Sheet Pile Wall

GEO-SLOPE International Ltd, Calgary, Alberta, Canada www.geo-slope.
com
Sheet Pile Wall

1 Introduction
Deep excavation on a level group usually results in a very low factor of safety, unless it is properly
reinforced. The purpose of this example is to illustrate how the stability of a deep excavation with a sheet
pile wall can be evaluated. Features of this simulation include:
Analysis method: Morgenstern-Price
Use of Entry and Exit slip surface option
A dry slope with no pore-water pressure condition
Use of anchors to reinforce the slope
Use of a pile to model the sheet pile
Use of a line load to model the sheet pile
Hand calculation of the passive earth pressure
2 Configuration and setup

A dry homogeneous material is used in this example. A Mohr Coulomb soil model is used. The unit
weight of the material is chosen to be 20 kN /m3, the material is assumed to have zero cohesion and a
frictional angle of 30o. Since all surfaces are assumed to exit at the toe of the embankment, the exit zone
is modeled with a single point. The depth of the vertical excavation is 10 m, and the sheet pile wall
penetrates 3 m into the bottom of the excavation. The geometry and material properties are shown in
Figure 1.
Figure 1 Geometry and soil properties of the sheet pile wall
SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 1 of 6

GEO-SLOPE International Ltd, Calgary, Alberta, Canada www.geo-slope.com
The sheet pile wall is modeled with a pile.The sheet pile wall is reinforced with two anchors with a bond
length of 3 m and a bond skin friction of 33,333 kPa which results in a total anchor load of 99.999 kN
each. Since the sheet pile wall is penetrated 3 m into the bottom of the excavation, it is reasonable to
model an additional resistance force acting on the vertical cut, due to the passive wedge.
Using Rankines passive pressure theory, the passive pressure force acting on the slope can be calculated
as:
H2 H2
Passive Force = Kp tan2 (45 )
2 2 2
20 x 3 x 3
Passive Force 3.0 x 270 kN
2
The Exit and Entry slip surface option is used. For the exit zone, note that a single point at the toe is used
to model the situation that all slip surfaces must exit at the toe of the vertical cut.
3 Case 1 No resistance from passive earth pressure

Figure 2 shows the critical slip surface and factor of safety of the case when the resistance of the passive
wedge is not modeled. The factor of safety is 0.746, indicating that the vertical will fail even though the
two anchors are used.
Figure 2 Critical slip surface and factor of safety
Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the free body diagram and force polygons of the slices that intersect the
anchors. Note that the anchor loads of 99.999 kN are properly included in slices #7 and #15 in the factor
of safety computation.

Figure 3 Free body diagram and force polygon of the slice # 7
Figure 4 Free body diagram and force polygon of the slice # 15
4 Case 2 passive earth pressure modeled with line load

Figure 5 shows the critical slip surface and factor of safety of the case when the resistance of the passive
wedge is modeled with a line load of 270 kN acting at the toe of the slip surface. The factor of safety of
the vertical cut improves to 2.164.

It is always a habit to use the view slice information feature in CONTOUR to examine the loading acting
on the slope. Figure 6 shows the free body diagram and the force polygon of the last slice (slice # 30).
The resistance force due to the passive wedge is shown correctly on the slice as a horizontal line load of
270 kN.
Figure 6 Free body diagram and force polygon of the last slice

5 Case 3 passive earth pressure modeled with pile shear force

Alternatively, the resistance force of the passive wedge can be modeled as a shear force in the pile. Figure
7 shows the critical slip surface and factor of safety of the case when the shear force of the pile is set to be
270 kN. The factor of safety of the vertical cut is 2.164, which is the same as Case 2 when the resisting
force is modeled with a line load.
Figure 8 shows the free body diagram and the force polygon of the last slice (slice # 30). The resistance
force due to the passive wedge is shown correctly on the slice as a shear force (270 kN) showing at the
base of the slice.
Figure 8 Free body diagram and force polygon of the last slice

6 Case 4 Deep seated failure mode

Although it is likely that the critical failure mode will be at the toe of the vertical cut, it is a good practice
to examine other possible modes of failure. One possible mode of failure in this example is a deep seated
failure model in which the slip surface will pass below the sheet pile wall and the resistance force due to
the passive wedge cannot be included in the factor of safety computation.
Figure 9 shows the critical slip surface and factor of safety of the deep seated failure model. The factor of
safety is 1.954.

Sheet Pile Wall

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sheet Pile Wall

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Sheet Pile Wall

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

GEO-SLOPE International Ltd, Calgary, Alberta, Canada www.geo-slope.

Sheet Pile Wall

2 Configuration and setup

Figure 1 Geometry and soil properties of the sheet pile wall

SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 1 of 6

3 Case 1 No resistance from passive earth pressure

Figure 2 Critical slip surface and factor of safety

SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 2 of 6

Figure 3 Free body diagram and force polygon of the slice # 7

Figure 4 Free body diagram and force polygon of the slice # 15

4 Case 2 passive earth pressure modeled with line load

SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 3 of 6

Figure 5 Critical slip surface and factor of safety

SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 4 of 6

5 Case 3 passive earth pressure modeled with pile shear force

Figure 7 Critical slip surface and factor of safety

SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 5 of 6

6 Case 4 Deep seated failure mode

Figure 9 Critical slip surface and factor of safety

SLOPE/W Example File: Sheet pile wall.doc (pdf) (gsz) Page 6 of 6

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.