CVX9416 - 7. Sheet Piles Walls - SKN

13‐Feb‐21
CVX9416 Sheet pile walls (SPW)

Geotechnical Design □ Constructed to retain earth, water or any other fill material
and Soil Structure □ Thinner in section.
Interaction
7. Sheet Pile Walls
by
Dr. S.K. Navaratnarajah
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Peradeniya
Visiting Lecturer ‐ Open University of Sri Lanka 2
CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah
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□ Several types of sheet piles are used in construction: □ Interlocks of sheet-pile sections
are shaped like following for
(a) wooden sheet piles;
watertight connections.
(b) precast concrete sheet piles;
(c) steel sheet piles, etc.
□ Steel SPW is the most common type since: Thumb-and-finger type
• it resists high driving stresses.

• it is of relatively light weight.
• it can be reused several times.
• it is more durable.
• it is easy to increase its length by welding or bolting. Ball-and-socket type
CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 3 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 4
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13‐Feb‐21
Properties of Some Commercially Available Sheet-Pile Sections

(Based on Hammer and Steel, Inc., Hazelwood, Missouri, USA)
□ Used for:
1. Waterfront structures (Eg. in building wharfs, quays and piers)
2. Building diversion dams, such as coffer dams
3. Riverbank protection
4. Retaining the sides of cuts made in earth.
□ Most of the modern sheet pile walls are made of steel

(but timber or precast concrete sections also in use)
5 6
Sheet Pile Walls
Cofferdams
Waterfront
structures
(e.g. wharfs).
Retaining the sides of

cuts made in earth.
Riverbank
protection.
Retaining the
sides of cuts
made in earth.
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13‐Feb‐21
Sheet Pile Walls Construction Methods Sheet Pile Walls Construction Methods
• Sheet-pile walls may be divided into two basic categories: 1. Backfilled structure
1. cantilever and The sequence of construction for a
2. anchored. backfilled structure is as follows:
• In the construction of sheet-pile walls, the sheet pile may be driven
into the ground and then the backfill placed on the land side, or the Step 1. Dredge the in situ soil in front
sheet pile may first be driven into the ground and the soil in front of and back of the proposed structure.
the sheet pile dredged.
Step 2. Drive the sheet piles.
• In either case, the soil used for backfill behind the sheet-pile wall is
usually granular. Step 3. Backfill up to the level of the
• The soil below the dredge line may be sandy or clayey. The surface of anchor and place the anchor system.
soil on the water side is referred to as the mud line or dredge line.
• Thus, construction methods generally can be divided into two Step 4. Backfill up to the top of the
categories (Tsinker, 1983): wall.
1. Backfilled structure For a cantilever type of wall, only Steps 1, 2,
2. Dredged structure 9 and 4 apply. 10
CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah
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□ Two types of sheet pile walls:

Sheet Pile Walls Construction Methods
2. Dredged structure (1) Cantilever wall - commonly used to support soils to a height of
The sequence of construction for a
dredged structure is as follows: less than 6 m above the dredge line.
(2) Anchored or propped sheet pile wall - used to support deep
Step 1. Drive the sheet piles.
excavations and as waterfront retaining structures.
Step 2. Backfill up to the anchor
level, and place the anchor system.
Step 3. Backfill up to the top of the

wall.
□ For the stability:
Step 4. Dredge the front side of the
wall. • Cantilever sheet pile walls - rely on the passive soil resistance.
With cantilever sheet-pile walls, Step 2 • Anchored sheet pile walls - rely on a combination of anchors and
is not required. passive soil resistance.
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13‐Feb‐21
Cantilever wall
□ Cantilever walls are flexible & sufficient yield will occur to give
totally active earth pressure conditions.
h – Height of the wall
d – Depth of embedment

D SK N
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Lateral yielding of a cantilever wall penetrating in sand □ For equilibrium, active pressure on the back of the wall
must be balanced by the passive pressure both in front of
and behind the wall.
EC7 method of pressure distribution

