Indian Geotechnical Conference 2017 GeoNEst

14-16 December 2017, IIT Guwahati, India

Analysis of Sheet Pile Wall under Different Loading Conditions Using FEM
Shivangi Saxena
Vijay Kumar
Department of Civil Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, Allahabad- 211004
E-mail: shivangisaxenacivil0049@gmail.com; vkr@mnnit.ac.in

ABSTRACT: Present study deals with the static analysis of sheet pile wall penetrating the silty-sandy soil. The stability
of wall is investigated by analyzing numerical outputs such as the wall deformation, point of zero shear and maximum
bending moment using computer software program: PLAXIS. Walls have been analyzed for different angle of internal
friction (ϕ) and depth of penetration (D) of the wall below dredge line. From the analysis, failure is found to occur for the
plastic elements extending far beneath the sheet pile tip that may reach the outer boundary of the selected mesh plot. The
cantilever sheet pile wall penetrating 18.12 m of sandy soil is safe for the site of our study for the undertaken surcharge.
The theoretical depth of sheet pile wall decreases for both scenarios on applying the Factor of Safety (FOS) value of 1.4,
when comparing the cantilever and anchored sheet pile wall. The total actual wall length remains constant when compared
against the actual penetration depth.
Keywords: Cantilever sheet pile wall, Anchored sheet pile wall, PLAXIS, loading conditions.

Introduction movements to an acceptable level (Potts & Fourie 1984).

This research work provides information on design of
sheet pile retaining walls and analyzing it for different
static conditions. Retaining walls are designed to restrain
soil for a slope that would not be naturally kept (typically
a steep, near- vertical or vertical slope). They are typically
used for bounding soils between two different elevations
mostly in areas possessing undesirable slopes or in region
where the site needs to be shaped severely and engineered
for specific purpose like hillside farming or roadway
overpass (Tripathi and Jawaid 2014). Sheet piling
retaining walls are usually used in soft and tight spaces
(Bengt, 2010). For the cantilever and anchored sheet pile
wall, it was seen that there is a good correspondence
between different types of sheet pile walls under the effect
of water pressure and surcharge load as suggested by Ojha
and Trivedi, 2013.The following review is dealing with the
design of sheet pile wall using Indian Standards for
analytical method of design and Finite Element Modeling
(FEM) for analysis of deflection and settlement of the wall.
The work also includes analysis techniques, allowable
criteria, design procedures, and construction consideration
for the selection, design, and installation of sheet pile
walls. This research provides a comparison between
stability of cantilever and anchored sheet pile wall based
on various static parameters like types of sheet pile
material, loads applied to the sheet pile, failure modes,
design for wall stability and some construction
considerations.
This dissertation’s investigations use PLAXIS software
for undertaking a numerical examination of sheet pile
walls.
2.1 Creation of Model
The first step is to build the geometry of the problem,
assuming an initial length in the x and y directions. The
soil layer boundaries and material properties are then
defined. Construction elements like walls and anchors are
placed next. The soil/wall system is then created using
interface properties. Finally, the mesh is generated.
Several modes have been developed for representing the
soil behavior. These include the linear elastic model,
perfectly plastic model, hyperbolic model and the Mohr-
Coulomb model (Rowe, 1957). Selecting the model to be
used for modeling the soil is extremely important and is
dependent on several factors. Initially, a very course mesh
was assumed to analyze the specific problem (Fig. 1). This
was adjusted upon gaining a greater familiarity with the
PLAXIS software.

2. Analysis of Cantilever and Anchored Sheet Pile Wall

using FEM
The design methods are based on the fact that force and
moment equilibrium are required for determining the
minimum required wall penetration depth and the
maximum bending moment. A FOS should be applied to
the passive pressures to take any uncertainties in the soil
condition, method of stability analysis and loading
conditions into account, and to restraint the soil
Fig.1 Analysis on coarse mesh
2.2 Soil Mass Properties
The soil acts as non-linear and irreversible when subjected
to very high loads. According to PLAXIS Bulletin (1998)
a number of constitutive models are available. On the basis
of studies it has been found that soil- pile interaction can

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be analyzed through elasto plastic model. Following soil
properties Table 1 are set in initial stage of project.

Table-1 Soil Properties used in Modeling

Parameter Value
Material Mohr- Coulomb
Model
Material Type Drained
γunsat 18.850 kN/m3
γsat 20.330 kN/m3
kx 1.00 m/day
ky 1.00 m/day
Fig. 3(a) Failure surface represented through grid for
Stiffness 1.300 E + 04 kN/m2
Cantilever sheet pile
μ 0.300
C 0.00
φ 40°

2.3 Construction of Sheet Pile

The sheet pile was constructed by inserting a structural
beam element into the mesh. A 6-noded triangular element
has been used in the mesh creation. The surface of this
sheet pile was modeled as perfectly smooth so as not to
form any friction between the soil and the sheet pile. This
was done to ensure accuracy when comparing the Fig. 3(b) Failure surface represented through grid for
numerical results with the analytical solutions. The sheet Anchored sheet pile
pile wall properties were specified as following (Fig. 2).
3.2 Effect of Different FOS
A comparison has been made between the two wall to
analyses the effect of FOS on coefficient of passive
pressure (kP) in Table 2.

