Reinforcement mechanism in soil nailing for stabilization of steep slopes

The design procedure in soil nailing depends on the tensile force that develops in the reinforcement material. The tensile forces are gradually revealed with increasing deformation of the reinforced slope. These forces are closely related to the horizontal earth pressure acting against the facing structure of slope. In the case of few reinforcements, a slope needs a large deformation to reach a stable condition and the tensile force quickly increases with increasing slope deformation. On the other hand, in the case of many reinforcements, the slope gets to a freestanding state with a small deformation value, and the total tensile force is quite small compared with the total horizontal earth pressure.