SHORING SUITE PLUS

VERSION 7

ct-SHORING v EPRES vLPRES v HEAVE

for

WINDOWS 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP

SHORING Suite Plus:

ct-Shoring
Epres
Lpres
Heave

CIVILTECH SOFTWARE
All the information, including technical and engineering data, processes and results,
presented in this program and its menu have been prepared according to recognized
contracting and/or engineering principles, and are for general information only. If
anyone uses this program for any specific application without an independent
competent professional examination and verification of its accuracy, suitability, and
applicability by a licensed professional engineer, he/she does so at his/her own risk
and assumes any and all liability resulting from such use. In no event shall
CivilTech be held liable for any damages including lost profits, lost savings, or other
incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of or inability to use the
information contained within.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not
represent a commitment on the part of CivilTech Corporation. This program is
furnished under a license agreement, and the program may be used only in
accordance with the terms of the agreement. The program may be copied for backup
purposes only.

The program or user’s guide shall not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without prior written consent from CivilTech Corporation.

Copyright 2004 CivilTech Corporation. All rights reserved.

Simultaneously published in the U.S. and Canada.

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Last edited on 4/8/2004

Published by

CivilTech Software
400 108th Ave. NE, Suite 400
Bellevue, WA 98004 U.S.A.
Phone: (425) 453-6488
Fax: (425) 453-5848
E-mail: ctc@civiltech.com
Web Site: http://www.civiltech.com
 INTRODUCTION TO
SHORING SUITE PLUS
Version 7

SHORING Suite 1
INTRODUCTION
About the Software

Figure 1-1 Integration of four programs

SHORING Suite Plus contains four integration programs: ct-SHORING,

Epres, Lpres, and Heave. Each of the four programs has its own user-friendly
interface that makes the program easy to learn and easy to run. It has a
powerful pull-down menu bar at the top of the screen and is very easy to
operate. The commands on the menu bar are arranged in a Microsoft-style
configuration. Both the mouse and the keyboard can be used for data input
and retrieval with short-cut keys provided for quick operation.
Each time the user opens the software, a panel that describes the four
programs will appear. These four programs provide all the analyses and
calculations that you need in a typical shoring design.

• ct-Shoring – Performs shoring wall analyses based on the pressure

diagrams from Epres, Lpres, or directly input by users.
• Epres – Generates earth pressure diagrams based on the soil properties
and conditions.
• Lpres – Generates surcharge pressure diagrams.
• Heave – Performs excavation stability analysis.
The four programs operate as standalone software, but can be integrated
together. The results of Epres and Lpres can be automatically imported into
SHORING.

SHORING Suite 2
About the Company
CivilTech Software is a subsidiary of CivilTech Corporation, located in
Bellevue, Washington, USA. We are about a 10-minute drive from Microsoft
Corporation’s Redmond campus. CivilTech have been providing software
development services to Microsoft since 1997. CivilTech Software employs
engineers with experience in structural, geotechnical, and software
engineering. These engineers have many years of experience in design and
analysis in the fields of geotechnical, foundation, and structural engineering,
with special expertise in areas such as seismic analysis, tunnel engineering,
soil-structure interaction, and finite element analysis.
CivilTech has developed a series of engineering programs that are reliable,
efficient, easy to learn, engineering-oriented, and practical. The series
includes SHORING, HEAVE, Lpres, Epres, Upres, Tunnel, All-Pile,
SuperLog, Pinned Pile, and Lab Testing. These programs are widely used in
the U.S. and around the world. For more information or to obtain a free trial
copy of programs listed above, please visit our Web site at
http://www.civiltech.com.
CivilTech also provides a variety of high quality technical services to our
clients. We feel it is our responsibility to make sure all users of our software
are completely satisfied with our products and services. Clients who have any
kind of question regarding our products can contact us through our Technical
Service Hotline at (425) 453-6488, which is operated from 8am to 5pm
Pacific Time, Monday through Friday.

