DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF COFFERDAM

Department of Civil and Enviro

Subject :Advance Foundation Engineering SEMESTER: First
Engg Birla Institute Of Technology Roll. No- MT/CE/10002/23
Mesra, Ranchi
COFFERDAM
• Cofferdam is a reasonably water-tight enclosure
made of sheet-pile walls, usually temporary,
Built around a working area for the purpose of
excluding water during construction.
• A sheet pile wall consists of a series of sheet
piles driven side by side into ground ,thus
forming a continuous vertical wall for the
purpose of retaining an earth bank.
• Sheet Pile are commonly used for
1. Water Front Structures
2. Temporary Construction
3. Light weight construction where sub soil is poor for
supporting retaining wall
Sheet pile classified into
• According to mode of establishing the Retaining Wall.
Sheet pile classified into
• Classification according to the
Structural Type and Loading Scheme:
• Cantilever Sheet piling
A Cantilever sheet pile its stability entirely
from the lateral resistance of soil of the soil
into which it is driven. The Bulkhead is
adequately embedded into the soil below
• Anchored Sheet pile wall or Bulkhead:
• Which is held above its driven depth by
one or more tie Rod or anchors at or near
its top.
Classification According to the sheet Pile Material
• A flexible bulkhead sheet pile is a soil
retaining structure that is built as a
simple flexible sheet pile
• Rigid Bulkheads
Cantilever Sheet pile in Granular Soil.
• The wall rotates about the point o . Hydrostatic pressure from both the side will cancel
each other, only Lateral soil pressure will be effective

• Zone A-Active Pressure from Retained mass

• Zone B-Active pressure from Retained mass on Right Side and Passive pressure of water
from Left Side on Sheet Pile wall
• Zone C- Reverse of Zone B
Procedure of obtaining the pressure Diagram

• The Pressure Diagram BCO1

P1 =yhKa
• The Depth a point O1 of Zero Pressure
given by

• Let the total active pressure above point

O1 be P1 acting at a height Z1 above O1
• The passive pressure diagram O1EO ,At
the tip of A
Procedure of obtaining the pressure Diagram
• The passive pressure is indicated b the diagram OAF on the Back side and Applied on the Tip of A.

• From the Equation of Equilibrium of horizontal forces

• The Total Pressure P3 and P2 expressed in terms of p3 and p2.

• Equivalence area at E and Height of E is taken from Tip A equal to m

 Procedure of obtaining the pressure Diagram
Taking the moments of all the forces about A.

• Substituting the value of m

• Rewritten as

The trial and Error we find out b and d=a+b

Procedure of obtaining the pressure Diagram
• Approximate Analysis
In this analysis the resistance of the pile below the point O is
replaced by concentrated load P3
Cantilever Sheet pile in Cohesive Soil.
• A cantilever sheet pile penetrating the clay below
the Dredge level. The Backfill is cohesionless
• Unit Weight of Cohesionless Soil and Clay is Y and
Y1. and the cohesion of clay be ‘c’.
• Pressure p1 at the Dredge level on the back side

• Below the Dredge level above the point of rotation

of O, The passive pressure act from left to Right.
And Active pressure act from right to left
• The pressure at depth Z below the dredge Level
Cantilever Sheet pile in Cohesive Soil.
 Anchored sheet pile with free-earth support

• The stability of anchored sheet pile

depends upon the anchor force in addition
to that upon the passive earth Pressure
• The Embedment depth is considerably
smaller than the cantilever sheet pile.
• There fore by this method ,the total length
of the sheet pile is reduced .The additional
cost of anchor is to be consider while
judging the economy of two type of
construction.
Anchored sheet pile with free-earth support
• There is no point of contraflexure below the dredge level. Thus Below
the dredge level no pivot point exists for statical System.
• The statical analysis is based on the assumption that the soil into
which the pile is driven does not produce effective restraint to induce
negative bending Moment at its Supports
Cohesionless soil
• Assumption Material above and below the dredge level is cohesionless
Cohesionless soil
Cohesive Soil
• Let us consider anchored sheet pile wall is driven into clay soil but has
the backfill of cohesionless granular material. The Pressure
distribution for the cohesionless is same as above derived.
Cohesive Soil
Cohesive Soil
Anchored Sheet Pile with fixed-Earth support
• Figure (a) shows the deflected
shapes of an anchored sheet pile
with fixed earth support. The Elastic
change in curvature of at the
inflection point I.
• The soil into which the sheet is
driven exert large restraint on the
lower part of the pile and causes the
change in curvatures.
• Figure b shows pressure distribution.
Anchored Sheet Pile with fixed-Earth support
• Blum gave mathematical relationship between(i/h)and
phi. Where I is the depth of the point of inflection I
below the dredge level. And h is the height of sheet pile
above the dredge level.
• For simplicity ,the lower portion pressure diagram of
right hand side is replaced by concentrated force Rh at
point K.
• Rh is usually unknown but Automatically excluded from
calculation because moment is taken about K.
• Once the depth is found .Rh is determined from the
equilibrium equation in the horizontal direction.
• The exact analysis of anchored sheet pile with fixed –
earth support is complicated .An approximate method
known as Equivalent –beam method
Equivalent –beam method
• In this method we assume sheet pile is a beam
which is simply supported at the anchor point M
and Fixed at the lower end K.
• The bending moment is zero at the inflexion
point Theoretically ,the lower part IK of the pile
can be removed and the shear force can be
replaced by a Reaction RI. Thus Simply
supported BI is obtained .
Equivalent –beam method
Equivalent –beam method