Calibration of LRFD-Based Resistance Factors for Soil Nail Pullout

This paper presents the results of the calibration of resistance factors for the pullout capacity of soil nails in three types of soil. The data and statistical parameters used in this calibration were obtained in a recent research program. The calibration was conducted using reliability methods, where the target reliability index was selected to be representative of structures with a relatively high degree of redundancy. The calibration used a Monte Carlo simulation with up to 10,000 random simulations for each variable. Calibrated resistance factors used in LRFD design were found to provide results that, on average, are comparable to those obtained using safety factors currently used in practice.