PROCEEDINGS OF THE 41! INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PILING AND DEEP FOUNDATIONS STRESA / Italy /7.~12. APRIL 1991, Predicting the bearing capacity of sheet piles under vertical load M. G, Bustamante & L. Gianeselli LABORATOIRE CENTRAL DES PONTS ET CHAUSSEES, PARIS, France @ DEEP FOUNDATIONS INSTITUTE TESPA TECHNICAL EUROPEAN SHEET PILING ASSOCIATION c/o ESPA, RO. Box 8413, W-4000 Dusseldorf 1. GermanvPredicting the bearing capacity of sheet piles under vertical load M.G.Bustamante & L.Gianeselli Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, France ABSTRACT; Tn connection with joint research on the behaviour and bearing capacity of vertically loaded sheet piling, Uninétal and the Foundations Section of the LEPC have carried out a series of falloscale tests on BOX pile and wall elements, driven in the denge sands of the Dunkirk area and in the plastic clays of he North Sf France. The teste were on wall elesents nade wp af 4 sheet piles of the Larazen Ils and Tin types, onbed- (iea'7,5 0 and 12. deep in the soils. The box piles vere made of welded Larssen Ils elements, The sheet piles were fitted with renovable oxtensoncters or bonded gauges to determine the load distribution along the sheet Biles and so be able to estimate the unit skin friction and point resistance, Based on the me surements made, fn original method of estinsting the bearing capacities 2f sheet pile valla and open box piles based on pres sureneter, CPT, and SPT tests haa Carey large vertical Loads, sua Serks or bul dings 1. GENERAL TMFORNATION ABOUT SIGET PILES AND THEIR Hetalise sheet plies have been La Long use in pu bite works and civil engineering. The technique has evolved significantly since its origins and is Still widely used. The annual output of the wet tem henisphere is currently between 1.5 and 2 8il~ Vien tons, shout 12,000,000 n@ of sheet piles, clear proof that ahget piles can still conpete with hare recent techniques, Hot-rolied sheet piles are nade in large rotting nntlla with saveral stonde, known as Preversible Cworhigh mille". Their production cequires power~ Ful installations of vaich there are vary few in the world ~ about ten altogether, only one of then ‘The successive inprovenents made to existing in stallations have made it possible to produce larger Profiles than in the past. The profiles have beco- he wider and wider: first 400 em, then 450, 500, ‘he for the averall geanetey of the profiles, par~ sans of U and Z profiles used to debate their respective nerite, sonetines heatedly. These quar els are now a thing of the past, and’ in nost cases Geers prefer the U profiles, for reasons of ease of Placenent, to the Z profiles, which in theory have Secser geometrical efficiency (ratio of modulus to weight) In France, the mostly widely used sheet piles are the Larszen type, with an overall U shape and triangular interlock. ‘As for the steels, a broad range of grades s2 proposed to users, with yield strengths ranging ‘ron 240 £0 430 Nimn2 and mores Nigh-yielé-strongtn grades are increasingly used, both'necause their allovable nonent/cost ratio is higher and because they stand up much better to arsving Furthermore, the new steels for sheet piles are prepared with pure oxygen and have Liaited carbon Contents, and go can Be welded like standard bull— fing stecis. 2. EVOLUTION OF DOMAINS OF USE Concurrently with the technical evotution of the product, described briefly above, there has been Steady geovth of the domains of use of the shoot in imagines. Generatly, the tests nave show that sheet pil ting that they can be sed more often ax foundations for civil engineering Tt was originally primarily a site material, used tenporarity by contractors for cofferdans and shee~ ting, ie. t9 make it possible $9 build convention nal nasonéy or concrete foundations under dy con Tt vas then used extensively in the aaritine sec- ton (inelusine rivers and canala), a field in whiten He sq still the material of choice for the cons truction of quay walls, locks, dikes, dry docks, ‘But is only recently that £¢ hag won recognition on dry Land, where it is now in coanon use for auch Permanent and visible works as bridge abutments. and Biers, retaining valle for roads and rail Lines, Walls of underground parking facilities, normal ‘and Gndersized cuttings and underpasses, noise bar Jo win sts place in these structures, renote from ite traditions sonsin of use, the sheet pile had to avereone two further difficulties that were an "ive had to be accented ax an attractive cons traction material in its own right, just Like stom