GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

CHAPTER 3 GUNITE AND SOIL NAIL 3.1 INTRODUCTION Soil nailing essentially involves reinforcing and strengthening of existing grounds by installing closely-spaced steel bars, called nails, into a slope as construction proceeds from top-down. This process creates a reinforced section that is in itself stable and able to retain the ground behind it. The reinforcements are passive and develop their reinforcing action through nail-ground interactions as the ground deforms during and following construction. In Malaysia, commonly referred codes of practice and design manuals for design of soil nailing are:

1. British Standard BS8006: 1995, Code of Practice for Strengthened/Reinforced

Soils and Other Fills. 2. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA

1998), Manual for Design & Construction Monitoring of Soil Nail Walls. A step by step approach to the design of soil nails as recommended by FHWAs manual has been discussed in Tan & Chow (2004). In this paper, a review of important design and construction issues will be presented especially on the importance of hot Crete face design for very high and steep slopes which is sometimes overlooked during design. The responsibilities of the designer and constructor to ensure successful implementation of soil nailing works are also discussed. The division of responsibilities presented in this paper does not imply that each party is only responsible for certain aspects of the works. Both the designer and constructor are involved together during the works, e.g. QA/QC by designer during construction, etc. The division of responsibilities presented in this paper only highlights the responsibilities of each party for which they exert the greatest influence. The implication of top-down construction sequence and excavation of slope 1

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

prior to installation of soil nails on the performance of the soil nails will also be discussed.

3.2

SOIL NAILING FAILURE MODES The failure modes of soil nails can be categorized into the following: 3.2.1 Pullout failure Nail tendon failure Face failure Overall failure (slope instability) PULLOUT FAILURE

Pullout failure as illustrated in Figure 3.1 results from insufficient embedded length into the resistant zone to resist the destabilizing force. The pullout capacity of the soil nails is governed by the following factors:

The location of the critical slip plane of the slope. The size (diameter) of the grouted hole for soil nail. The ground-grout bond stress (soil skin friction).

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Figure 3.1 Pullout failure mode (from FHWA 1998) 3.2.2 NAIL TENDON FAILURE Nail tendon failure as illustrated in Figure 3.2 results from inadequate tensile strength of the nails to provide the resistant force to stabilize the slope. It is primarily governed by the grade of steel used and the diameter of the steel. Typically a minimum nail size of 25mm is used as nail sizes smaller than 25mm may cause installation problems for moderate to long nail lengths due to their low stiffness. Besides specifying the appropriate nail size corresponding to the required resistant force, it is important that proper detailing with regards to corrosion protection of the nails are specified and properly executed at site. Some of the important considerations include:

Adequate cover for nails is provided by ensuring rigid spacers/centralizers at Corrosion protection on the nails using galvanized steel bars or by encapsulation

appropriate spacing. Figure 3 shows example of typical spacers used. inside a corrugated plastic sheath.

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Figure 3.2. Nail tendon failure mode (from FHWA 1998).

3.2.3

FACE FAILURE This aspect of failure mode for soil nailing is sometimes overlooked as it is

generally wrongly assumed that the face does not resist any earth pressure. For soil nailing works which involve slopes of relatively low height and gentle gradient, the earth pressure acting on the shotcrete face is relatively small and nominal shotcrete thickness and reinforcement is adequate.

Figure 3.3. Face failure mode (from FHWA 1998).

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Figure 3.4. Example of face failure 3.2.4 OVERALL FAILURE (SLOPE STABILITY)

This aspect of failure mode is commonly analyzed based on limit equilibrium methods. The analyses are carried out iteratively until the nail resistant force corresponds to the critical slip plane from the, limit equilibrium analysis. To carry out such iterative analysis, it is important that the nail load is established. From Figure 11, it can be seen that the nail load diagram consists of three zones, A, B and C. Zone A is governed by the strength of the facing, T and also the ground-grout bond stress, Q. If the facing of soil nails is designed to take full tensile capacity of the nail, then the full tensile capacity of the nail can be mobilized even if the critical slip circle passes through Zone A. However, to design the facing with full tensile capacity of nails instead of lower TF is not economical for high slope (e.g. more than 15m). Zone B is governed by the nail tendon tensile strength and Zone C is governed by the ground-grout bond stress, QF.

