NUMERICAL ANALYSIS OF SOIL NAILED WALL

Abstract

Soil nailing is the technique that is used in the stabilization of existing ground by increasing the normal loads on potential sliding surfaces through the nails. This project discusses the guidance presented in the FHWA (2013) and how it can be used to design soil nail walls along with temporary facing and various checks for safety are also mentioned and studied in this work. This study provides an insight into the behavior of soil-nailed structures. The slope stabilization was investigated with three methods, the conventional method of FHWA (2013), the finite element method (PLAXIS), and Bishop’s method. This study also provides an insight into the use of two types of soil nail structure namely a plate element and a geogrid element. The study shows that to simulate soil nail wall, a plate element should be adopted for accurate results as the plate element in nail accounts for bending and shear stresses which are ignored when a geogrid element is used.