This paper describes a preliminary investigation of an innovative driven-grouted soil nail (x-Nail), which has been designed by combining the facilities and capabilities of a purely frictional driven nail and a compaction grouted soil-nail. In addition, a special type of cementitious grout with an additive was used to minimize grout bleeding and to increase bond strength. A series of fully instrumented laboratory-scale pullout tests were performed to evaluate the performance of the x-Nail compared to a conventional driven soil nail and a pre-buried compaction-grouted soil nail. It was found that the x-Nail worked as an anchor nail instead of a purely frictional soil nail. The results revealed that, for a given injected grout volume, the pullout capacity of the x-Nail nail increased approximately 1,800% compared to the purely frictional driven soil nail, and by approximately 12% compared with the pre-buried compaction-grouted soil nail. Based on these preliminary investigations, it can be concluded that the innovative x-Nail provides a promising alternate for soil reinforcement.
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