Cellular Cofferdams

Components of Cellular Cofferdam

• The major components of cellular cofferdams

are:

– The steel cells which are formed from straight

web steel sheet piles

– The fill which is carefully selected sand and

gravel
 Cellular Cofferdams

– Steel cells: the circular portions of the cell are

actually polygons that consist of interlocked
steel sheet piles

– Straight web steel sheet piles permit up to 10°

deflection at interlocks thus a curved portion of
the cell may be built
Cellular Cofferdams
Cellular Cofferdams

T-pile
Cellular Cofferdams

Y-pile
 Cellular Cofferdams
• Steel sheet piles must be very carefully
installed

• Particularly any rupture in the interlock

should be avoided

• Excessive driving in hard strata of soil or

rock may cause broken interlock
 Cellular Cofferdams

• The lateral pressure of the cell fill causes

ring tension in the sheet pile walls

• These tensile forces are transmitted through

the interlock of sheeting

• No wales or internal bracing are needed

 Cellular Cofferdams
• The calculated maximum interlock stress
must not exceed the allowable stress
specified by the manufacturer of steel sheet
pile
kg/cm’
 Cellular Cofferdams
• In designing cellular cofferdams  the interlock
stress not the web tension is the governing factor

• Tschebotarioff recommended that the interlock

tension for connecting arcs should not exceed
700 kg per linear cm

• According to Hedman, coefficient of friction at

the interlock (steel to steel) may be taken as
f = 0.3
 Cell Fill
• Cells are generally filled with sand and gravel

• Fills with high content of clay are not preferred

because of difficulties connection with drainage

• Cells filled with selected coarse granular

material constitute a sort of earth dam bound
together by steel sheet piling
 Strength of Cellular Cofferdams

• Internal shearing resistance of the fill

• Resistance to shear in the interlocks

• Therefore  clean coarse granular material

is used as fill
 Fill Properties
The Tennessee Valley Authority defines the
ideal cell fill material as:

• Free-draining granular soils with few fines

• High shear strength and high coefficient of
friction
• High unit weight
• High resistance to scour and leakage (well
graded soils)
 Drainage

• After careful selection of cell fill, free

drainage must be maintained by the use of
weepholes

• Weepholes must be provided on the inside

of the sheets (side of the excavated area) to
drain the cell fill
 Drainage

Drainage of the cell fill results in:

• Lower hydrostatic pressure against the

inside sheeting

• Higher shear strength of the fill

Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams
• The water that sweeps through the cellular
cofferdam must pass through the steel sheet
piling and the cell fill

• The flow through either sheet piling or cell fill

causes a loss of head

• If the cell fill consists of clean sand and gravel

the 1oss of head is almost caused by the outer
row of sheet piles because the inner row of
sheet piles is provided with weepholes
Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• The outer row of sheeting is relatively

watertight due to the tension in the
interlocks
Water Flow through Cellular Cofferdams
Vertical section through a cellular cofferdam
resting on an impermeable rock
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• If the cofferdam is filled with clean coarse sand

 the quantity of water in the cell should
theoretically be very small

• It is expected that only the bottom of the cell will

be covered with water

• In practice  this condition has not been

observed  field observations revealed that in
most of the cofferdams filled with sand and
gravel, the line of saturation was rather high
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams
• The line of saturation in the cofferdams filled
with fine silty sand is very high, because of
the low permeability of the fill

• If the cells are filled with clay (that is not

common practice) the water peculates
through the cofferdam as if the outer row
does not exist
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams
• For stability analysis of cellular cofferdams,
the location and shape of the line of
saturation must be determined

• Simplified assumptions for the location and

inclination of the line of saturation may be
made as follows (US Steel, Sheet Piling
Design Manual):
Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• A more simplified assumption of the location

of line of saturation has been made for
cellular cofferdams filled with perfectly free-
draining fills
Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• In cases where an earth berm is used to

increase stability, the saturation line slopes
down to the top of berm as shown:
Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• If a cofferdam rests on a soil foundation 

the line of saturation is similar to cofferdam
rests on rock but the position of the
saturation line is lightly higher

• When a cofferdam rests on a soil foundation,

it is not sufficient to study the location of the
line of saturation  the effect of the seepage
on the subsoil must also be taken into
consideration
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• If a cellular cofferdam rests on a deep sand

deposit  the most important problem to be
studied is the possibility of the formation of
boils at the downstream toe

• Due to high permeability of sand, water

percolates at a relatively large speed under
the base of the cofferdam and rises up in
front of the toe
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• If the seepage pressure becomes equal to the

buoyant weight of the sand the shear
strength of soil is destroyed and the bearing
capacity is lost

• To prevent the danger of boiling  the

magnitude of the seepage pressure must be
determined by the flow net
 Permeability of Cellular Cofferdams

• The danger may be eliminated by:

– The use of loaded filter at the inner side

– By driving sheet piles into the sand long
enough to reduce seepage pressure
 Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock

• Cellular cofferdams resting on rock should

be analyzed against the following
possibilities of failure:

– Overturning and tension at base

– Sliding
– Slipping
– Shear failure on centerline of cell
– Interlock rupture due to interlock tension
 Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock

Overturning

• The cofferdam must be stable against overturning

• If the cofferdam is regarded as a gravity structure

resting on rock, the resultant force must lie within
the middle one-third of the base  thus the
cofferdam will be safe against overturning and
there will be no tension at the base
Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock

Overturning
 Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock

Overturning
• The resultant force must lie within the
middle one-third of the base if the following
conditions is satisfied:

y ( H ) B
Eccentrici ty  e  
V 6
Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock

Overturning

y ( H ) B
Eccentrici ty  e  
V 6
 Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock
Overturning

• If a triangle base pressure is permitted then:

• The width of base is equal to:

Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock
Overturning


 Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock
Overturning

• In this case:
 Design of Cellular Cofferdams on Rock
Overturning

• Therefore, the factor of safety against

overturning: