisplacement characteristics,stresses around soil nail and failure mechanism during pullout are studied.Variations of dimensionless factors such as normalised pullout load factor and bearing capacity factor have been obtained with different combinations of parameters in terms of relative disc spacing ratio,anchorage length ratio,embedment ratio,diameter ratio and displacement ratio.From the results of analyses,it is found that nail with more circular discs requires higher pullout load.There are critical relative disc spacing ratio and diameter ratio which significantly affect the pullout behaviour of nail.

Seismic analysis of nailed vertical excavation using pseudo-dynamic approach

An attempt has been made to study the behavior of nailed vertical excavations in medium dense to dense cohesionless soil under seismic conditions using a pseudo-dynamic approach. The effect of several parameters such as angle of internal friction of soil （φ）, horizontal （kh） and vertical （kv） earthquake acceleration coefficients, amplification factor （fa）, length of nails （L）, angle of nail inclination （a） and vertical spacing of nails （S） on the stability of nailed vertical excavations has been explored. The limit equilibrium method along with a planar failure surface is used to derive the formulation involved with the pseudo-dynamic approach, considering axial pullout of the installed nails. A comparison of the pseudo-static and pseudo-dynamic approaches has been established in order to explore the effectiveness of the pseudo-dynamic approach over pseudo-static analysis, since most of the seismic stability studies on nailed vertical excavations are based on the latter. The results are expressed in terms of the global factor of safety （FOS）. Seismic stability, i.e., the FOS of nailed vertical excavations is found to decrease with increase in the horizontal and vertical earthquake forces. The present values of FOS are compared with those available in the literature.

Pull-out tests and slope stability analyses of nailing systems comprising single and multi rebars with grouted cement

The pull-out capacities for soil nailing systems comprising of one single 29 mm diameter(type A) and four 16 mm diameter(type B) rebars with grouted cement were examined.A field test and numerical analysis for the type A and type B systems were carried out to investigate the pull-out capacities and the slope stability reinforcement efficiency in soil and rock slopes.The results of the pull-out tests show the mobilized shear force and load transfer characteristics with respect to soil depth.The load-displacement relationship was examined for both type A and type B systems.Slope stability analyses were carried out to study the relationships between soil and nail reinforcement and bending stiffness as well as combined axial tension and shear forces.Factors of safety were calculated in relation to the number of nails and their outside diameters.Both soil and rock slopes were included in this evaluation.

Recent advances in high slope reinforcement in China: Case studies

This paper reviews a number of engineering technologies and workmanships for addressing the challenging issues concerning possible landslides in large-scale slope reinforcement projects in China.It includes:(1) the multi-point anchored piles with a depth of 64 m in the Jietai Temple rehabilitation project,(2) soil nailing strengthened by driven pipe grouting technique covering an area of530 m × 100 m(length × height) in the Xiluodu hydropower project,(3) the cantilever piles extending vertically from the slope toe to stabilize a 300 m high slope at the Xiaowan hydropower station,(4) a new and simple workmanship for building a pile with cross-sectional area of 20 m × 5 m in the Hongjiadu hydropower station,and(5) comprehensive reinforcement scheme proposed for excavation of a 530 m high slope in Jinping I hydropower station.These new technologies can provide valuable experiences for reinforcement of high slopes of similar projects in China and other regions and countries with similar geological conditions.