‘A horizontal drlling rig uses a hollow auger bit to open holes for the soll nailing ‘compared to a conventional tie-back shoring arrangement. The soil nails create the equivalent of a gravity earth dam. Soil Nailing Technique Provides Cost-Saving Alternative to Conventional Tie-Back Shoring At the site of the Richard K, Eamer Medical plaza, a new soil improvement system is being used that replaces con- ventional shoring during excavation. Just as the name soil nailing implies, a ‘cross section of nailed soil resembles & plywood wall filled with patterned nails. The nails interact with the soil to cereate a gravity earth fill dam according to Steve Kulchin of Kulchin and Associates General Engineering Con- tractors of Los Angeles. Kulchin was responsible for the soil stabilization as a subcontractor to Stolte, Inc., who had a contract for the sitework and retain ing walls for the entire new medical center. Soil nailing is used cither as a temporary measure to shore unstable soil during excavation or for permanent retaining walls. The technique was developed in Europe and was first used in the United States in 1974 in Portland, Oregon by Kulchin and Associates. ‘There arc various design approaches that include the Davis method, the German method and the French method, but all of the approaches, By Lynn D. Fausett address the same soil nailing concept: reinforcement of earth that will permit a vertical or near vertical embankment during excavation. Kulchin feels soil nailing is the cutting edge of excavating technology today and will eventually replace traditional soldier beam and tie- back technology for earth materials that accept soil nailing Kulchin explained that in approaching the site, the first step in soil nailing is to make a five foot vertical cut. Once the excavation has been made, engineered holes are drilled into the exposed face of the cut. Since the holes are engineered they vary in size, depth and incline, but Kulchin says normally the holes are equal in length to the depth of the excavation. The equations used to determine the holes also take into consideration the height ofthe building, soil conditions and the loading that will take place above on the soil. With the drilling complete, a rod is, inserted into the hole and the hole is then grouted. Unlike typical tie-back holes where only the oval-shaped rear portion is grouted, soil nailed holes are. Reprinted from California Builder & Engineer _grouted for the entire length of the rod. ‘Then with all the rods grouted in place, the face of the cut is reinforced with shot-crete and a nut is placed onto the end of the rod over the top of the shot- crete, Here again soil nailing differs from tie-back technology because the rut is not stressed as in a tie-back situa- tion. A soil nail nut is merely snugged and locked into place with no stress. Kulchin says that at this point the soil has becn improved and has been given strength that it did not have before. ““In effect you've added tensile strength to ‘a mass that didn’t have adequate tensile strength to begin with. Now this soil is able to support itself for another successive repeat of the same procedure."* ‘The procedure is continued in step- by-step cuts until reaching the desired depth. When completed, the whole equates to a gravity earth dam, Kuchin explains. For the soil to give way the whole block would have to move lend- ing stability to a much larger mass of earth bordering the excavation, The atid of nails required to strengthen aportion of soil is normally three to one compared to conventional tie-backs. The bottom line to soil nailing, as with other innovative construction techniques, is cost. Emphasizing that soil nailing is not applicable to all types of soil, Kulchin finds the savings are The rod is inserted in the drilled hole and grouted for its entire length. The face of the cutis then reinforced with shot-erete. usually thirty to thirty-five percent com- pared to soldier beams. Another advantage that rivals cost is time. “With soil nailing the job can be com pleted as fast at the earth can be removed, and we're finding that this usually means about half the time it would normally take using conventional methods,” says Kulchin To illustrate his point, Kulchin described a project in which they participated with LeRoy Crandall and Associates Soil Engineers. They excavated 70,000 yards of earth that included 30,000 square feet of shoring, and the entire project was completed in twenty-five working days. In all Kulchin and Associates has completed over two million square feet of soil ‘The soil nailing technique allows for a near vertical embankment during excavation. tn this situation the soil naling was used as temporary shoring until the concrete wall could be poured. Note the soil nailing rods protruding from the base of the wal ‘Soil nailing can be used for large cuts, as in this example of a hillside cut behind a residential development. The technique also can be made into a permanent wall. nailed shoring in the last fifteen years, con hundreds of jobs. Because the technology is new to many county and city construction officials, the procedure is still in the initial phases of gaining acceptance Currently there are many agencies in- vestigating soil nailing including Caltrans and the federal highway department. In Europe where soil nail- ing has been used extensively for decades, engineers have tested soil nailed earth to failure uniler extreme loads to verify engineering data. To date there have been no failures of soil nailed earth that Kulchin is aware of. He says that soil nailing engineers well in sandy soils as well as in various other types of earth materials. Ideally soil Reprinted from California Builder & Engineer nails work best in silt, At the USC job the nails are being inserted into sandstone. Typical soil nailing equipment doesn’t vary much from standard general engineering and tie-back equip- ment. Sand proves to be the most difficult material to place soil nails in, but with the use of a hollow stem auger even material that has a tendency to sluff off proves no match. Kulchin says however, that more important than equipment is an engineer or soils expert that has done the procedure before. Relatively few U.S. companies have had experience with the installation of soil nails. Some experienced people hhave migrated from Canada where it has been done more frequently. If there is any drawback to soil nail- ing, itis that the owner of the property being soil nailed must also own the property or have an easement where the soil nails are to be installed. Once the nails are in place, the bordering property is more limited to development as once soil nails are drilled into place they are normally not removed Kulchin added that where a perma- nent cut will take place, with the price and value of shoring, soil nailing is unbeatable. “If you've got to go into the soil and cut and you exceed a certain height, usually five feet, at about eight to twelve feet the numbers really start to work for soil nailing. It’s about the best type of wall to build in a permanent situation.