1264

Shaking table tests and stability analysis of steep

nailed slopes
Yung-Shan Hong, Rong-Her Chen, Cho-Sen Wu, and Jian-Ren Chen

Abstract: Shaking table tests were performed on five model slopes to examine the effects of the angle and length of
the nails and the frequency of excitation on the seismic resistance and failure mechanism of the slopes. Seismic excita-
tion was also applied to slopes at various angles. Experimental results showed that nails markedly improved the seis-
mic resistance of all model steep slopes. Additionally, nailed slopes exhibit characteristics of ductility under strong
excitation. The angle of the nails influences the deformation of the slope but only slightly affects seismic resistance.
An increase in the length of the nails increased the seismic resistance of the slope and reduced the displacement of the
facing only when subjected to strong excitation. The slope at an angle of 90 to the horizontal has a markedly lower
seismic resistance than that at 80. The rocking of the model slope was strong for the slope with inclined nails and the
slope at 90 to the horizontal. The failure surface of the soil mass is approximately a bilinear surface; the pullout of
nails from the lower rows of nails caused total slope failure. The seismic resistance of a nailed slope is categorized
viz. response of the models by three stages: stable, seismic resistance, and incipient collapse phases. Critical seismic
acceleration coefficients of all models are evaluated and compared with values predicted by a developed pseudo-static,
limit-equilibrium-based slope stability approach, which postulates a two-wedge failure mechanism.
Key words: shaking table test, steep nailed slope, seismic resistance, pseudo-static approach.

Rsum : Des essais la table vibrante ont t raliss sur cinq modles de talus pour examiner les effets de langle
et de la longueur des clous, et de la frquence de la sollicitation sur la rsistance sismique et sur le mcanisme de rup-
ture des talus. La sollicitation sismique a aussi t applique des talus divers angles. Les rsultats exprimentaux
ont montr que les clous amlioraient de faon marque la rsistance sismique de tous les modles de talus escarps.
De plus, les talus clous montrent des caractristiques de ductilit sous forte sollicitation. Langle des clous influence
la dformation du talus mais naffecte que lgrement la rsistance sismique. Une augmentation de la longueur des
clous a augment la rsistance sismique du talus, et rduit le dplacement de la face seulement lorsque soumis une
forte sollicitation. Le talus un angle de 90 par rapport lhorizontale a une rsistance sismique apprciablement plus
faible qu un angle de 80. Lamplitude de la sollicitation du modle de talus tait forte pour le talus avec des clous
inclins et une pente 90 par rapport lhorizontale. La surface de rupture du massif de sol est approximativement
une surface bilinaire; larrachement des clous des ranges infrieures de clous a produit la rupture totale du talus. La
rsistance sismique dun talus clou est classe par catgorie, cest- dire une rponse des modles en trois stades : les
phases : stable, sismique, et deffondrement imminent. On value les coefficients dacclration sismique critique de
tous les modles et on les compare avec les valeurs prdites par une analyse de stabilit labore pseudo-statique base
sur lapproche de stabilit de talus lquilibre limite, qui postule un mcanisme de rupture de deux coins.
Mots cls : essai la table vibrante, talus clou escarp, rsistance sismique, approche pseudo-statique.

[Traduit par la Rdaction] Hong et al. 1279

Introduction or by vegetating the crib wall. Secondary damage may oc-

The 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan severely dam-
aged many steep slopes. Assessments of the stability of
highway slopes following the earthquake revealed that 68%
of more than 500 failed slopes were steep (60 from the hor-
izontal). Such slopes could be altered by removing superfi-
cial detritus and spreading shotcrete on the top of a mesh net
cur, however, if a strong earthquake occurs again, because
superficial stabilization is ineffective in stabilizing an entire
slope. Soil nailing confines the soil and improves the stabil-
ity of slopes and has been proven to reinforce slopes effec-
tively under static conditions. Therefore, the seismic
resistance and failure mechanism of nailed slopes are worthy
of investigation with a view to finding a method of stabiliz-

Received 15 October 2003. Accepted 14 June 2005. Published on the NRC Research Press Web site at http://cgj.nrc.ca on
14 September 2005.
Y.-S. Hong1 and C.-S. Wu. Department of Civil Engineering, Tamkang University, Tamsui, Taipei 25137, Taiwan.
R.-H. Chen. Department of Civil Engineering, Taiwan University, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
J.-R. Chen. Geotechnical Division, Sino Geotechnology Inc., Taipei 105, Taiwan.
1
Corresponding author (e-mail: yshong@mail.tku.edu.tw).

Can. Geotech. J. 42: 12641279 (2005) doi: 10.1139/T05-055 2005 NRC Canada
Hong et al.
ing steep slopes subject to seismic loading. An extensive de-
scription of the soil nailing technology and design methods
is reported by Hussin et al. (1997); however, there are few
studies of the earthquake resistance and corresponding fail-
ure mechanisms of nailed slopes.
Most of the literature on nailed structures emphasizes the
mechanism of reinforcement and the design of the structures
under a static load. Some studies have addressed geosyn-
thetic retaining walls, considering the seismic behavior of
reinforced structures (Sakaguchi 1996; Koseki et al. 1998;
Matsuo et al. 1998). Tufenkjian and Vucetic (2000) per-
formed a series of centrifuge tests on excavated model walls
to examine the effects of the length, axial rigidity, and flex-
ural rigidity of the nails on the mechanism of failure due to
seismic excitation. The failure mechanisms for slopes under
static loading have typically been extended to stability anal-
ysis of slopes under seismic loading, using a pseudo-static
approach (Okabe 1924; Mononobe and Matsuo 1929), but
the effects of seismic excitation on the type of slope failure
have been neglected. Bathurst and Alfaro (1997) provided
extensive reviews of seismic design, analysis, and perfor-
mance of geosynthetic-reinforced walls, slopes, and em-
bankments.
Model testing provides performance features of a rein-
forced soil structure under dynamic loading. The nonlinear
behavior of the soilstructure interaction and the stress
strain properties may vary with confining pressure, however.
Problems of similitude between reduced-scale model and
equivalent field-scale prototype impose the uncertainty on
the representative failure mechanism observed in the
reduced-scale model to be typical of the field-scale proto-
type. Gassler (1988) noted a two-part wedge failure mecha-
nism for the static field-scale test and reduced-scale model
test for nearly vertical nailed walls of sandy soil. Using the-
oretical analysis based on the method of kinematics of rigid
bodies, Gassler illustrated that translation of two rigid bodies
is the most critical mechanism for nearly vertical nailed
walls.
A series of shaking table tests was conducted on model
nailed slopes, in which the nails were arranged with differ-
ent geometries. The effects of the inclination and length of
the nails and the frequency of excitation on the seismic re-
sistance of the slopes were examined. Pseudo-static, limit-
equilibrium-based stability analysis, assuming a two-wedge
failure surface, was applied to analyze the stability of nailed
slopes under seismic excitation. Predictions made using the
proposed approach were compared with the results of tests
on the models.
Testing program and procedure
A testing program was implemented to evaluate the ef-
fects of various nail and slope arrangements on the seismic
resistance of prototype nailed slopes using reduced-scale model
tests. The characteristics of the model materials that affect
the behavior of the structure are analyzed by similarity anal-
ysis to ensure comparable behavior between the prototype-
scale slopes and the model-scale slopes (Baker et al. 1991).
The physical characteristics of the model and prototype sat-
isfy the following relationship:
1265
Table 1. Scaling factors for model to prototype scaling.
Scaling factor
Characteristic (prototype/model)
Length, x
Density, 1
Strain, 0.5
Time, t 0.75
Stress,
Modulus, E 0.5
Displacement, u 1.5
Acceleration, a 1
Longitudinal rigidity of nail, Enail Anail 2.5
Tensile strength of nail, Fy 3
Pullout resistance, maxDa 2
a
D, outer diameter of the nail.
[1] Ip = Sf Im
where Ip and Im are physical quantities that pertain to the
prototype and the model, respectively; and Sf is a scaling
factor.
The quantities that affect the behavior of a nailed structure
in sandy soil must satisfy the following:
[2] f (, g, E, , , H, , , L, Enail, Inail, sh, sv,
i, max, Fy) = 0
where is the soil density; g is the acceleration due to grav-
ity; E is the elastic modulus of soil; is Poissons ratio of
the soil; is the internal frictional angle of soil; H is the
height of the nailed structure; is the angle of slope of the
backfill soil; is the angle of facing; L is the length of the
nail; Enail is the elastic modulus of the nail; Inail is the area
moment of inertia of the nail; sh and sv are the horizontal
and vertical distances between the nails, respectively; i is the
angle of inclination of the nails; max is the frictional resis-
tance at the soilnail interface; and Fy is the tensile strength
of the nails.
A similitude derived for the shaking table tests in a 1g
gravitational field derived by Iai (1989) is adopted in deter-
mining the characteristics of the materials involved in the
model tests. The scaling factors are listed in Table 1 for the
model and prototype having the same soil density. Deter-
mining all the characteristics of the materials involved in a
model test, as required to meet the similitude requirements,
is difficult; therefore, three of the most important character-
istics, namely Fy, Enail Anail, and maxD (where Anail is the
cross-sectional area of the steel bar, and D is the outer diam-
eter of the nail), relevant to the tensile strength and tensile
strain of the nail, as well as pullout resistance, were used in
the similarity analysis to find a suitable material and suitable
dimensions of the nails. A PMMA tube (vinyl polymer made
by free radical vinyl polymerization from the monomer
methyl methacrylate) with an outer diameter of 8 mm and an
inner diameter of 5 mm meets the requirements of the simi-
larity analysis of a 0.7 m high model slope, which represents
a prototype slope with a height of 6 m. The tube has an elas-
tic modulus of 3.27 GPa and tensile strength of 58.8 MPa.
Sand particles were glued to the surface of the nail to gener-
ate surface roughness; the peak frictional resistance at the
2005 NRC Canada
1266 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 42, 2005

Table 2. Characteristic values used for model to prototype scaling. Fig. 1. Schematic diagram (a) and photograph (b) of the model
slope, showing the instrumentation setup (30 nail angle). All di-
Scaling factor mensions are in millimetres.
Characteristic Prototype Model model
Fy (kN) 38~1862a 1.8 1 133
Enail Anail (kN) 18 600 ~ 310 400 100 21 501
maxD (kN/m) 2.25~29b 0.05 3.7
a
In general practice, the cross-sectional area of steel bars inside a
5~10 cm diameter predrilled hole is typically between 1.27 cm2 (one num-
ber 4 bar) and 15.52 cm2 (one number 14 bar).
b
According to Schlosser and Buhan (1991), the frictional resistance at
the soilnail interface ranges from 0.045 to 0.290 MPa.

soilnail interface under a pressure of 3.5 kPa is 6.3 kPa.

Table 2 presents the values of the three characteristics rele-
vant to the reduced-scale models and the prototype-scale
slopes; the values obtained for the models are consistent
with those of typical prototype-scale slopes. The ratio of the
prototype slope height to the model slope height () is 8.57
for 0.7 m high slopes to simulate slopes 6 m high.
Five 0.7 m high model slopes with different slope angles,
nail angles, and nail lengths were constructed inside a
1.1 m 0.345 m 1 m (length width height) sand box.
The box includes two 12 mm thick glass sidewalls to enable
observation of the deformation of the slope. Steel bars af-
fixed to the side glass prevent excess lateral deformation of
the box. Additionally, the facing was made of a 3 mm thick
PMMA plate; the stiffness of this facing was sufficiently
high that the displacements across the width of the facing at
a given height do not vary.
Five rows of nails were placed in the soil, with horizontal
and vertical distances between each pair of 115 mm and
140 mm, respectively. The apparatus included four strain
gauges on each of the nails in four of the five rows to record
the tensions at various points in the nails; one accelerometer
on the platform and two accelerometers on the sand box
monitored input acceleration, and two accelerometers in the
soil at the mid-width recorded acceleration of the soil mass;
and five displacement transducers at heights of 40, 180, 320,
460, and 600 mm above the bottom of the slope measured
the displacements of the facing. Figure 1 schematically de-
picts a model and photograph, with transducers mounted on
the facing. Cu = 1.68, coefficient of curvature Cc = 1.11, specific grav-
The five models were built to enable investigation of the ity Gs = 2.64, maximum dry unit weight d(max) =
effects of four important characteristics on the behavior of 16.3 kN/m3, and minimum dry unit weight d(min) =
the nailed structure. In the control model, 0.4 m long nails 13.8 kN/m3. According to the Unified Soil Classification
were placed horizontally in the slope that was 80 to the hor- System, the soil was classified as SP. Figure 2 is a plot of
izontal. Table 3 presents details of the five models and the the particle-size distribution. The sand was pluviated into
frequency amplification factor, peak amplitude of accelera- the sand box through a screen hopper with a sieve with
tion during each excitation, critical amplitude of accelera- 2.4 mm opening; the fixed 105 cm falling height maintained
tion, and angles of the bilinear failure surface. No model the relative density of the soil at 61.8%. Six or seven dyed
slopes can stand as arranged without reinforcement by the sand layers, 2 cm thick and separated by a vertical spacing
nails. As shown in Table 3, two nail angles (0 and 30), two of 125 mm, facilitated visual observation of the deformation
nail lengths (0.4 m and 0.5 m), and two frequency amplifica- of the slopes.
tion factors (3.5 and 5.0) were considered to determine the The results of triaxial tests showed that the peak friction
effects of these factors on the behavior of the nailed slope. angle of the sand increased with an increase in the relative
Slopes with different angles (80 and 90 from the horizon- density and decreased with an increase in the confining pres-
tal) were also tested. sure. The relationship between friction angle of sand (), rel-
Uniform silica sand, with subangular particles, was used ative density (Dr), and confining pressure (3) is given as a
as the backfill. The properties of the sand were as follows: functional relation. The functional relation for tested sand
median grain size D50 = 0.31 mm, uniformity coefficient with 40%, 60%, and 80% relative density while subject to

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Hong et al. 1267

Table 3. Summary of model test arrangements and test results.

Angle of bilinear
failure surface
Slope Nail Nail Frequency Input peak Critical Ratio of average
Model angle length inclination amplification amplitude of amplitude of facing displacement
No. () (m) () factor acceleration (g) acceleration (g) to slope height R () B ()
1 80 0.4 0 5.0 0.087, 0.198, 0.445, 0.795 0.024 23 46
0.598, 0.738,
0.910, 0.987
2 80 0.4 30 5.0 0.287, 0.519, 0.818, 0.805 0.023 15 40
0.901, 0.984
3 80 0.5 0 5.0 0.097, 0.188, 0.437, 0.856 0.041 20 42
0.586, 0.862,
0.993, 0.997
4 80 0.4 0 3.5 0.118, 0.238, 0.464, 0.642 0.040 32 43
0.652, 0.805
5 90 0.4 0 5.0 0.098, 0.221, 0.474, 0.530 0.042 37 51
0.645

Fig. 2. Particle-size distribution of test sand. Fig. 3. History of acceleration in an eastwest direction at obser-
vatory station TCU074 during the Chi-Chi earthquake. apeak,
peak acceleration.

confining pressures ranging from 10 to 500 kPa can be ex- of 1 Hz while subject to confining pressures ranging from 50
pressed as to 200 kPa. These soil parameters are given by
[3] = 30.81 + 13.38Dr 4.15Dr log(3/Pa) [5] Ed = 32 + 20.25Dr + 20.59(3/Pa)
where Pa is the atmospheric pressure. Lade and Lee (1976) + 18.8Dr(3/Pa)
suggested that the friction angle of sand under plane strain and
conditions, ps, be modified from a triaxial test using the fol-
lowing equation: [6] = 7.15 1.09(3 /Pa)

[4] ps = 1.5tx 17 (for tx > 34)
where tx is the friction angle of sand under triaxial test con-
ditions.
The results of a cyclic triaxial test indicated that the elas-
tic modulus of the sand under dynamic loading was a func-
tion of the confining pressure and relative density and that
the damping ratio was a function of the confining pressure
and was independent of relative density. The cyclic triaxial
tests were carried out for sand with 40%, 60%, and 80% rel-
ative density, with a sinusoidal loading having a frequency
where Ed is the elastic modulus of the sand under dynamic
loading (in MPa), and is the damping ratio. The elastic
modulus of the sand and the damping ratio obtained from
the tenth hysteresis loop are Ed = 50120 MPa and = 4%
7%, respectively. At the mid-height of the 0.7 m high model
slope (vertical stress v = 5.34 kPa, horizontal stress h =
1.65 kPa), the peak internal frictional angle, elastic modulus
under dynamic loading, and damping ratio are = 43.7,
Ed = 45.04 MPa, and = 7.1%. At the mid-height of a 6 m
high prototype slope (v = 45.75 kPa, h = 15.68 kPa), the
peak internal frictional angle, elastic modulus under dynamic

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1268 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 42, 2005

Fig. 4. Fourier spectrum of acceleration in an eastwest direction Fig. 5. Typical history of input acceleration (a) and the corre-
at observatory station TCU074 during the Chi-Chi earthquake. sponding facing displacements (model 1) at 40, 320, and
600 mm above the toe (b).

loading, and damping ratio are = 41.1, Ed = 49.50 MPa,

and = 7%.
Figure 3 is a plot of the time history of the acceleration in
the eastwest direction at observatory station TCU074 at the
time of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. These data were used
in the unidirectional (horizontal) shaking table test. The peak
ground acceleration (PGA) measured 0.588g over a period
of 90 s during the earthquake. Figure 4 is a plot of the Fou-
rier amplitude of the earthquake in the frequency domain,
and the predominant frequency is 1.07 Hz. To ensure similar
dynamic responses between the reduced-scale model and the
prototype-scale structure, Kagawa (1978) claimed that the
frequencies of the model and the prototype followed the re-
lationship
[7] m / p = 0.75
where is the ratio of prototype slope height to model slope
height; and m and p are the excitation frequencies of the
model and prototype, respectively. The durations of the
earthquake applied to all models, except model 4, were com-
pressed by a frequency amplification factor of five (to 18 s),
so a model frequency of 5.35 Hz corresponded to a fre-
quency of 1.07 Hz for a 6 m high prototype. A series of con-
secutive excitations of the same seismic history was applied Figure 5b is a typical displacementtime curve. Measure-
to each model, and these excitations were referred to as seis- ments of peak acceleration from an accelerometer located on
mic sequences by Tufenkjian and Vucetic (2000); the ampli- the platform and two embedded in soil at 70 mm and
tude of acceleration was increased between consecutive 500 mm below the crest showed that accelerations were not
seismic sequences until significant soil movement was ob- uniform throughout the soil mass. Regression from all tests
served. The measuring devices were observed and adjusted reveals that the acceleration amplifications are 1.24 and 1.28
at the end of each seismic sequence. A few minutes sepa- at the two embedded accelerometer locations (Fig. 6). The
rated each excitation sequence. seismic accelerations used in the following discussion are
those measured from the platform. Figure 7 shows the nor-
Test results malized accumulated displacements of the facing with
height of the slope at every measured level during each se-
Figure 5 is a plot of the relationship between the input quence. The displacement of the facing at every measured
acceleration time history and the displacement responses level generally increases as the model is subject to increased
of the facing at heights of 40, 320, and 600 mm above the acceleration. The outward movement of the toe shows trans-
toe of model 1 during the fourth seismic sequence. This plot lation of the entire slope mass; the upper soil mass exhibits
is representative of the seismic response of all slope models. greater outward displacement than the lower soil mass, indi-
The period of an apparent outward displacement is consis- cating rocking of the slopes. All model slopes rock in re-
tent with the dominant period of excitation, between 7 and sponse to the early loading sequences. During the later
10 s measured from the beginning of a seismic sequence. sequences, model 1 predominantly exhibits translation with

2005 NRC Canada

Hong et al.
Fig. 6. Response peak acceleration in the soil mass versus input
peak acceleration.
a little rocking, and the other models exhibit a combination
of translation and rocking. Some models exhibit a greater
horizontal displacement in the middle part of the facing than
in other parts; models 2, 4, and 5 exhibited a significant ten-
dency to outward convex displacement. The results of finite
element modeling (Segrestin and Bastick 1988; Cai and
Bathurst 1995) have shown that the seismic response of re-
inforced soil walls is a function of peak ground acceleration,
peak velocity, duration of the ground motion, frequency
content, distance from the source, and other factors. There-
fore, other base excitation records could generate other fail-
ure mechanisms; as currently presented, only one site
characteristic (i.e., peak horizontal ground acceleration) is
considered.
Behavior of model nailed slopes
For all slopes, the average displacement of the facing in-
creased with an increase in the amplitude of the base accel-
eration; the facing displacement of nailed models subjected
to a small acceleration was moderate, whereas that of nailed
models subjected to a critically large amplitude of accelera-
tion was dramatic. Figure 8 shows plots of an exponential
relationship between the input amplitude of acceleration and
the corresponding average facing displacement at the end of
each seismic sequence. The amplitude of acceleration, given
by the point of intersection between two straight lines ex-
trapolated from the two extremes of the exponential curve, is
defined as the critical amplitude of acceleration. Therefore,
the behavior of the slope is categorized by three stages, iden-
tified by the average displacement of facing at the various
amplitudes of acceleration.
(1) Stable phase In all five models, the average facing
displacements are less than 0.5% of the slope height
when the peak amplitude of acceleration is less than
0.3g. No slope can stand without the reinforcement of
the nails, so the results show that nailing the soil sup-
presses slope deformation when the nailed slope is sub-
jected to a moderate earthquake.
1269
(2) Seismic resistance phase All nailed slopes undergo
considerable deformation in this phase, in which the
nailed slopes are subjected to an excitation, with peak
amplitude of acceleration from 0.3g to the critical value.
(3) Incipient collapse phase When the peak amplitude of
acceleration exceeds the critical value, any further in-
crease in the amplitude of acceleration greatly displaces
the slope. In this phase, all models exhibit substantial
deformation and clear signs of slip. Nailed slopes exhib-
ited no immediate collapse, however, even when sub-
jected to strong acceleration, revealing the ductile
character of the resistance of the nailed structure.
Table 3 lists the critical amplitudes of acceleration and
corresponding ratios of average facing displacement to slope
height for each model. The critical amplitude of acceleration
can be used as an indicator of the seismic resistance of a
nailed slope.
Excess slope deformation was common among all models
during the seismic sequences in the incipient collapse phase.
No broken nails or facing were detected, however, implying
that the pullout of nails causes final collapse for all models.
The failure patterns of all models are such that a bilinear
surface is used to delineate the failure surface. Figure 9
shows photographs of the slopes after all seismic sequences
have been applied and sketches of the initial and final con-
figurations of all models. The dashed lines in Fig. 9 repre-
sent the boundary of the displaced slope, and the dashdot
lines delineate slip surfaces. In each case, the slip surface
propagates from the toe into the soil mass, following a shal-
low slope, and intercepts the lowest one or two rows of
nails. The soil mass enclosed by the lower slip surface line
and the line that connects the ends of the upper rows of
nails, as shown in Fig. 9, is defined as the reinforced wedge.
From the point of intersection, the slip surface propagates
farther into the soil mass, at a steeper slope. The soil mass
behind the reinforced wedge and above the steeper slip line
is defined as the nonreinforced wedge. The observed failure
mechanism is similar to that observed in reinforced walls by
Nagel (1985) but differs from that associated with the arch
shape observed by Tufenkjian and Vucetic (2000) in a test of
a nailed wall in a centrifuge. Table 3 shows the slip surface
angles R and B at the base of the reinforced and
unreinforced wedges, respectively.
Effect of nail inclination
The critical amplitudes of acceleration for models 1 and 2
are 0.795g and 0.805g, respectively, showing that nail angle
only weakly affects the seismic resistance of a nailed slope.
The magnitude and type of movement of the slope facing
vary with the angle of inclination of the nails, however. The
accumulated facing displacements at each of five monitored
locations in model 1 vary only a little, indicating the pre-
dominant displacement mechanism was translation, and the
outward convex tendency displayed by model 2 is evidence
of a combination of translation and rocking motion. Fig-
ures 7a and 7b indicate that, at around the same amplitude
of acceleration, the accumulated facing displacement at
40 mm above the toe declines as the angle of inclination of
the nail changes from 0 to 30. Both angles R and B of
the failure plane decline as the angle of inclination of the
nails is increased from 0 to 30.
2005 NRC Canada
1270
Fig. 7. Normalized accumulated displacements of the facing at the end of each seismic sequence: (a) model 1; (b) model 2; (c) model
3; (d) model 4; (e) model 5.
Effect of length of nails
The length of the nails in models 1 and 3 was 0.4 m and
0.5 m, respectively, corresponding to ratios of length of nails
to height of slope of 0.57 and 0.71, which are within the
range used in practice (length ratio = 0.51.0). Figure 10
shows plots of facing displacements for both models in re-
sponse to three seismic sequences. The slope movements for
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 42, 2005
both models are similar, when the peak amplitude of
acceleration is around 0.59g, and the average lateral dis-
placements of the facings of both models are less than 1% of
the height of the slope. Reinforcement of the slope by longer
nails did not significantly reduce the displacement of the
facing under moderate excitation. The average facing dis-
placements were 3.1% and 5.2% of the slope heights for the
2005 NRC Canada
Hong et al. 1271

Fig. 8. Average facing displacement at the end of each seismic sequence: (a) model 1; (b) model 2; (c) model 3; (d) model 4; (e)
model 5.

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1272 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 42, 2005

Fig. 9. Photographs of final model slopes and sketches of initial and final soil mass configurations: (a) model 1; (b) model 2;
(c) model 3; (d) model 4; (e) model 5.

two models, however, when the amplitude of acceleration the facing during strong excitation. Figure 10 indicates that
increased to approximately 0.99g, implying that increasing at an approximately fixed amplitude of acceleration, the fac-
the length of nails significantly reduces the displacement of ing displacement at 40 mm above the toe decreases as the

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Hong et al. 1273

Fig. 9 (concluded).

Fig. 10. Facing displacement for models 1 and 3 due to three
seismic sequences.
length of the nails increases; a longer nail more tightly
constrains the motion of the slope toe under strong seismic
excitation. The critical amplitude of acceleration increases
with an increase in the length of the nails. The angles R and
B decrease as the length of the nails increases.

Effect of frequency amplification factor

Figure 11 is a plot of the relationship between the ampli-
tude of acceleration and the facing displacements at 10 cm
below the crest and 4 cm above the toe of the slope for mod-
els 1 and 4, in which the frequency amplification factors
were 5.0 and 3.5, respectively, corresponding to 18.0 and
25.7 s of excitation. These findings show that the nailed
slope under an excitation with smaller frequency amplifica-
tion factor results in a greater horizontal displacement and a
significant reduction in the critical amplitude of acceleration.
A smaller frequency amplification factor of a nailed slope
subjected to excitation corresponds to a significantly larger
angle R and a reduced seismic resistance. It should be

2005 NRC Canada

1274
Fig. 11. Peak amplitude of acceleration in the seismic sequence
versus the corresponding facing displacement for various fre-
quency amplification factors: (a) 100 mm below the crest;
(b) 40 mm above the toe.
noted, however, that a smaller frequency amplification fac-
tor corresponds to a longer duration of shaking, and part of
the foregoing results may be referred to excitation duration.
Numerical analysis by Bathurst and Hatami (1998) indicated
that the predominant frequency significantly affects the de-
formation of a reinforced retaining wall under dynamic load-
ing. Wall deformation and reinforcement tension increase
rapidly when the applied excitation frequency approaches
the natural frequency of a reinforced wall. Using the numeri-
cal analysis method proposed by Kirzhner and Rosenhouse
(2000), the natural frequency of the models is determined as
Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 42, 2005
50 Hz. A search for the natural frequency is also carried out
by comparing the facing displacement while the elastic
model is subject to different cyclic frequencies. The greatest
displacement occurs when the cyclic frequency is 59 Hz.
Both predicted natural frequencies are in the range sug-
gested by Richardson and Lee (1975), who reported that the
period of the reinforced wall ranges between 0.020H and
0.033H, i.e., natural frequency in the range of 4371 Hz for
a 0.7 m high wall.
Effect of slope angle
Results of tests on models 1 and 5 show that a steep
nailed slope has less seismic resistance; the critical ampli-
tudes of acceleration are 0.795g and 0.530g for models 1
and 5, respectively. The models exhibited significantly dif-
ferent facing movement patterns (Figs. 7a, 7e); a nailed
slope at 80 to the horizontal (model 1) exhibited predomi-
nantly translation, whereas a slope at a 90 angle exhibited a
combination of translation and rocking (model 5). At about
the same amplitude of acceleration, the facing displacement
of model 5 was greater than that of model 1. The much
higher R angle for model 5 than for model 1 shows that the
failure mechanism varies from translation to overturning as
the angle of the slope increases from 80 (model 1) to 90
(model 5).
Pseudo-static analysis approach
The pseudo-static analysis extended from limit force equi-
librium analyses is commonly used to design earthquake-
resistant retaining structures. A number of investigators have
assumed that a bilinear surface delineates the failure surface
(Stocker et al. 1979, the German method; CALTRANS
1991, the Snail program; Byrne 1991, the Goldnail program;
and Schlosser 1984, the TALREN program). A pseudo-static
approach, considering the failure wedge pattern observed in
laboratory model tests, is presented to evaluate the earth-
quake resistance of slopes reinforced by nails of various
lengths and at different angles. The results are compared
with those obtained by Schlosser (1984) and with the experi-
mental data in this investigation.
The method of Schlosser (1984) includes two mechanisms
of soil-inclusion interaction (i.e., the soil-inclusion friction
and passive normal soil reaction on the nail). The solution
allows for several definitions of the failure criteria. The
multicriteria analysis is proposed to evaluate the stability of
the nailed slope with respect to four potential failure modes:
shear failure of the soil along the potential failure surface,
pullout failure of the nail, nail breakage by either excessive
bending or the combined effect of tension and shear forces,
and creep of the soil from lateral pressure on the nail. The
computer program TALREN is derived from the method of
slices and taking into account the multicriteria. TALREN
recommends a safety factor of 1.0 for tensile strength of the
inclusion, 1.5 for soil shear strength, 1.5 for soil-inclusion
friction, and 2.0 for lateral earth pressure on the inclusion.
The safety factor of 1.0 for soil shear strength is chosen
when the result from the method of Schlosser is compared
with that obtained from the proposed method.
The slip surface developed in model tests was observed,
and the failure surfaces of nailed slopes were outlined using
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Hong et al. 1275

Fig. 12. Nailed slope at failure. Fig. 13. Free body diagrams of the two wedges.

a bilinear boundary (Fig. 12). The soil mass above the

bilinear line is divided into reinforced and unreinforced
wedges. Close nail spacing in the reinforced wedge leads to
coherence and a shallower failure surface slope beneath the
wedge. An active zone developed behind the reinforced zone
with a steeper failure surface slope and is defined as the
unreinforced soil wedge. The proposed approach involves a
simplification of the traditional two-wedge method in which
only forces are balanced, and the analysis is based on the
following three assumptions:
(1) The slip line beneath the reinforced zone develops from
the toe and meets two slip lines at point C (see Fig. 12);
one is the slip line beneath the unreinforced zone and
the other is the linear surface that connects the buried
ends of all nails. This slip line may intercept lower rows
of nails.
(2) The friction angle at the interface of the two wedges
equals the friction angle of the soil (BR = ps).
(3) The friction angles at the interfaces of the reinforced
and unreinforced wedges and the intact soil mass equal
the friction angle of the soil (R = ps, B = ps).
Figure 13 depicts the free body diagram for both wedges;
subscripts R and B represent the reinforced and unreinforced
wedges, respectively. The resultant force at the base of the
unreinforced wedge, RB, and that between two wedges, PBR,
can be determined from the force equilibrium of the
unreinforced wedge in the horizontal and vertical directions:
C B cos B + PBR cos BR + khWB
2
[8] RB =
sin( B B)

WB sin( B B) + khWB cos ( B B) C B cos B

[9] PBR =

cos BR + B + B
2

where RB is the resultant force at the base of the unreinforced wedge, CB is the cohesive force at the base of the unreinforced
wedge, PBR is the resultant force at the boundary between the two wedges, BR is the friction angle at the boundary between
the two wedges, B is the angle of the resultant force RB with respect to the base of the unreinforced wedge, is the slope an-
gle, kh is the horizontal seismic coefficient (= a/g, where a is the acceleration), WB is the weight of soil in the unreinforced
wedge, and B is the slip surface angle under the unreinforced wedge.
Similarly, the resultant force at the base of the reinforced wedge, RR, and the friction force at the soilnail interface re-
quired to maintain the equilibrium of the reinforced wedge, Treq, can be obtained from force equilibrium:

Treq cos i + C R cos R khWR PBR cos BR +
2
[10] RR =
sin( R R )

WR sin( R R ) + PBR cos BR + R + R C R cos R + khWR cos( R R )
2
[11] Treq =
cos(i + R R )

where RR is the resultant force at the base of the reinforced wedge, Treq is the friction force at the soilnail interface required
to maintain equilibrium of the reinforced wedge, i is the angle of inclination of the nails, CR is the cohesive force at the base
of the reinforced wedge, R is the angle of the resultant force RR with respect to the base of the reinforced wedge, WR is the
weight of soil in the reinforced wedge, and R is the slip surface angle under the reinforced wedge.

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1276 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 42, 2005

Table 4. Comparison of the critical seismic coefficients obtained from model tests with analytical predicted values.
Critical seismic Angle of bilinear failure surface
coefficient using proposed approach
Slope Nail Nail Critical amplitude of
Model angle length inclination acceleration from Proposed Schlossers
No. () (m) () model test (g) approach method R () B ()
1 80 0.4 0 0.795 0.426 0.480 26 50
2 80 0.4 30 0.805 0.579 0.630 29 43
3 80 0.5 0 0.856 0.519 0.590 21 46
4 80 0.4 0 0.642 0.426a 0.480a 26a 50a
5 90 0.4 0 0.530 0.361 0.425 28 58
a
Using the analytical results of model 1.

Fig. 14. Safety factor versus horizontal seismic coefficient for
various arrangements of nails and slope angles.
The safety factor is defined as the minimum value of
(i) the ratio of the resistance of the nails to pullout in the re-
sistant zone to the friction force at the soilnail interface re-
quired to maintain the equilibrium of reinforced wedge, and
(ii) the ratio of the tensile strength of the nails to the friction
force at the soilnail interface required to maintain the equi-
librium of reinforced wedge:
Tpullout Fy
[12] FS = min , the proposed approach and the method of Schlosser (1984).
Treq Treq
where Tpullout is the pullout resistance of a nail in the resis-
tant zone.
Assuming that a nailed slope has a slip surface angle R
with a known arrangement of nails and horizontal seismic
coefficient, the maximum resultant force PBR,max can be ob-
tained by substituting trial B angles into eq. [9]. The fric-
tion force at the soilnail interface required to maintain the
equilibrium of the reinforced wedge Treq can be determined
by substituting PBR,max into eq. [11]. The minimum safety
factor can be derived using eq. [12] by substituting trial R
values. The critical horizontal seismic coefficient is defined
as the horizontal seismic coefficient that corresponds to a
safety factor of 1.0.
The properties of the soil and nail materials and the con-
figuration of the model slopes were input into the proposed
pseudo-static analysis for validation. Numerical results of
the model tests that pertain to the arrangements of nails are
presented as follows.
Figure 14 is a plot of the safety factor against the horizon-
tal seismic coefficient for all models. The safety factor of
both nailed slopes with nail angles of 0 (model 1) and 30
(model 2) exceeds 2 when the horizontal seismic coefficient
is less than 0.2. For a given horizontal seismic coefficient,
model 2 has a larger safety factor than model 1, indicating
that inclining the nails increases the stability of the slope.
The critical horizontal seismic coefficients are 0.426 and
0.579, respectively, at these two angles of inclination of the
nails, implying that the seismic resistance increases with an
increase in the angle of inclination of the nails.
The safety factor increases considerably as the length of
the nail increases from 0.57H (model 1) to 0.71H (model 3).
The critical horizontal seismic coefficient increases from
0.426 for a slope with nails of length 0.57H to 0.519 for a
slope with nails of length 0.71H. Analytical results also indi-
cate that, during strong excitation, a slope reinforced by
shorter inclined nails will have a greater safety factor than
one reinforced by longer horizontal nails.
Clearly, the safety factor decreases as the angle of the
slope increases. The critical horizontal seismic coefficient
decreases from 0.426 at a slope angle of 80 (model 1) to
0.361 at a slope angle of 90 (model 5).
Table 4 compares the experimentally determined critical
seismic coefficient with the coefficients determined using
The trends obtained using both analytical methods are simi-
lar; however, the predictions of the proposed approach are
more conservative than those obtained using the method of
Schlosser. For all slopes at an angle of 80 (models 1, 2, and
3), the two angles of the bilinear failure surface, R and B,
obtained using the proposed approach, exceed those ob-
tained in the model tests. For the slope at an angle of 90
(model 5), R according to the proposed approach is lower
than the experimental value, whereas B is higher. Notably,
no effect of the frequency amplification factor on the safety
factor and on the critical seismic coefficient is evident when
the analytical method is used (models 1 and 4). Figure 15
presents the experimentally observed and predicted slip sur-
faces using both analytical methods.
In practical design by pseudo-static analysis, the input
seismic force is typically determined by reducing by some
factor the peak seismic acceleration to be resisted during the
lifetime of the slope. Figure 16 is a plot of a regression of

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Hong et al.
Fig. 15. Observed and predicted failure surfaces on model slopes: (a) model 1; (b) model 2; (c) model 3; (d) model 5.
Fig. 16. Comparison of predicted and experimentally obtained
critical seismic coefficients.
the critical seismic amplitudes obtained in the model tests
with the critical seismic coefficients obtained by the pro-
posed two-wedge approach. The ratio of the critical seismic
1277
coefficient to the critical seismic amplitude is 0.63, which is
different from the value (0.5) suggested by the US Federal
Highway Administration (Byrne et al. 1998) for designing a
nailed structure to resist external sliding.
Conclusions
The effects of the angle and length of nails and the fre-
quency amplification factor on the seismic resistance and
failure mechanism of steep nailed slopes, and the responses
of slopes at various angles, were investigated by conducting
shaking table tests of five model nailed slopes corresponding
to a 6 m high prototype. A pseudo-static stability analysis,
based on the limit equilibrium approach and the assumption
of a two-wedge failure mechanism, was presented to analyze
the seismic resistance of a nailed slope. For all models, the
average facing displacements are less than 0.5% of the slope
height when the peak amplitude of acceleration is less than
0.3g, indicating that soil nailing suppresses the deformation
of a slope in a moderate earthquake. A slope is dramatically
deformed when the peak amplitude of acceleration exceeds
the critical amplitude of acceleration. Nailed slopes did not
collapse immediately, however, even when subjected to
strong acceleration, revealing the ductile character of the re-
sistance of the nailed structure. The important conclusions
drawn from the model tests and the analytical predictions are
as follows.
(1) The nail angle only weakly affects the seismic resis-
tance of a nailed slope. The magnitude and type of fac-
2005 NRC Canada
1278
ing displacement vary with variations in the inclination
angle of the nails, however; a slope reinforced with hor-
izontal nails exhibits predominantly translational mo-
tion, and a slope with inclined nails exhibits combined
translation and rocking.
(2) Increasing the length of nails increased the seismic re-
sistance of the slope. Lengthening the reinforcing nails
does not reduce the deformation of the slope subjected
to a moderate excitation but does reduce the deforma-
tion when the slope is subjected to a strong excitation.
(3) Experimental results show that a nailed slope subjected
to an excitation with a smaller frequency amplification
factor exhibits a greater horizontal displacement and
lower seismic resistance. An excitation with a smaller
frequency amplification factor corresponds to a longer
excitation of lower frequency, however; the effects on
facing displacement and the seismic resistance may fol-
low from changes in the frequency and (or) duration of
excitation.
(4) The results of tests of models 1 and 5 show that a nailed
slope with a steeper angle has a lower seismic resis-
tance, which declines drastically as the angle of the
slope is increased from 80 to 90.
(5) Predictions of the seismic resistance made using the
proposed approach are more conservative than those of
Schlosser (1984). A regression analysis, involving the
results of model tests and the proposed two-wedge ap-
proach, indicates that the ratio of the critical seismic co-
efficient to the critical seismic amplitude of 0.63 is
different from the value suggested by the US Federal
Highway Administration (Byrne et al. 1998) in design-
ing a nailed structure to resist external sliding.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the National Science
Council of the Republic of China for financially supporting
this research under Contract NSC90-2211-E-032-027. Tests
were carried out at the National Center for Research on
Earthquake Engineering, Taiwan. The opportunity to con-
duct these tests is gratefully acknowledged.
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