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Soil Nails

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Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

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Synonyms

Ground anchor installation; Tendon installation

Definition

Soil nails are steel tendons installed to increase the stability of slopes or earth retaining walls. Soil nails are passive elements that reinforce the ground primarily to support excavations in soil and weak rock material and to stabilize slopes with relatively shallow slip surfaces (Lazarte et al. 2015). The use of passive steel elements to stabilize soil material was an expansion of a method developed for stabilizing rock material in tunnel excavation with rock bolts and shotcrete. Reinforcing elements that are tensioned after installation (post-tensioned) are active elements called ground anchors or rock anchors . Passive elements develop tensile resistance as a result of ground deformation toward the excavation or slope face that produce shear stresses in the ground-soil nail system.

Soil nails (tendons ) are installed in holes drilled into the soil or weak rock materials and then grouted in place. Tendon...

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Correspondence to Jeffrey R. Keaton .

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Keaton, J.R. (2018). Soil Nails. In: Bobrowsky, P., Marker, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Engineering Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_268-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12127-7_268-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12127-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12127-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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