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Figure 33.5. Nail load diagram (from FHWA 1998)

3.3

CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE Soil nailing works is usually carried out top-down as shown in Figure 3.6. For soil nailing works, construction sequence and associated temporary works are also important to ensure the stability of the slope. Ensuring every stage of works is safe and stable is very important in soil nailing works. For this purpose, it must be highlighted that soil nailing works which involve cutting of slopes should be carried out in stages where the next stage of works (cutting to final level) can only be carried out when the preceding level of soil nail has been installed and shotcreted. Case histories of failure due to indiscriminate cutting of slopes and delayed installation of soil nails are not uncommon.

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Figure 3.6. Typical soil nailing construction sequence (from FHWA 1998).

3.4

CONCEPT DESIGN

Fundamental design concepts of soil nailing in slopes stabilization:

Soil nailing is a proven cost effective technique widely used to stabilize cut slopes or to support deep excavation by reinforcing the in situ ground. It generally consists
of drilling, inserting rebar, grouting and nail head construction or facing.

The most important design issue concerns the pull-out resistance of the reinforcing element. In practice, it is usually estimated based on soil data with reference to empirical observations including pull-out test results derived from full scale verification/sacrificial tests on site.

Some slope movement is required to mobilize load tension in the soil nail (up to 30mm). Normally, lateral displacement due to stress-relief of excavated steep soil nailed slope/wall is about 0.1%H to 0.3%H, where H is the total excavated height of the slope/wall. When lateral deformation exceeds 0.5% H, excessive bending and shear in soil nails may happen, resulting in excessive creep and tension cracks in upslope or eventual slope failure, if left unattended. Deformation of steep nailed slope/wall can be monitored by installing some simple markers on the crest of the nailed slope/wall. 7

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Soil nails need to extend to sufficient length beyond the active zone or any plane of weakness to overcome external stability including overturning, sliding, bearing, and overall slope instability, modes of failure.

Three internal failure modes must be checked to ensure an adequate factor of safety,
i. ii. iii.

Nail pull-out resistance Nail material tensile capacity Nail head/facing capacity.

Reference may be made to HA68/94 (1994) and FHWA (1998) for design methods. Prediction of axial forces along soil nails and displacement can be by LEM (limit equilibrium method) and FEM (finite element method).

3.5

CALCULATION FOR SOIL NAILS

There are 3 general rules for the calculation and installation of soil nails:1.

Soil nails must penetrate beyond the slip plane into the passive zone typically for 4-5 meters. The spacing of the soil nails, horizontally and vertically, must be directly related to the strength of the soil. Extra soil nails should be installed at the edge of any surface being stabilized.

2.

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

3.

Soil nailing should commence immediately after excavation. Any delay increases the chance of the unrestrained ground relaxing. Early soil nail installation ensures the maximum holding power.

Calculation

length of nails 0.5 to 0.7 x wall height but not less than 6.0 m capacity of nails 50 to 250 kN/m density of nails 0.5 to 2.0 per m amount of reinforcement 1.5 to 6.0 kg/m nail forces 50 to 100 kN (in special applications up to 300 kN) inclination of nails 0 to 30 degrees deformation of nailed walls 1.50% x wall height

3.6

ADVANTAGES TO SOIL NAILING

Retention walls created with the soil nailing method can 9

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

Follow irregular curves Be used in tighter spaces Limit obstructions to traffic of any kind Facilitate future modifications Be more noise friendly Reduce the negative impacts to adjacent properties Use less space for shoring/anchoring Cut the need for more soil excavation CONCLUSION Soil nailing is an effective slope stabilization method especially for remedial works

3.7

involving failed slopes. However, a properly designed and constructed soil nailing works are essential for optimum performance. An understanding on the roles played by the designer and constructor is also important to ensure design intentions are communicated to the site and similarly, site constraints are made known to the designer. Construction sequence on soil nailing works also influences the degree of success of the works especially for slope remedial works. It is therefore recommended that the designer clearly indicate the required stages of works in relevant drawings and work specifications.

REFERENCES 10

GEOTECHNIC BFC 31703

SLOPE STABILITY

British Standard Institution, BS8006: 1995: Code of Practice for Strengthened/Reinforced Soils and Other Fills. FHWA. (1998). Manual for Design & Construction Monitoring of Soil Nail Walls, Federal Highway Administration, US Department of Transportation, USA. Tan, Yean-Chin & Chow, Chee-Meng. (2004). Slope stability and stabilization, Tropical residual soils engineering. Taylor & Francis Group, London.

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