What is the difference between soldier pile and soil nail?

Author: Mr. Toni Heller  |  Last update: Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Speed and Cost Soil nail walls are installed more quickly and cost effectively than other shoring systems. Soldier pile walls or sheet pile walls require large equipment to drill in place or drive the piles or sheets. Soil nails avoid the time and cost of installing these vertical elements.

What is the purpose of a soldier pile?

Soldier piles are used to create a strong foundation for heavy structures such as buildings, bridges and roads. The piles are commonly made of steel that's driven into the ground to help distribute the weight of the structure from the loose topsoil down to the rock below.

What are soil nails?

Soil nailing consists of driving, screwing, drilling, or “shooting” a series of steel or fiberglass bars into the ground, most commonly for excavation support or stabilization of steep slopes or cuts. Nails have also been used for rock slope stabilization (see Section 15.1.

What is the difference between soldier piles and sheet piles?

The primary difference between soldier piles and other retaining systems like sheet piles is that soldier piles are spaced between 5 and 10 feet apart and intended to be temporary. They're filled with lagging, usually made of shotcrete, metal plates, or wood.

What is a disadvantage of soil nail?

3 Disadvantages of soil nailing

The performance of the system can be affected by soil variability, nail corrosion, or installation errors. Additionally, it may not be suitable for certain soil conditions, such as very soft, loose, or organic soils. It may also not be effective for large or deep-seated failures.

Soil Nails Animation

Is soil nailing better than retaining wall?

Soil Nailing vs Retaining Walls

First, soil nailing is a top-down process, unlike retaining walls which start at the bottom and work up as they excavate and reinforce.

Is soil nailing expensive?

Soil nail walls are more economical than conventional concrete gravity walls when conventional soil nailing construction procedures are used.

How deep should a soldier pile be?

Cantilever soldier pile walls are commonly used when excavation depths are limited to 5m or less (15ft). In most cases, cantilever depths are kept to under 3.5m (10ft) because controlling wall displacements requires an increasingly stiffer steel section.

What is the difference between a soldier pile wall and a soil nail wall?

Soil nail walls are installed more quickly and cost effectively than other shoring systems. Soldier pile walls or sheet pile walls require large equipment to drill in place or drive the piles or sheets. Soil nails avoid the time and cost of installing these vertical elements.

Are soldier piles permanent?

Soldier Pile and Lagging Design Requirements. Lagging for soldier pile walls, with and without permanent ground anchors, shall be designed as either temporary or permanent, based on the conditions described below.

What does a soil nail look like?

Soil nails are typically composed of steel bars, including solid all-threaded rebar Fiberglass bar or hollow bar nails, that are grouted into drilled holes in soil or rock.

What can I use instead of soil nailing?

Grouting means placing grout material under pressure to seal or stabilize joints and pores of subsoil. There are various types of grouting, such as fill grouting, fracture grouting, compaction grouting and jet grouting [5].

Are soil nails active or passive?

Soil nails are steel tendons installed to increase the stability of slopes or earth retaining walls. These are passive elements that reinforce the ground primarily to support excavations in soil and weak rock material and to stabilize slopes with relatively shallow slip surfaces (Lazarte et al.

What is the spacing for soldier piles?

The stability of a soldier pile retaining wall depends upon the active earth pressure being resisted by passive pressure on the embedded section of the pile. Pile spacing is typically 6 – 10 feet on center.

What type of wood is used for lagging?

The versatility of Southern Yellow Pine makes it ideal for many applications of Timber Lagging in highway, industrial and commercial applications being the strongest domestic softwood although the reliable Douglas Fir timber or the old standby Mixed Oak timbers are also available.

What does MSE wall stand for?

What Is an MSE Wall? A Mechanically Stabilized Earth wall is a retaining structure showcasing several layers of backfill and soil reinforcement elements that are connected to a wall facing. Wall facings are usually thin and work to stop the erosion of structural backfill.

What are soldier piles used for?

Soldier pile and lagging walls are widely used in the design of deep excavation projects all over the world. The initial low cost, the constructability and the low construction time requirements make soldier piles the wall type of preference in many cases, especially in the USA.

What are the disadvantages of soil nails?

excavation during construction and ground water corrodes the reinforcement and grout water ratio disturbs. soil because during the drilling process, un-grouted holes can collapse. care should be taken during installation of nails.

How much does a soil nail wall cost?

Nationally, soil nailing costs $29–40 per square foot, compared to tie-back walls at $45–60 per square foot. Soil nailing isn't appropriate for all projects, though.

What is the maximum height of a soldier pile wall?

The economical height of this type of wall is generally limited to a maximum height of 18 feet. Figure 6-2 shows a typical soldier pile retaining wall.

What is soil arching between soldier piles?

When the soil between soldier piles is capable of self support the soil loads will transfer to the adjacent soldier piles, and no lagging will be needed. This soil load transfer is referred to as soil arching.

How to install soldier pile?

Soldier piles are drilled or driven vertically into the ground considering vertical elements like a steel beam, pile, pipe spaced between 6 to 10 feet. It is designed to limit the horizontal movement of soil excavation.

What angle should soil nail be installed?

2.2 Soil nails

They are installed typically at a declination of 10° to 20° to the horizontal primarily to aid the grouting process.

What is the maximum height of a soil nail wall?

As a result of this strategic synergy between engineering acumen and cutting-edge software, The Heights at Fashion Valley now boasts a 105-foot soil nail wall — the tallest ever constructed in the U.S.A. SnailPlus isn't just a software; it's a companion in conquering engineering challenges, making every project a ...

What is the purpose of a soil nail wall?

Soil nail walls are particularly well suited to excavation applications for ground conditions that require vertical or near-vertical cuts, and have been proven to be ideal for the following temporary and permanent applications: Road & rail cuttings. Road & rail widenings beneath existing bridges.

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