The principle of soil nailing consists in installing bar-shaped reinforcement elements (soil nails) into the in-situ soil in order to increase the tensile and shear strength of the ground. This creates a monolithic composite body of the existing soil, whose load-bearing behavior is comparable to that of a gravity wall subjected to external actions.

Typical applications include the stabilization of terrain steps, slope cuts and excavations, as well as the reinforcement of existing slopes and embankments. A special application is the use as rock nails.