Failure Mechanisms and Strain-Dependent Parameters of Helical Soil-Nailed Walls under Seismic Conditions
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 5
Abstract
A series of shaking table tests were performed on reduced-scale models of helical soil-nailed walls (HSNWs) to evaluate the effect of the nail arrangement and nail inclination on the failure mechanisms and dynamic characteristics of this type of retaining structures under seismic conditions. The results of particle image velocimetry (PIV) showed that the potential failure surfaces in the helical soil-nailed walls were parabolic ones with an inflection point and the dimensions of failure wedge increased as the length and inclination of the nails increased. A combination of overturning and base sliding was identified as the predominant deformation mode in the HSNWs and that base sliding faded with an increase in the nail inclination. It was found that horizontal helical nails located in the lower half of the wall played a more effective role in reducing lateral displacement, but the opposite was true for HSNWs with inclined nails. The use of inclined nails instead of horizontal ones was found to be an efficient solution for increasing the shear modulus in HSNWs. The efficiency of this solution decreased with the use of shorter nails in the upper half of the walls and was eventually minimized by increasing the length of the nails across the wall height. It was found that, although the use of helical nails instead of grouted ones reduced wall damping, it could be a good solution for increasing the stiffness of the soil-nailed walls.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or codes generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request. All data used to generate figures and tables in this paper are available.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Prof. P. Narjabadi and Prof. S. Mollaei at Bonab University for their kind assistance throughout this research. The authors also appreciate the use of the shaking table device at Bonab University.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- b
- width of inflection point of the failure surface (m);
- D50
- medium grain size (mm);
- Dh
- helix diameter (dimensionless);
- Dr
- relative density (dimensionless);
- ES
- elastic modulus of soil (MPa);
- f
- frequency (Hz);
- g
- acceleration due to gravity (m/s2);
- H
- total wall height (m);
- h
- elevation of inflection point of failure surface (m);
- L
- nail length (m);
- N
- scale factor between prototype and physical model (dimensionless);
- Shx
- helix spacing (m);
- Δx
- lateral displacement of facing (m);
- β
- angle of inflection point (degree);
- λ
- governing parameter (dimensionless);
- δ
- friction angle at soil–wall interface (degree); and
- Acc.0, Acc.1–5
- accelerometers mounted on the shaking table deck and in the reinforced zone.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 5 • May 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 5, 2023
Accepted: Oct 20, 2023
Published online: Feb 19, 2024
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jul 19, 2024
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