Deformations Analysis and Finite Element Numerical Modeling of Soil’s Excavations Improved by Soil Nailing

Application of soil nailing in stabilization of excavation operations in urban area’s constructions is most flexible and capable techniques for earth retention under soil mass instabilities. In general, the implementation of the soil nailing method is step-by-step, and this issue itself causes various and step-by-step changes in the excavation area. Therefore, by studying these stepwise deformations, it can be obtained the development of soil’s failure mass step-by-step. In this regard, presented article tried to investigate the stepwise deformations’ analysis in soil nailing operation in excavated soils using finite element numerical method and Plaxis2D software. The modeling was performed during four drilling stages and the changes in the slope stability as well as the deformations’ expansion in slope mass (sand and clay) were investigated. Based on the simulation results, it has been determined that with increasing depth, the degree of confidence in the slope (safety factor) for 2 different arrangements decreases step-by-step and the plastic area increases towards the bottom of the pit. But the nailing wall shows a good ability to curb instability.