SHEET

PILING
WALLS

Prepared by Allan A. Andino

 Sheetpiling wall is a common type of earth retaining structure
made of individual sheet piles driven in the ground. It derives
its stability from the ground penetrated by the piles and in the
case of the higher walls; by means of tie rods attached to
suitable anchorages.

Steel Sheetpiling Wall

 Sheetpiling walls are commonly used for:

1. Water front construction where other types of retaining

walls would require dewatering the site.
2. Temporary construction because of the high salvage value
of sheet piles.
3. Lightweight construction at locations where the upper layer
or layers of subsoil are inadequate for supporting retaining
walls.

Use of Sheetpiling Walls

 Sheetpiling walls are not suitable for the following cases:

1. Very high walls which require disproportionately high

flexural strength of the pile section.

2. Inadequate depth of penetration due to boulders in the

subsoil or high bedrock which prevents pile penetration.

Use of Sheetpiling Walls

 Wood sheet piles.

Concrete sheet piles.

Steel sheet piles.

Common Types of Sheet Plies

 Cantilever sheetpiling. Sheet piles are driven to a sufficient depth
in the ground to become fixed as a vertical cantilever in resisting the
lateral earth pressure. This type is suitable for moderate height. It is
subject to large lateral deflection and is readily affected by scour or
erosion in front of the wall.

Anchored sheetpiling. An anchored sheetpiling derives its support

against the lateral pressure by embedment in the ground and by the
use of tie rods near the top of the piling. This type is suitable for
moderate to high walls. For walls higher than about 35 ft, two or
three tiers of tie rods may be necessary in order to reduce the
required pile penetration and the flexural stresses.

Common Types of Sheetpiling Walls

 Sheetpiling with relieving platform. A relieving platform is a pile-
supported deck constructed for the purpose of supporting the weight
of earth fill and other heavy load, thus relieving the lateral pressure
from the sheet piling. This type is especially advantageous in the
cases where railway tracks of crane runways are close to the
sheetpiling.

Cellular cofferdams. Sheet piles are driven in the form of cells

which are filled with granular material and become self-stabilizing
retaining structure.

Common Types of Sheetpiling Walls

 Principal factors affecting the rate of deterioration:

1. Type of structure.
2. Geographical location.
3. Zone relative to tidal planes.
4. Sand, earth, or other cover.
5. Exposure to salt spray.
6. Paint protection.

Durability of Steel Sheetpiling

 1. Assemble the general information.
2. Analyze the subsoil conditions.
3. Select the type of wall.
4. Compute earth pressure and surcharge pressure.
5. Determine the piling penetration.
6. Determine the bending stress and design the piling.
7. Design the tie rods.
8. Design the anchorage.

Design of Sheetpiling Walls

 A sheetpiling wall may be subjected to some or all of the
following types of lateral pressure.

Earth pressure: active and passive pressure

Lateral pressure due to surcharge load
Unbalanced water pressure and seepage pressure
Mooring pull, ship impact, etc.
Earthquake force, wave pressure, etc.

Lateral Pressure Acting on Sheetpiling Walls

 A. General principle of design of cantilever sheetpiling

Design of Cantilever Sheetpiling Wall

 Design of cantilever sheetpiling in granular soils.

Design of Cantilever Sheetpiling Wall

 The conventional method of design generally consists of the
following steps:

1. Sketch a profile of the piling with a trial depth of penetration.

Approximate depth of penetration may be taken as follows:

Design of Cantilever Sheetpiling Wall

 2. Determine the passive earth pressure in front of the piling.
This is the gross passive resistance due to the weight of soil.
Buoyant weight should be used for soil below water level.

3. Determine the active earth pressure due to surcharge load,

the backfill, and the soil layers below.

4. Determine the net passive resistance which is equal to the

gross passive pressure (step 2) minus the active earth
pressure (step 3).

Design of Cantilever Sheetpiling Wall

 5. Determine the maximum net passive resistance ce which is
equal to the passive pressure due to the backfill and soil
below, minus the active earth pressure at the foot of the piling
due to the soil in front of the sheetpiling.

6. Draw a trial line cd and check the statical equilibrium of the

entire sheetpiling under the action of the lateral forces. The
position of point d is correct if the total moment is zero about
any point of the piling. When it is impossible to maintain
equilibrium with any location of point d, the trial penetration is
too small.

Design of Cantilever Sheetpiling Wall

 7. Add 20 to 40 per cent to the calculated depth of penetration.
This will give a safety factor of 1.5 to 2.0 approximately. An
alternate and more desirable method is the use of a reduced
value of passive earth pressure for design. In. this method, the
maximum allowable earth pressure is limited to ½ to the
ultimate passive resistance.

8. Compute the maximum bending moment which occurs at

the point of zero shear prior to increasing the depth by 20 to
40 per cent.

Design of Cantilever Sheetpiling Wall

 The external stability and internal stresses of anchored sheetpiling
depend on a large number of factors among which there are relative
stiffness of the piling, the depth of piling penetration, the relative
compressibility of the soil, the amount of anchor yield (elongation of
the tie rods plus movement of the anchor block), etc.

Design of Anchored Sheetpiling Wall

 Because of the large number of factors affecting each other,
anchored sheetpiling has been designed by a number of methods
which may be grouped as follows:

Free-end method (may be modified by Rowe's theory)

Fixed-end method (simplified by the equivalent beam method)
Hansen's method
Tschebotarioff's method
Danish rules

Design of Anchored Sheetpiling Wall

Design of Anchored Sheetpiling Wall
Design of Anchored Sheetpiling Wall
Design of Anchored Sheetpiling Wall
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