Bearing capacity of a flexible plastic plate for soil nailing

A large flexible bearing face plate for soil nailing made from reclaimed plastics has recently been developed to improve the construction performance and reduce the impact on the natural environment. This study aims to clarify the influence of bending stiffness and dimensions of the bearing plate on its deformation and bearing capacity characteristics. The authors conducted a series of fundamental laboratory bearing capacity tests on rigid and flexible model footings placed on dense sand to simulate and compare the mechanical behaviour of bearing plates installed on a slope surface. The reduction in the ultimate bearing capacity caused by footing flexibility was 10–20% under experimental conditions, which is small considering the extremely large difference (i.e. three to four orders of magnitude) in rigidity between the rigid and flexible footings. For practical application, the plastic bearing plate may not mobilise the required bearing pressure due to the reduction in subgrade reaction when an extremely large or thin bearing plate is used.