ne, brick, concrete, wood, ete. vertical loads to. load-bearing strata. ‘There was mich foot-dranging on the first score, because to nany people the shaet pile called up Inages of rusting docks or, at best, walls with a summary coating of tar. But a few bold projects Genonstrated that the sheet pile had a number of advantages over other aaterials: flexibility in ‘adaptation to alignments, corrugations doing avey with the monotony of Large snasth surfaces, painted Steet offering the possibility of countless colour Schesea, ete, because of thia, many architects now fecept the sheet pile as a construction materiab ‘th undentable aesthetic qualities in structures of ail kinds. ‘The secend point was more technical: it had to be shown that’ sheet piling could carry Large vere!— fal loads tn addition to the customary bending Toads, and ways had to be devised of predicting the bearing capacities of shest piles in different ty- pes of soit ‘Tis highiy interesting subject led to experinen- tal research, directed and inplanented by the LCPC with help fron Uninétal, the french producer of hot-rolled sheot piles.3. RESKARCH OBJECTIVES. AND MEANS, ith a view to developing a representative design method applicable to all actual eases, it was decl- (ea: aut full-scale static loading and ized contractors with the usual driving eqvipeents 2. to perform these tests on elements of sheet~ ave {t possibie to design mixed walls, often an Sdvantageous variant in practice; 3, to work on ingtrunented profiles 20 as to as- certain the force distribution and Laws of mobili sation, iue., dlatinguish between point resistance Sed akin friction (Ret-1]; aod finally, s0 a0 to be able to deal’ with the comonest geotechnical situations, to conduct the esearch in cospact and dense sands and in firm to very stiff plastic clay: It the two loestions chosen for this research, '2) the types of sheet pile and their exbednont Length in the sol; b) the test procedure (Ref.2]; €) the preliminary soil surveya; 44) the Load application and reaction devices: ) the instrumentation of the profiles and measu- enent systems; 1) the recording of characteristic peraneters du- TE was, for example, decided to use val] elenents consisting of four Larssen Iin or {Is sheet piles, Previously welded together in pairs in the work Shop. The isolated box piles, with open or closed poines, were also sssenbled in the workshop, fron Up Ife ‘sheet piles, Tables 1 and 2 summarize the characteristics of the profiles used, which are shown in Fig. 1 ond 2, respectively. Shot BH Perineter veignt Sa type om) (ca) Cegin) (en?) pile 533 385 12.3 saz 16a (an) en/et) (kg/m) (en?/m) He $00 340 12.3 200 262 © 13977 Hn 400 270 "9.8 280 293 ize 185 cluding, #2 appropeiate = atatie cone penetration teste (CPT): = 2 Ménard pressuremever tests (Pi); 2 2 standard penetration tests (SPT; 2 selr-boring pressureneter test (PAP): = 1 Gynanie cone penetration test. (CPD). ‘ho 1oad application and reaction devices vere the sone st both sites. The reaction device cons istoa of & metal bean connected t2 two reaction pump was used ta apely the test Loads, Figure 2, Section and caracteristics of the In addition to surface displacencnt measurements by 0.01 mm dial gauges, LPC removable extensoneters (Pig. 3) were used Tor subsequent determination af tho load @isteibution along the profiles. ‘These Tatter nessurenents vere acconpanied, near the ple fee. In tho case of 1salated box piles with open Boints, novenents of the soil column (or *plug*) Ineluding an 0.01-n atal gouge. AL1 of the nesat~ Figure 9. Renovable extensometer being inserted into the sheet pile wall elesent of Merville. Both the sheet péle wall elenents ang the ssole- ed nox piles sre tested in accordance vith the LPC fram 19 80 60 nivea, vith no onoading Seeeeonunen the profiles were driven on site, care va taken to record the characteristic driving parane- "fe for the procedures for calculating the bearing capacities of ehe various profiles, it va conside= fod justified to use the formulae for piles. tne elle known ultinate load formula was therefore Uses (Ref3) ¢ ons of 0 Sa the total ultimate Load at the pile heads of Aa the utinate point resistance term; Of 19 the total ultimate skin friction term along the shares and, for each of the terms of and af Of = keep 08 é shore: state kis a point bearing capacity factor, deatgnated ps Kes oF hy according to the type of in situ tent petormed; ap 18 the point cross sections 1s the aokt strength parameter measures at the Sjpe oe in site test pastored ne“? sige #5 the Lateral ares of the shafts 4g = unit skin fesetion. In the