Application of the Modified Goodman Model in Soil Nailing

Abstract

Soil nailing is an in situ soil reinforcement technique used for enhancing the stability of slopes, retaining walls, and excavations. Nails work predominantly in tension, but may also work in bending and/or shear under certain circumstances. To accurately simulate the interaction mechanism between soil mass and nails, it is necessary to study the behavior of their contact interface. The Goodman element is one of the interface elements used extensively in geotechnical contact problems. However, larger normal stiffness values are needed in the application of the Goodman element, which often leads to larger numerical error. In this paper, the Goodman element model was modified by adding two rotational degrees of freedom. Then, a finite-element program was written based on the modified Goodman element model and was applied in analyzing a foundation pit. Compared with the actual monitoring results, it shows that the modified Goodman element model developed in this paper is reasonable and feasible.