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13‐Feb‐21
Dealing with passive earth pressure

□ Depth (d) is obtained by balancing the disturbing and In EC7 GEO limit state design, how the passive earth pressure
restoring moments about C, together with the horizontal should be treated?
forces established using the pressure distribution. As a favorable action or Resistance?
𝑷𝒑;𝒌
𝑷𝒑;𝒅 𝑷𝒑;𝒌 𝜸𝑮;𝒇𝒂𝒗 [or] 𝑷𝒑;𝒅
□ In EC7, GEO limit state is applied to assess the rotational 𝜸𝑹𝒆
stability using this theoretical pressure distribution. □ Purpose of partial safety factor is to allow any uncertainty in the
derived characteristic value.
□ For instance, any design action (eg: active thrust) obtained from soil
□ This method generates two equations containing the unknowns
property (angle of shearing resistance, etc.) will have same degree of
d and d0, which are solved by repeated iteration until the correct
uncertainty in its value as any other action (eg: passive thrust) which is
values are obtained. determined from same soil property.
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□ Active thrust – permanent, unfavourable action Values of G;fav, G;unfav and Re for each design
□ Passive thrust – also should be treated as permanent,
approach.
unfavourable action.
Single Source Principle
“Unfavourable (or destabilizing) and favorable (or stabilizing)

permanent actions may in some situations be considered as
coming from a single source. If they are considered so, a single
□ Treating passive thrust as a permanent, unfavourable
partial factor may be applied to the sum of these actions or to the sum
action affects DA1 (Combination 1) and DA 2.
of their effects”.[EN 1997-1: 2004]
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13‐Feb‐21
Recap of EC7
□ Recommended values of Δa with normal site
□ For ULS design of gravity walls - design geometry shall account
for anticipated excavation or possible scour . control in place;
□ With ‘normal site control’, level of the resisting soil should be
lowered by an amount Δa. For a cantilever wall:
∆𝒂 𝟏𝟎% 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍

𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝟎. 𝟓𝒎
𝑯𝒅 𝑯𝒏𝒐𝒎 ∆𝒂
Hd - design height of the wall For a supported wall:

Hnom - nominal height of the wall ∆𝒂 𝟏𝟎% 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 &
Δa - allowance for unplanned 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒙. 𝟎. 𝟓𝒎
excavation.
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Example 4: Anchored and Propped wall

A cantilever sheet pile wall is shown in Figure 1. Calculate the minimum □ When height of backfill material behind a cantilever sheet-pile wall
depth of embedment, to provide stability to the wall, retaining an excavated exceeds 6m, use of anchored wall is economical.
depth of 5 m using Eurocode 7 GEO limit state, Design Approach 1.
• When top of a sheet pile wall is
Assume Rankin’s condition is applicable. The soil properties are φpeak =
anchored, a considerable reduction
30°, c′ = 0,  = 20 kN/m3.
in the embedment depth (d) can be
obtained.
• Anchors reduce the cross-sectional

area & weight of the sheet piles
needed for construction.
Figure 1
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13‐Feb‐21
□ Due to anchorage - lateral yield in the upper part of the wall is similar to
□ Hence, pressure distribution on the back of an anchored sheet pile
yield in a timbered trench, whereas yield in lower part is similar to that of
is a combination of totally active and the arching-active cases.
a retaining wall yielding by rotation.
□ In practice, pressure distribution behind the wall is assumed to

be totally active.
Anchor force 𝑻 𝑷𝒂 𝑷𝒑
• Resulting value of T is increased by 25% to allow for flexibility in

piling & arching in the soil.
• Anchors are usually spaced at 2–3 m intervals.
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Anchorage system Depth of embedment of anchored wall

(1) Use of anchor block
Methods of design of anchored sheet pile wall
 Anchor block – Large concrete block
 Anchorage block must be outside the
failure plane. Free Earth Support Fixed Earth Support
Method Method
(3) Use of raking piles