specific case of the sheet piles, the re- search conalated of defining sp and Slat and un= tifying the values of factor i and of anit frietion « 4. TESTS 10 SANDS (Ref.4) ‘These tests were carried out in connection with a precise project. The oppartunity vas provided by ‘the need to bulla caveral overpasses on nixed wells (sheet and box piles) in the Dunkirk area. The test section was located next to the Pighi-bank abuteent of bridge PI 54, The grain size distri butions of Fig. d and the pressureneter and pent Eroneter profties of Fig. Sand 6 give an idea oF ‘the’ sands encountered. ny Figure 4. Grain size distributions for the sands of Dunkirk. a * : ‘The timetable for work on the approaches to PI sé wade it possible to carry out a series of ten teste over a period extending fron 1 april 1983 £9 9 Au ust 1984, Table 3 summarizes all of the tester Pressomtue Mania Module de detematen( MPa Pression rie Pa ct] Nature der nie Figure 5. Pressureneter profttes. Dunkirk. os mp 5s 0 = » & camry, y qe PTT exer cer 6 (st nar? cer stoner? Figure 6, CPP profiles. Dunkirk Tt should be noted In connection with table 3 that test 4 on the open-point box pile was of & special type, It was performed to aacertain the ac tual behaviour under load of a box pile that had an ‘open point but the top of which was filed after Griving. The purpose of this arrangenent was to simulate concreting of the top, custonary at cons ruction aites end also used subsequently to con ect the pile to the structure. Interpretation of all mesaurenents yielded the following characteristic relations: = settlement so/neas 058 Ooi = settlement 65/logarithe of tine tiTebleaw 3 eg Tet a ert G Sheet Pite 7 (m) fonpression test Pulling out Gbservations a. ws i closed end 2 12126 305/83 } tone boxpiie 3 126 ajosfes a 12.26 2e/oi sea SI stopped vost Ss i a open end 2 12122 2/08/83 = } oven head boxcplie 3 12122 es 2 70a/ss, a 12122 19/04/04 closed head 5 Frey ‘9/08/84 excavated up fo 10.50" net 7 ere $$ Sheet Test Depth Load (xt) Factor & pile ne wo mB Be Kp Ke en » 1742 2008201880 1000 1.07 0.10 0.59 Co Rt rc 125010 Lan 2 1221800457 t088 2200 zios 0.37 1.08 Et 2aiee] 700-700" 600 oO 8 4 1222 18805001180 1200 218 0.18 115 5 zz 1200 HS 8B indet ola 01080128 o 17.78 2000 280720 2600 3.34 nos 2 12262250 ead 1a t000 367 Lea ale c0et | 1000) | eS aae0 | t200) ° 3 4 12126 51980 >60 »1260 31900 3.01 Lesa ow ESSsa88e gs Figuce 7a). Measured head Load-settlenent ‘curve, Dunikiek. = toad distrinution along shaft for each load “ levels ~ curves of mobilization of unit akin friction. ‘As an oxanple, sono of these relations are gi- ven, in Fig. 7 ard 8, for the (Co) and for the mali element piles (PP) (7.42 & long). Al Obtained in the ten tests are 4. Tt is to be noted that the fate given for a settlonent of 12:22'm open box pile consisting of sheet of the sain results Sumarizes in esble Values of factor i the point equal to AOL of the equivalent dianeter of the box pile or of the breadth of the vall element. i DUNKERQUE 26 AVRIL 1963 4 palplanches battus Figure 7). Settienent variation versus tine for ‘each Load step. Dunkin.‘5. TESTS IN CLAYS (Ref. 5 4 6) ALL of the tests, five in this case, were carried out on a special site at Merville, at the request of Uninétal. Below the clayey silt covering, about Zito d's thick, overlies Flanders clay, very sini~ Jer to London lay. Tts main properties as measu~ roa in the loboratery are: = fron 30 t0 415 { WL = from 72 ¢0 925 | lg = fron 38 to $85 O @ trom 18.2 to 19.1 kW/n?, ceases aun Figure Te. Deteraination of the creep Load. 7 T me loose oy pie af242 m4 'a pointe = $20 KN Fig, 78). Load distribution slong the sheet pile wall elanent. Dunit. | », Figuee 7e). lesaure’ skin friction mobilization ‘curves for the sheet pile wall element. Dunkirk. Tableae 5 Sheet Test Enbedeent —_Conpression pile = ro closed end 2 ns oyjories Doxpile 2 1210 sennores, Sheet pile 1 1 o2/o7!9s wall element 2 1200 18/10/86 ‘aeelie Sheet pie 1 ne 03/07/05 wall etenent “ePtin ° Pe eee ‘Sam ee SmaI Tee’ feats ; ; pane LI FE] | oumeroue F Se ave. olf | lpia vate co tam js 385 x 342mm — ; "oe a | Wome | S : : [NLL : d = Gpointe = Boo KN Figure 8). Load distribution along the open end Figuce 0). Skin friction aobilization curves for the open end box pile. Heeville.sheet Depth ond (a) factor k pile ‘ of € ke hv oF 1750625 tans as 1.00 0.85 0.49 2 slo 1800 bak 20780 Mio Olea ose wrist 7.80750, 205 ass a7 0.97 o.ea 0.02 2 ton Sooo Soe Baot eae Gea Olen petin 7.80 1300.