CHAPTER 10

DESGIN AND ANALYSIS OF

SHEET PILE WALLS

10.1 INTRODUCTION
A sheet pile wall is a flexible structure which depends for stability upon the passive
resistance of the soil in front of and behind the lower part of the wall. Stability also depends on
the anchors when incorporated. Retaining walls of this type differ from other walls in that their
weight is negligible compared with the remaining forces involved. Several methods are available
for design and analysis of these structures. Usually, most of them neglect the effect of friction
 between the soil and the wall, but this omission is fairly satisfactory when determining active
 pressure values. However, the effect of wall friction can almost double the Rankine value of K  p .

10.2 TYPES OF SHEET

SHEET PILE WALLS
In general, two types of sheet
sheet pile walls are common. As shown in Fig.(10.1), these are:

10.2.1 CANTILEVER SHEET PILE WALLS

These walls are used mainly for temporary works where the free height is generally less
than 6m. They are constructed by driving the sheet piling to a depth sufficient for developing a
cantilever beam-type reaction to resist the active pressures on the wall. That is, the embedment
length must be adequate to resist both lateral forces as well as a bending moment.

10.2.2 ANCHORED SHEET PILE WALLS

When the height of the backfill material behind a cantilever sheet pile wall exceeds about
6m, tying the wall near the top to anchor plates, anchor walls, or anchor piles becomes more
economical. This type of sheet pile walls is also known as anchored bulkheads.
bulkheads. These walls are
used in waterfront construction to form wharves or piers for loading and unloading ships or
 barges.
Ground Surface Ground Surface

Granular Backfill Anchor tie rod

H W.T. H Granular backfill

W.T.
Derd
Derd e Line
Line Derdge line

D Granular subsoil D Cohesive subsoil

(a) Cantilever Sheet pile (b) Anchored Sheet pile

Fig.(10.1): Types of common used sheet pile walls.

F ounda
undation for C i vil E ngine
ngi nee
er s C hap
hapter
ter 10: D esgin
sgi n of Sheet
Sheet Pi le Walls

10.3 DESIGN METHODS OF CANTILEVER SHEET PILE WALLS

For the sheet pile wall geometry shown in Fig.(10.2a), several methods of design are
a re
available; these are as follows:

10.3.1 LIMIT STATE OR “BS 8002: 1994”

1994” METHOD
According to this method, the following design procedure is recommended:
1. A minimum surcharge load of 10 kN/m2 must be applied to the surface for the design of
sheet pile walls.
2.  Not less than 0.5m deep or 10% of the clear height retained should be considered for
unplanned future excavation in front of the sheet pile wall.
3. The sheet pile wall displacement should not exceed 0.5% of the wall height.
4. The shear strength parameters should be reduced by a mobilization factor, M, the value
of which depends on whether the design is for undrained or drained conditions.
Re presen
 p resentat
tatiive..c u
conditions (  u  0 ): Design c u 
 for undrained conditions (
M  1.5
 for drained conditions, use the lesser of the following two values:
Re presen tative.. tan max.
 p resentati  p resentative..c
Re presentati
(a)  Design tan   ; and Design c 
1.2 1.2
(b) The representative critical state strength which would be mobilized at the collapse of
significant ground movement.
5. The design values of wall friction,  , and undrained wall adhesion, c w , be the lesser of
the representative values determined by tests or:
Design tan   (0.75).Design. tan  ; and Design c w  (0.75).Design .c u
6. The depth of penetration of pile, d, is obtained by balancing the disturbing and restoring
moments about c, together with the horizontal forces established using pressure
distribution shown in Fig.(10.2b). The method generates two equations containing two
unknowns d and d o , which are solved by iteration until the correct values are obtained.

10.3.2 TRADITIONAL METHODS

These methods involve the determination of the safety factor for passive resistance, F p ,
 based on different lateral earth pressure distributions. They are described
described as follows:

(1) Gross Pressure Method

This method is also referred to as the CP2 method; after the Institution of Structural
1951,  in which, the total theoretical
 Engineers' Original Code of Practice published in 1951, 
value of passive resistance is divided by a safety factor ( F p = 2.0). It is based on the
 pressure distribution shown in Fig.(10.2c) from which do   can be obtained by taking
moments of thrusts about the sheet pile base, then, d o   is increased by 30 % to give the
required depth of penetration (d).

572
F ounda
undation for C i vil E ngine
ngi nee
er s C hap
hapter
ter 10: D esgin
sgi n of Sheet
Sheet Pi le Walls

10.3 DESIGN METHODS OF CANTILEVER SHEET PILE WALLS

For the sheet pile wall geometry shown in Fig.(10.2a), several methods of design are
a re
available; these are as follows:

10.3.1 LIMIT STATE OR “BS 8002: 1994”

1994” METHOD
According to this method, the following design procedure is recommended:
1. A minimum surcharge load of 10 kN/m2 must be applied to the surface for the design of
sheet pile walls.
2.  Not less than 0.5m deep or 10% of the clear height retained should be considered for
unplanned future excavation in front of the sheet pile wall.
3. The sheet pile wall displacement should not exceed 0.5% of the wall height.
4. The shear strength parameters should be reduced by a mobilization factor, M, the value
of which depends on whether the design is for undrained or drained conditions.
Re presen
 p resentat
tatiive..c u
conditions (  u  0 ): Design c u 
 for undrained conditions (
M  1.5
 for drained conditions, use the lesser of the following two values:
Re presen tative.. tan max.
 p resentati  p resentative..c
Re presentati
(a)  Design tan   ; and Design c 
1.2 1.2
(b) The representative critical state strength which would be mobilized at the collapse of
significant ground movement.
5. The design values of wall friction,  , and undrained wall adhesion, c w , be the lesser of
the representative values determined by tests or:
Design tan   (0.75).Design. tan  ; and Design c w  (0.75).Design .c u
6. The depth of penetration of pile, d, is obtained by balancing the disturbing and restoring
moments about c, together with the horizontal forces established using pressure
distribution shown in Fig.(10.2b). The method generates two equations containing two
unknowns d and d o , which are solved by iteration until the correct values are obtained.

10.3.2 TRADITIONAL METHODS

These methods involve the determination of the safety factor for passive resistance, F p ,
 based on different lateral earth pressure distributions. They are described
described as follows:

(1) Gross Pressure Method

This method is also referred to as the CP2 method; after the Institution of Structural
1951,  in which, the total theoretical
 Engineers' Original Code of Practice published in 1951, 
value of passive resistance is divided by a safety factor ( F p = 2.0). It is based on the
 pressure distribution shown in Fig.(10.2c) from which do   can be obtained by taking
moments of thrusts about the sheet pile base, then, d o   is increased by 30 % to give the
required depth of penetration (d).

572