The compaction effect on the performance of a compaction-grouted soil nail in sand

In this study, two series of physical modeling experiments, with and without a grouting process, were conducted under different grouting pressures to study the effect of compaction grouting on the performance of compaction-grouted soil nails. In addition, a hyperbola-based model was proposed to describe the variation of the pullout forces with and without grouting. Some of the main conclusions drawn are as follows. First, the compaction effect initially influences the mobilized pullout force, but not the final stage of pullout; the large difference between the two series of tests in regard to the pullout force at the initial stage led to the first part of this conclusion. However, the final pullout force results of the tests, both those with and those without grouting, were similar. Second, once the soil condition changes, the compaction effect on the performance of a soil nail depends on the grouting pressure rather than the diameter of the grout bulb. Third, the difference in the soil response (i.e., vertical dilatancy and the vertical and horizontal squeezing effects) derived from the compaction grouting effect will result in the initial difference in the increased rate of the pullout force between the tests with a grouting process and those without. Finally, a hyperbola-based model was proposed to describe the variation of the pullout force of the model tests with and without grouting, through which the pullout force is available of prediction for the given diameter of grout bulb and pullout displacement.