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Further, sheet piles are widely used in construction to retain the earth for excavations. In
deep basement constructions, also as indicated above, properly anchored sheet piles can be
used.

In addition, it is useful in the construction of cofferdams also.

There are different types of sheet piles based on the profile and connection arrangement.
Apart from that, we can select the suitable sheet pile based on the required section modulus
as per the design requirements.

The article, sheet pile retaining wall discuss the stability design of sheet pile retaining wall.

Timber Piles
Not only the present construction, but ancient construction is also have used better
technology.

They knew that when there is a weak soil, piling needs to be done. So they have used
sustainable material to do it.

Even now when construction or expansion is done, timber piling can be observed.

Especially the buildings and bridges have been constructed on timber piles.

Timber piles are durable, economical, and sustainable.

Special timber that has good durability properties to be used.

Please carry the load from the skin friction and end bearing.

Constructions in very weak areas where heavy machines cannot be approached, timber piles
are used.

Screw Piles
The pile is like a screw as indicated in the following figure.

The nature of the screw depends on the type of construction.

Further, there are different types of screw piles.

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In building connections or any other constructions such as bridge construction, screw piles
can be used.

Pile Foundations Design

Once the piles are selected as the foundation type according to the recommendation of the
geotechnical investigation report, evaluation of the number of piles is done.

Then, we need the pile capacity.

There are two-component in the pile foundations to evaluate the plie capacity.

We take the lesser of below.

Geotechnical Design
Structural Design

Geotechnical Design of Piles

Evaluation of the geotechnical capacity of the pile is done based on the soil condition and
the rock condition of it is anchored in the rock.

The geotechnical capacity of the pile can be represented from the following equation

Qu = Qp + Qs

Where

Qu – Ultimate geotechnical capacity of the pile

Qp – Ultimate end bearing of the pile

Qs – Ultimate skin friction of pile

The allowable capacity (Qall) can be calculated as

Qall = Qu / FoS

FoS – Factor of Safety; varies 2.5 -4

Further, there are different methods to calculate the allowable capacity of the pile. The
method of application of factor of safety may differ from country to country based on their
local standards.
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Some time a separate factor of safety is applied for both the end bearing and skin friction
and the singe factor of safety is also used.

It is observed that a low factor of safety like 2.0 is also used for skin friction. When design it is
highly recommended to local standards.

Mainly there are five components connected with the geotechnical capacity of a pile.

1. Skin friction of the soil (positive skin friction and negative skin friction)
2. Skin friction of the weathered rock
3. Skin friction of the rock
4. End bearing of rock
5. End bearing of soil

If the pile is terminated at soil (hard layer) in the case of precast piles, end bearing in the soil
is used. If the pile socketed in the rock (cast in situ bored piles) end bearing in the rock is
used to calculate the pile capacity.

The above five parameters are provided by the geotechnical recommendation based on the
borehole investigation data.

If we know the soil parameters, we can calculate the skin friction values as per the equations.

The following methods are available to calculate the skin friction of soil.

Skin Friction in Sand

Based on overburden and friction angle between soil and pile
Correlation with standard penetration test (SPT)
Correlation with cone penetration test (CPT)

Skin Friction in Clay

λ method
α method
β method
Correlation with CPT

The end bearing of the soil also can be calculated from different methods proposed. The
following methods are widely used by designers.

Soil End Bearing

Meyerhof’s method (sand/clay)
Vasic’s method (sand/clay)
Coyle and Castello’s method (sand) Privacy - Terms

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