«278 10281000 Lar 0.620459 The presoureneter, penetrometer, and SPT tests the 12 m closed bor-pile (CF) and the wall etenent carried out envahe Gout site yielded the profiles sade of four 32 w ile aheet Stes. Shown in ig 8 and 10 ‘he hain renules deduce fron ibe five tests are ables evas up ali of the tests, carried out given in table £1 the value of factor x in thie from i aoiy 1905 to 16 Octover 1906. Elote are for'a poine aettlenent equal to 10% of Figs land 12 give the characteristic relations the equivalent dlancter at the box pile ar of the otatved ty interpretation of the measurements on” breadth bef the wall crt spt a] me Presomate Weraed Joma | ces so [Module ot eetrmatnweafPrestin eed Geers a =e Semen 922 4 6 8 DMP, 40 10.20 30.49 50 . ae W fo0e aoser sera s 5 cer tay eer ae me — CPT. 31 Ine cont oe ~ * 3 i Figure 9. Prossureneter profiles. servile. 15 oy ese > tenn iin ban = Bate SS ®, WB a som EE 3) MERTILLETSACILOR ai E | cotton tome (eit (1200) fF Jas n00 Figure 11a). Spi curve for the end closed bonpile, Merville: Figure 10. CPT and SPT profiles. siervitle. Figure 110). Skin friction nobitization curves for ‘the ond closed box-pite. HervilterTableau 7 PROPOSED DESIGN METHOD fs stated eartior in section 2, this method is bax Sed'on the usual formula for the ultinate Load: meh As Car the value ap ond syae_used in the catcun lation ef the terns.” of and GB, they are deei= ed a2 equal 8) In the caso of sheet-pite walle, to: Sp ~ the incide ares bounded by the Clanges of the protties: Siat ~ the developed area of the vall b) An the cose of closed or open box piles, to Sp = the full point eross section of the hex phe: Stay ~ the outoide area of the box pile. Fig. 13 shows all of these conventions schenati- cally. ‘he values of bearing eapsetty factors k to be used aceorcing to the type af shape, eyoe of sat) spd'type of In Situ teat are thove given in table In the ease of the open box pile, the values of above ean be applied only if the height of the sot] Coluna inside the shaft ta equal to at Least 15 laneters. This condition ts based on the Findings from the tests at the Dunkirk and Herville sites. For the galeulation of the total ultinate skin friction Of, the values of the unit ultinate skin frictions 4, are given by the charts of Fig. 1¢ and fale ee In the case of mixed walle with alternating ohset-pite wall clenenta and box piles, the bearing capacity esleulations are performed by adding toges ther the bearing capacities uf the separate ele. The allowble toads dq are calculated by applying tthe usual safety Tactore stipulated by regulations to the ultinate loads Q esleulated as Indicated above [Ref.71- Tabteas @ Protite sana cay Sheet péle a on alll elenent 92 4f 9)" aHPa Op if ph > asPa Open ena ° a boxpite 02 4f PL > INPa Showed end 2 es Bowpite” 03 if py > 1,5HPa Og if py > ANPa 5 eee _ = 2625 0 P| cabmaae Teer, a0. 3 7 Pies Figure 12a). S9/Gq curve for the sheet pie walt lenent. Hervilles Figure 12). Skin fetetfon mobilization curves for ‘the sheet pile wall elenents Nerviile. 7. concuustoss ‘The main conclusions that can be draw fron the tests are an follove A. Sande + 2) the bearing capacity af = vall element nade of four sheet piles is hight at the sane enbednent length the Ultimate load QL reached ie about 210% of that of the open box pile (C0) and 120 % of that of the closed box pile (CF) (for @ two sheet pile wail elenont only, divide these figures by to) 2) the total bearing capacity of the closed box pile (CF) is on averege 75 to 60% greater than that of the open box pile (CO), depending on embed pent and so: conpacity:,3) the ultinate point reatatence of of a closed box pile is 260 to 100 % greater than that of an open bon pile in sien the soil coluan (ar plug") Ghotde tne sheft adheres to the shart valls; '2) concreting the top of an open box pile after driving, does not give 1t the bearing capacity of a 1) the bearing capacity of a four sheet pile veall elesent ia extrenaly high in comparison with a ox pile; for the sane enbedrent the Oy, is about 20 0 250 fof thet of the closed box pile (CF) Figure 13. Sp and Stat definitions Sp correspond to ‘the shaded Breas Ade 08 « 4 1a: = rot ay a AAT _ Tye, ane 2+ $b tem 0, a? $_jNean Figure 14. Chart for the ssgeasnont of unit tion oF PL [1] Bustanante I La neaure des déforna tres anovibles Lee, Hthode desssi LPC 34 (parattre). [2] Bustanante'm. & Jéxéquel J de piss 10018 sous charge axlaie. {31 Ragtes [5] Bustanante W. & Gianeseili L. Conpte rendu Gvesaais de chargenent Merville-Sactlor 1, eeeai etatique ‘resaoie do chargenent de pF Rerville-Secilor 2, Aapport interne LEPC, ac, 1906. (7) Bustamante 2, ends au ATane CIAS 4 GtaneselLi L, Coefficten ical des pieur. Const