Failure behavior and mechanism of slopes reinforced using soil nail wall under various loading conditions

Ga Zhang, Jie Cao, Liping Wang
2014 Soil and foundation  
Soil-nailing technology is widely applied in practice for reinforcing slopes. A series of centrifuge model tests was conducted on slopes reinforced with a soil nail wall under three types of loading conditions. The behavior and mechanism of failure process of the reinforced slopes were studied using image-based observation and displacement measurements for the slope, nails, and cement layer. The nailing significantly increased the stability level and restricted the tension cracks of the slopes.
more » ... Increasing the nail length improved the stability of the reinforced slopes with deeper slip surfaces. The reinforced slope exhibited a significant failure process, in which slope slippage failure and cement layer fracture occurred in conjunction with a coupling effect. The deformation localization was induced by the loading within the slope and ultimately developed into a slip surface. The nailing reinforced the slope by significantly delaying the occurrence of the deformation localization within the slope. The failure of nails was recognized as a combination of pull-out failure and bend deformation. The loading conditions were shown to have a significant effect on slope deformation and nail deflection, and they consequently influenced the failure behavior and its formation sequence.
doi:10.1016/j.sandf.2014.11.011 fatcat:hbfdufbmzvgrnaecx5i6ykuqb4