2D Numerical Evaluation Of A Vertical Soil Nail Wall

The technique of soil nailing has been increasingly used in stabilization works of slopes and excavations. With this, the use of numerical modelling tools in soil nailing projects is becoming increasingly present in Geotechnical companies. This paper includes a case study of a soil nailing wall instrumented in Concepción city, which consists of an excavation of 15 m height in a residual soil of completely decomposed granitic rock. The numerical model was calibrated, comparing the results of the field instrumentation with the numerical estimates provided by the FEM-RS2 software, based on the two-dimensional finite element method and considering an elastic perfectly plastic model. In this way, the strength reduction factor of the geotechnical structure was obtained, which was compared with the overall factor of safety obtained by limit equilibrium analysis. In addition, through the numerical simulation, it was possible to realize an analysis of the loads on the nails, total displacements of the vertical wall, and compare them with the numerical results. The analysis of the results made it possible to confirm the capacity and usefulness of the FEM-RS2 software in the development and elaboration of soil nailing projects.