The main purpose of shotcrete lacing in soil nailed excavations is generally held to be the control of local failure in the soil between the nails. This relatively non-essential role has meant that facing design has remained reasonably rudimentary. In this paper shotcrete facings in soil nailed excavations have been analysed using a purpose built three-dimensional finite element program. A full-scale experimental soil nailed wall, constructed as part of The French National Research Project Clouterre, has been modelled using the program and comparisons between calculated and observed behaviour are presented and discussed. The parameters used in the simulations are justified using published data. Good agreement is found between calculated and published displacements, nail forces, stresses and failure mechanisms.
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