Table-2 Comparison between Cantilever (C) and

Anchored (A) Sheet Pile Wall

Depth Kp Kp %
(D) (C) (A) Difference
(m) (m)
Theoretical 8.5 7.2 15.1
depth
Fig. 2 Sheet pile wall properties Total actual 18.1 19.8 6.0
depth
3. Important Results Point of zero 1.9 3.1 38.3
A FOS of 1.0 (IS 9527: part 3,1983) has been adopted for shear force
determining the required penetration depth. To avoid the
overstressing, sheet piles are designed to resist the forces
produced by soil pressure using FOS 1.3. Line loading as 3.3 Effect of Soil Friction Angle
example of continuous wall footing of narrow width or The analysis of results, in terms of maximum wall
similar load parallel to retaining structure gives overall displacement (δ) and maximum bending moments (BM),
depth of 18.7 feet for silty sand. for a loose sandy soil (ϕ=35°), medium dense sandy soil
(ϕ=40°) and a very dense sandy soil (ϕ=45°) are given in
3.1 Excavation phase Table 3.
The required depth above the dredge line to the left of the
sheet pile was then excavated using the excavation phase
up to the calculated dredge line. According to the PLAXIS
Bulletin, the accuracy of the results depends on the
fineness of the mesh. The deformed mesh is as indicated
in Fig. 3(a) and (b).
The grid was also widened in the horizontal direction to
facilitate the correct interpretation of the results obtained
from PLAXIS and validation of result was done on basis
of previous studies.
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Table-3 Effect of Soil Friction Angle for Cantilever Sheet conferences on case histories in geotechnical
Pile Wall engineering, Singapore, June 1-5, 1988, pp. 1515-1550.
ϕ Depth PLAXIS Analysis
(D) Indian Standard 9527 (Part 3)-1983, Indian Standard code
(m) of practice for Design and Construction of Port and
Max. BM Max. δ Harbor Structures Part 3-Sheet pile walls, Bureau of
(kN-m) (m) Indian standard, New Delhi, India.

35° 9.02 212.44 186.34 x Ojha, S. and Trivedi, A. (2013) Shear strength parameters
10-3 for Silty-Sand using Relative Compaction, EJGE
40° 8.58 262.58 156.83 x Journal, Volume 18, Bund. A, pp. 81-99.
10-3
45° 7.28 305.40 122.41 x Potts, D.M and Fourie, A.B, (1984) The behaviour of a
10-3 propped retaining wall: Results of a numerical
experiment, Geotechnique, Volume 34, Issue:3,
DOI:10.1680/ geot.1984.34.3.383, pp. 383–404.
3.4 Effect of the Ground Water Table
Effect of water table on bending moment is shown in Table Plaxis Bulletin (1998). Bulletin of the PLAXIS Users
4. Association (NL), 2601 DH Delfth, The Netherlands.
Table-4 Parametric Study of Ground Water for Cantilever
(C) and Anchored (A) Sheet Pile Wall Rowe, P.W. (1957) Sheet Pile Walls in Clay, Proceedings
Wall No Water % of Institution of Civil Engineers, London, England,
penetration water table Difference Volume 7, pp. 629 - 654.
(m) table
Max. Max. Tripathi, A and Jawaid, S.M. (2014), Parametric study of
BM BM a retaining wall under static and seismic loading, GJESR
(kN) (kN) Research paper Volume 1(Issue 10) ISSN: 2349-283X,
(C) 8.58 313.2 262.5 16.16 pp.40-50
(A) 7.28 343.3 305.4 11.04

The maximum bending moment for the cantilever sheet

pile wall model containing no water table is 16.16% larger
than the maximum bending moment obtained from the
cantilever sheet pile wall model with a water table present.

4. Conclusions
The effect of different combinations of loadings was
investigated through the wall displacements, bending
moments and ground settlement for cantilever and
anchored sheet pile wall. Line loading as example of
continuous wall footing of narrow width gives an overall
depth of 18.7 feet for silty sand. Other lateral loads like ice
thrusts, wave forces, and earthquake forces are
comparative higher lateral pressure for design. This is
found to be up to 12% for a retaining wall of moderate
height.

A difference of 6.04% is found between total penetration

depth and 15.15% on theoretical penetration depth of
cantilever and anchored sheet pile wall through FEM. The
maximum bending moment is 16.16% lesser in case of
water table model as compared to the model without the
influence of water table for a penetration depth of 8.58 m.
The results indicated that applying an anchor tie rod force
leads to a decrease in the maximum bending moment
exerted on the sheet pile wall, maximum wall deflection
and ground settlement in any combination of loading.

References

Bengt B. B. (2010) Design and construction of Anchored

and Strutted sheet pile walls in soft clays, International

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