Numerical Studies on the Behavior of Slope Reinforced with Soil Nails

Soil nailing is commonly used to stabilize cut slopes and earth retaining structures, embankments and sometimes to reduce the lateral earth pressure on retaining wall. This is an in-situ reinforcement technique that uses passive rigid bars usually made up of steel that can withstand tensile forces, shearing forces, and bending moments. In the present study, an attempt has been made to analyze the behavior of soil slope reinforced with soil nails by numerical simulation under seismic loading using a finite element numerical modeling tool, OptumG2. Two-dimensional models of the slope are considered (with and without nails) and subjected to static and dynamic loading to investigate the possible modes of failure (base failure, slope failure, and toe failure). The corresponding factor of safety values for unreinforced soil slope is calculated using the strength reduction method (SRM) at different slope angles (\(\beta )\) at 30°, 40°, 50°. Based upon the obtained critical slope surface in the case of the unreinforced slope, soil nails are provisioned in the slope and the same is analyzed under gravity and seismic loading. A detailed investigation of reinforced soil slope has been conducted considering the key factors governing the factor of safety of reinforced slope namely length of the soil nails, the number of soil nails, spacing of soil nails (s), the inclination of soil nails (\(\theta\)) in different slope angles (\(\beta )\) under seismic loading with a peak horizontal ground acceleration = 0.12 g. The present study also investigates the possible failure patterns under static and seismic conditions, along with the analysis of the development of internal reactions in soil nails such as bending moment and shear force.