Stability analysis of a high loess slope reinforced by the combination system of soil nails and stabilization piles

Abstract

While the soil nails and the corresponding compound technology are widely used as the support techniques for deep foundation pit and normal slopes, few related engineering cases are found for high loess slopes. By utilizing the finite element software of PLAXIS 8.5, the behavior of a high loess slope reinforced by the combination of soil nails and stabilization piles (hereinafter for CSNSP) is studied in this paper. It can be found that the potential slide surface of the slope moves to deeper locations during the process of the multi-staged excavations. The measure of reducing the weight of the top of the slope is a positive factor to the stability of the loess slope, while the rainfall is a negative factor. The slope can’t be stable if it’s reinforced only by stabilization piles or soil nails during the process of the multi-staged excavations. The soil nail contributes greater to the overall system stability when the excavation depth is relatively shallow, while the stabilization pile takes it over when the excavation depth reaches a large value. Compared to the results from the Sweden circular slip surface, the data derived from the method of phi/c reduction is relatively large when the slope is unreinforced or reinforced only by stabilization pile, and the data turns to be small when the slope is strengthened by soil nails or the combination system of soil nails and stabilization piles.

Keywords

high loess slope / CSNSP / PLAXIS / phi/c strength reduction method / Sweden circular slip surface

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41172260, 41372292, 51108393), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2008CB425801), and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No. 20110184110018) as well as the Doctoral Student Innovation Fund of South-west Jiaotong University.

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg