Dynamic failure of soil-nailed excavations in centrifuge

A series of 14 dynamic Centriftige tests was conducted on models of soil nailed excavations. The models were subjected to various levels of horizontal shaking to investigate the failure mechanism and seismic stability of their prototypes. For all models, the depth of the prototype excavation was 7.6 meters and the centrifuge model scale factor was 50. The parameters that varied in the testing program were length, rigidity, inclination and distribution of the nails and the rigidity of the facing. Different failure surfaces were obtained for various model configurations under the strong shaking. This paper summarizes the testing procedure and presents illustrations of failure patterns. The investigation shows that centrifuge testing can successfully demonstrate the dynamic behavior of soil-nailed system and how different parameters can affect its stability and the geometry of its failure pattern.