Design of Sheet Piling

David R. Chapman, PE
Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman, Inc
Branford, CT
dchapman@bac-inc.com
Brief History
• Driven piles date back 3,000 years
• Modern earth retention started in Germany – “Berliner
Method”
• Cantilevered Soldier piles were used for basement
construction
• “U” shaped sheet piles were developed in Germany between
1902 and 1914
• “Z” shaped sheet piles were developed in the US about 1940
• Prior to World War II, all bracing was timber
• After World War II, Bracing switched to steel
• Grouted tiebacks developed in Algeria in 1934
• Europe started using grouted tie backs in 1950’s
• US began to use them in 1970’s
• Cold Rolled Sheets gained popularity early 1990’s
Houston, We Have A Problem
Types of retention systems
• Soldier Pile and Lagging
• Sheet Piling
Sheetpiling
Sheet Piling
• Generally vibrated, can be driven
• Good Choice in loose to moderately dense sands
• Can be used below the water table
• Embedded toe reduces pumping
• Usually installed in pairs or “doubles”
• Better ground movement control
• Can not accommodate obstructions
• Installation may require a driving frame
• Installation can not be rushed
• Once it is driven, it can be excavated without waiting for lagging crew.
• Soil adhering to sheets will need to be cleaned as excavation progresses
Soldier Piles
Soldier Piling
• Can accommodate obstructions or utility penetrations.
• Can not be used below the water table
• Likely to experience more ground movement than other systems.
• Requires crews to install lagging as excavation progresses.
• Can have several crews installing lagging in a large excavation
• Lagging can be installed quickly in the top ten feet, after that gets considerably slower
Soil mechanics
• Sands – Well drained, Friction (Φ), Long term
• Clays – Undrained, Cohesion (C), Short term
• Silts – Geotech’s Problem Child
• Everything else
Limit State Analysis
For Granular Soil
• Active/ Passive states
• Passive about 10 x active
• Rankine – Straight failure surface
• Coulomb – Accounts for wall friction, Can overestimate
passive for dense soils
• C&K – Log Spiral failure surface
Selecting Soil Parameters
• Can Be the most difficult and time consuming part
• If you good with tarot cards, reading tea leaves or can use a Ouija
board, you may be good at this.
What Do You Want to Know
• Topography
• Subsurface profile
• Soil types, strength, related properties
• Water levels
• Utilities and obstructions, such as unexploded munitions
• Applied loads
Borings
• Usually not your choice, but if it is:
• Plan where you want them.
• Get borings on both cut and retained side, especially on waterfront work.
• Get more than you need – go deeper than you think you need
• Evaluate boring results and if needed get additional round to fill in blanks
• Get a GOOD Driller
Sampling and Testing
• Get samples for index testing & grain size
• Water table- let water table stabilize- Take one reading after drilling
and one 24 hours later.
• Strength – Sands, generally rely on SPT corralation. Clays, take tube
samples and test in lab Direct Shear or Triaxial.
• In Clays get atterberg limit tests- can give a lot of indication of soil
response to vibration.
Design
• Plot borings showing strength & water table
• Draw profile along wall line
• Develop a few conservative cross sections to develop designs.
• Remember that borings give us a very small view into the soil
• This may take more time than designing the sheeting.
Cantilevered Sheets
Cantilevered Sheets
Cantilevered Sheets
• Stability requires complex interaction of soil and sheeting
• Need to iterate to find length
• Need point of zero shear for moment
• Since moment & length are independent, can not use heavier sheet
to reduce length or longer sheet to reduce section modulus
• Don’t forget Factor of Safety!
Anchored Walls
• Free Earth – simply supported sheet
• Fixed Earth – propped cantilever
• Dr. Blum’s Equivalent Beam
Free Earth vs. Fixed Earth

For the same depth of cut and same anchor location:

Free Earth Fixed Earth

Sheet Length Shorter Longer
Section Modulus Larger Smaller
Anchor Load Larger Smaller
Max Deflection Larger Smaller
Reverse Bending No Yes
Free Earth
Anchored Wall Free Earth
Fixed Earth
Anchored Wall Fixed Earth
Multiple Support Levels
Multiple Braces
Applied Loads
Computer Programs
• Many programs available
• SPW911
• ProSheet
• Deep
• Many Others
• I use Civiltech Shoring
• Simple, but lots of control over loads & soils
• Investigate several to find best for YOU
 PDCA Sheetpiling Presentation
20 ft high anchored wall
Depth(ft)
0

5 1

10

15

20

25

0 1 ksf

30 <ShoringSuite> CIVILTECH SOFTWARE USA w w w .civ iltechsoftw are.com

Licensed to David R. Chapman, P.E. Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman, Inc. Date: 10/19/2011
File: C:\Documents and Settings\dchapman\My Documents\PDCA Course\20ft anch.sh8

Wall Height=20.0 Pile Diameter=1.0 Pile Spacing=1.0 Wall Type: 1. Sheet Pile

PILE LENGTH: Min. Embedment=5.16 (8~10ft is recommended!!!) Min. Pile Length=25.16

MOMENT IN PILE: Max. Moment=17.28 per Pile Spacing=1.0 at Depth=15.12

PILE SELECTION:
Request Min. Section Modulus = 9.6 in3/ft=516.14 cm3/m, Fy= 36 ksi = 248 MPa, Fb/Fy=0.6
PZ22 has Section Modulus = 18.1 in3/ft=973.06 cm3/m. It is greater than Min. Requirements!
Top Deflection = -0.36(in) based on E (ksi)=29000.00 and I (in4)/foot=84.4

BRACE FORCE: Strut, Tieback, Plate Anchor, and Deadman

No. & Type Depth Angle Space Total F. Horiz. F. Vert. F. L_free Fixed Length
1. Tieback 5.0 15.0 1.0 3.5 3.4 0.9 12.2 1.1
UNITS: Width,Diameter,Spacing,Length,Depth,and Height - ft; Force - kip; Bond Strength and Pressure - ksf

DRIVING PRESSURES (ACTIVE, WATER, & SURCHARGE):

Z1 P1 Z2 P2 Slope
0 0 20 .594 0.029700
20 .594 800 23.76 .0297

PASSIVE PRESSURES:
Z1 P1 Z2 P2 Slope
20.0 0.00 800.0 351.70 0.451

ACTIVE SPACING:
No. Z depth Spacing
1 0.00 1.00
2 20.00 1.00

PASSIVE SPACING:
No. Z depth Spacing
1 20.00 1.00

UNITS: Width,Spacing,Diameter,Length,and Depth - ft; Force - kip; Moment - kip-ft

Friction,Bearing,and Pressure - ksf; Pres. Slope - kip/ft3; Deflection - in
 PDCA Sheetpiling Presentation
20 ft high anchored wall
Depth(ft)
0

3.5 kip
5

10

15

20

25

0 1 ksf

30 Net Pressure Diagram

Top Deflection=-0.36(in)
Depth(ft) Max. Shear=3.03 kip Max. Moment=17.28 kip-ft Max Deflection=0.46(in)
0

10

15

20

25

3.03 kip 0 17.28 kip-ft 0 0.458(in) 0

30
Shear Diagram Moment Diagram Deflection Diagram

PRESSURE, SHEAR, MOMENT, AND DEFLECTION DIAGRAMS

Based on pile spacing: 1.0 foot or meter
User Input Pile, PZ22: E (ksi)=29000.0, I (in4)/foot=84.4
File: C:\Documents and Settings\dchapman\My Documents\PDCA Course\20ft anch.sh8

<ShoringSuite> CIVILTECH SOFTWARE USA w w w .civ iltechsoftw are.com

Licensed to Dav id R. Chapman, P.E. Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman, Inc.

Limit State Summary
• Assumes profile develops full active & passive resistance
• Assumes wall is perfectly rigid when designing embedment & section
modulus
• Solutions require simplifying assumptions
• Method has been used for a long time and has a good track record
SSI
• SSI : Soil Structure Interaction
• Uses springs and beam columns to model wall
• Springs allow less than full soil pressure
• Beam column accounts for flexibility
• Requires software to run
• Can be used with standard structural programs
• SSI Analysis sounds really cool
P-Y Analysis
• Research by Reese et.al. determined soil modulus could be very
nonlinear, especially for clays
• Developed load and deflection model known as p-y curves.
• Could compute lateral pile deflections for wide range of soils and
loading conditions
• Common programs were COM64 & LPILE
P-Y Analysis
• Although could be used for retaining structures, programs were
cumbersome
• PYWall incorporates L-Pile analysis with interface for flexible wall
systems
• Has library of soil spring for a wide variety of conditions
PY Wall Output
SSI Summary
• Models less than full active or passive soil pressure mobilization
• Requires computer for analysis
• Will give good estimate of deflection
• Note that mostly will be using library springs, not actual soil springs.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Foundation Support
• Can I use the sheeting to support an adjacent foundation instead of underpinning?

• My standard answer is no- the sheeting will deflect, allowing soil settlement and is
therefore a poor substitute for underpinning. That said for light buildings or buildings with
foundations bearing near the bottom of the cut, it MAY work okay, with a little engineering.
2. Dewatering
• What about dewatering?

• Dewatering is a whole separate topic. However, it should be noted that improper

dewatering can lead to excessive settlement of adjacent properties or failure of
the excavation system. Loose sands are particularly vulnerable to dewatering
problems
• The depth of sheet piling can be used to control pumping in some cases.
• If you have loose sands or silts, be sure there is sufficient information available to
design a dewatering system.
3. Deflection
• How much deflection should be allowed?

• There is no particular code for designing sheeting, nor any prescribed amount. However
sheeting deflection can disturb adjacent utilities or foundations and should be carefully
considered on an individual basis. Otherwise I try to limit deflection to about one inch.
That way deflections will not cause significant additional (secondary) stresses.
4. Layout
• How does the footprint effect the sheeting ?

• Corners can be difficult, especially in braced frames.

• For anchors, outside corners are okay, inside (re-entrant) corners can
be challenging.
• For cantilevered sheets corners can be readily accommodated
• In many cases, we will run the wall so to eliminate some bends in the
sheeting, making the excavation larger.
Layout
5. OSHA
• Help! OSHA is here! Am I covered?

• Hopefully. This is what you will need:

• Stamped drawing
• A shoring system that reasonably matches the drawing
• Fall protection – typically a fence or guard rail
• Toe boards to keep debris from falling in the excavation
• Soil removed from the bellies of the sheets and wales
• Adequate ladders to exit the excavation
Safety Fence
6. One Sided Forms
• This is a method we used on some other projects to pour basement walls.
• Generally, a membrane is used to provide waterproofing. Ties are used to anchor the
forms to the piles. Piles need to be designed to take lateral load from fluid concrete.
• Additional costs include membrane and additional concrete
• Savings include stripping forms, damp proofing and backfilling. It will also reduce
construction schedule.
• Note instead of tying forms to piles, they may also be braced externally.
One Sided Forming
One sided Forms cont.
Backfilling Two Sided Form
Most Important Points
• Wall failures can have serious consequences
• Answer is only as good as your profile
• Do not take results as exact
• Need to check all stages of construction
• Allow for unanticipated conditions
• Never hurts to review design with experienced foreman or
superintendent before finalizing.
• Visit construction
Great References
• US Steel Steel Sheet Piling Design
• Out of print go www.slideruleera.net
• Original Pile Buck Design Manual
• Out of Print let me know if you find it on the web
• New Pile Buck Manual
• www.Pilebuck.com to purchase
• Arbed Practical Design of Sheet Pile Bulkheads
• www.skylinesteel.com to download
More References
• L.B. Foster Piling Catalog www.lbfoster-pilingproducts.com
• Earth Retention Systems Handbook
• By Alan MacNab; order from Amazon
• Foundation Analysis and Design
• By Joseph E. Bowles; order from Amazon
• US ACOE Design of Sheet Pile Walls
• Available from ASCE or can be found on the web