• Toe of the wall is free to • Sheet file is fixed at the toe.
(2) Use of additional piling
move. • No translation or rotation.
• Rotation is about the anchor
point.
 When the space is limited, additional • Frequently used in design

 If bending is to be avoided in the anchor,
piling becomes necessary. pile pair of raking piles can be used. practice.
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13‐Feb‐21
Deflection & moment: Fixed earth support method

Deflection & moment: Free earth support method
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Free earth support method

□ By taking moments about the anchor at A an expression for
In this method, it is assumed that: the embedment depth, d, can be obtained
1. Rotation occurs about anchor point
2. Sufficient yielding occurs to develop active & passive pressures.
3. Depth of embedment of the wall is insufficient to provide fixity at
the bottom end of the wall.
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13‐Feb‐21
Treatment of Ground Water conditions Case 2:

With different water levels on both sides of the pile.
Case 1:
(a) Assuming no seepage:
□ Two water pressure diagrams are equal and therefore balance out.
□ Apart from taking the soil below the water as submerged, no special
treatment is necessary.
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(b) Seepage □ An approximate method to allow for this is to assume that excess
□ With different water levels, seepage can occur. head causing flow is distributed linearly around the length of pile
that is within water zone.
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13‐Feb‐21
Example 5:
A cantilever sheet pile wall retains an excavated depth of 5 m as shown in
Figure. An anchor is placed 1 m below the ground level behind the sheet pile
wall. Using free earth method of analysis, calculate the minimum depth of
embedment to provide stability using Eurocode 7 GEO limit state, Design
Approach 1. Assume Rankin’s condition is applicable. The soil properties are
φpeak = 30°, c′ = 0, ɤ = 20 kN/m3.
□ Using the pressure diagram corresponding to no seepage

condition will be conservative.
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END OF
□ Once we determine d, next step is to determine size of the | SHEET PILE WALLS |
wall.
□ Calculate the maximum bending moment and then

determining the section modulus.
𝑴𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑺
𝝈𝒂𝒍𝒍
Thank you!
CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 39
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CVX9416 - 7. Sheet Piles Walls - SKN

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13‐Feb‐21

CVX9416 Sheet pile walls (SPW)

7. Sheet Pile Walls

□ Steel SPW is the most common type since: Thumb-and-finger type

• it resists high driving stresses.

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 3 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 4

Properties of Some Commercially Available Sheet-Pile Sections

□ Most of the modern sheet pile walls are made of steel

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 5 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 6

Sheet Pile Walls

Retaining the sides of

□ Two types of sheet pile walls:

Step 3. Backfill up to the top of the

h – Height of the wall

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 13 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 14

EC7 method of pressure distribution

Dealing with passive earth pressure

Single Source Principle

“Unfavourable (or destabilizing) and favorable (or stabilizing)

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 19 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 20

∆𝒂 𝟏𝟎% 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍

Hd - design height of the wall For a supported wall:

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 21 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 22

Example 4: Anchored and Propped wall

• Anchors reduce the cross-sectional

□ In practice, pressure distribution behind the wall is assumed to

• Resulting value of T is increased by 25% to allow for flexibility in

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 25 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 26

Anchorage system Depth of embedment of anchored wall

(3) Use of raking piles

 When the space is limited, additional • Frequently used in design

Deflection & moment: Fixed earth support method

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 29 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 30

Free earth support method

1. Rotation occurs about anchor point

2. Sufficient yielding occurs to develop active & passive pressures.

3. Depth of embedment of the wall is insufficient to provide fixity at

the bottom end of the wall.

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 31 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 32

Treatment of Ground Water conditions Case 2:

CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 35 CVX9416 ‐ Geotechnical Design and Soil Structure Interaction Dr. SK Navaratnarajah 36

□ Using the pressure diagram corresponding to no seepage

□ Calculate the maximum bending moment and then

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