The effect of nano-clay stabilizing treatment on the real excavation wall failure: A case study

Nano-material as one of the stabilizer materials remains the central part of the improvement of soil characteristics. In the current paper, the wall of a real excavation, which is stabilized with the injection of Nano-clay, is studied to perceive how modern procedures affect soil slopes resistance like a real vertical cut. For this purpose, the samples extracted from different boreholes of the site are prepared for the tests with and without different percentages of Nano-clay for assessing the effects of Nano-clay on the soil parameters. To check the results in the laboratory, for stabilization of the excavation wall, 7% weight concentration Nano-clay is injected through nine different boreholes. The distances between the boreholes are adjusted from the results of the permeability test and SEM imaging. Increasing the excavation wall stability is evaluated by load-bearing capacity tests. The results of loading on stabilized and non-stabilized excavation walls show that adding Nano-clay affects the stability of the excavation wall significantly. Additionally, while an economical worth analysis shows that the use of Nano-clay can be rather more costly than soil nailing for stabilization of excavation walls, this method is still preferable due to numerous advantages.