Research on Deformation of Soil Nailing Structure with Flexible Facing

Abstract

Soil nailing is a widely-used technology for retaining cutting works in soil. A significant portion of the cost of construction is related to the construction of a reinforced concrete face. The possibility of replacing the flexible facing with reinforced concrete facing in soil nailing was evaluated by field test. A woven geomembrane was used as a substitute for concrete. In the field test, a slope was made by cutting. During the loading, horizontal displacement and vertical settlement of the slope top, earth pressure of slope top and surface, tension force of woven geomembrane and horizontal displacement of inner slope were observed. The flexible facing performed well, since the facing did not have large vertical and horizontal deformations. The lateral earth pressure on the slope surface was also quite small. When the cutting work was finished, total surcharges of 117.7 kPa was applied on the slope top by six steps and no obvious displacement was observed. Finally, artificial rain fall was conducted on the slope top. After 2 hours’ durations, only shallow surface failure occurred, but the overall slope is stable. Therefore, the flexible facing can replace reinforced concrete in practice. But such kind of improvement should be limited to non-critical structures where large vertical and horizontal deformations are acceptable.