Smart Soil Nails.

This article discusses the development of smart soil nails that can monitor the condition of grout in real-time. Grouted soil nails are commonly used for stabilizing soil slopes and tunnel linings, but they are susceptible to pullout failure due to grout deterioration. The smart nails use ultrasonic wave packets to inspect the grout surrounding them and offer insights into the structural integrity of the soil nails. The article suggests that these smart nails have the potential to be used in various geotechnical engineering applications, but further experiments are needed to correlate the pullout capacity with the deterioration index. [Extracted from the article]