Abstract: Basal bearing capacity calculation is one of the important issues for soil nailing wall design. In Chinese excavation engineering, the bearing capacity of soil nailing walls is usually taken into consideration with the basal stability analysis. Soil nailing wall models are established in the Plaxis3D. Finite element method is employed to study the foundation soil′s failure mode, the failure loads and the basal stress distribution of the soil nailing wall. The analysis mode in Chinese excavation codes for bearing capacity of soil nailing walls is examined based on the results from the finite element method; and some problems are detected. Referring to the bearing capacity calculation mode for the mechanically stabilized earth walls, and based on the stress distribution under the soil nailing wall, the soil nailing walls are considered as rigid footings with inclined and eccentric loads. The solutions for rigid footings with inclined and eccentric loads proposed by Meyerhof and Vesic are used to calculate the bearing capacity of soil nailing walls. Calculation results show that the solutions by Meyerhof are more consistent with the truth; so that the bearing capacity analysis mode for soil nailing walls is presented.

Key words: bearing capacity, soil nailing walls, finite element method