SHORING Suite 3
INSTALLATION
Setup From CD:
1. Insert the shipment CD-Rom disk into the CD-Rom drive.
2. For Windows 3.1, go to the [FILE] menu and select [RUN]. For Windows
95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP, click on <START> and select [RUN].
3. Type: “D:setup”.
4. When the setup screen appears, click on SHORING Suite Plus under
Installation. Follow the instructions on the screen. The installation program will
automatically copy the program files into a new directory called “Shoring 7”,
and create an icon called SHORING Suite on your Windows desktop.
5. Once setup is completed, click on <Finish> and SHORING Suite will launch.
6. The registration panel will appear.
7. The CPU number of your machine will be highlighted near the top of the panel.
This is a unique number inside your computer for identification purposes. Please
record the CPU number onto the registration form enclosed in the package, and
then return the form to CivilTech by fax (425-453-5848) or email
(ctc@civiltech.com). CivilTech will give you a registration code, which
corresponds to the CPU number generated by the software.
8. Type in the registration code given by CivilTech into the corresponding box in
the registration panel. Without inputting the correct registration code, the
software will remain in Demo mode.
9. Fill in the serial number if it is given to you, otherwise, you may leave it blank.
10. Enter in the user information then click on <Register> to complete the
registration.
♦ Your SHORING Suite Plus V7 shipment disk contains four of our most popular
programs, even though you may not have purchased all four of them. Except for
the program you have purchased, the installation process can install all
programs, but they will be running in demo mode with limited functions.

Download Program from Internet:

1. Use your internet browser, e.g. Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, to find
the download page in our web site at www.civiltech.com.
2. Select the most recent version of SHORING Suite Plus for download. The
browser will prompt you to save the file to a directory.
3. After download, find the downloaded file sh_setup.exe and open it. The
program will start up the installation process automatically. Follow Steps 4 and 5
above to complete the installation.

Download Manual from Internet:

You can find the SHORING manual on the download page of our Web site
(www.civiltech.com/software/download.html). Click on SHORING Suite Plus
Manual link to open the manual, a PDF file (you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader
to open the file). Then, save the PDF file onto your hard drive or wherever you wish.

SHORING Suite 4
Configuration The program will be automatically configured using your original
Windows settings. However, you can change your own configuration
later through Windows. To do so, users need to refer to the Windows
manual.

Default Directory:
The default directory is “c:/shoring7/”. We recommend using this
directory.

Starting the Use the SHORING Suite shortcut automatically installed on your Windows
Program desktop, or click on <Start> and select [Programs], [Shoring Suite +].

SHORING Suite 5
MAIN SCREEN
Vertical Menu Bar
The vertical menu bar shown in Fig
1-3 has six buttons. Each button
provides different combination of the
programs as described below:

Button Order is from top down:

1. SHORING Program only.

2. Four programs in tiles.

3. Four programs in cascade.

4. Close Heave. Only show

three programs in tiles.

5. Open a Suite Panel for direct

selection (as Fig. 1-1).

6. Exit and quit the software.

Figure 1-3 Vertical Menu Bar

The Suite Panel illustrated in Fig 1-1 provides a brief description of the
programs. Users can press the appropriate button and go to the corresponding
program directly.

SHORING Suite 6
SUITE INTEGRATION
Two Input Methods
The SHORING program provides two options for inputting data:

• Users directly input data regarding the pressure diagrams into the
program, or

• Users input soil and load conditions in Epres and Lpres, then export the
processed data to SHORING.

The first method—direct input to the SHORING program—allows users to

have more flexibility in the data input. The second method—importing
processed data from Epres/Lpres—may save time from repetitive data input,
but it can be difficult for users to identify the soil diagrams. We therefore
recommend the first input method.
If you have soil and water conditions required by Epres, we recommend the
following procedure:
Run the Epres program and print out the results. From the results,
mentally picture how the pressure diagrams are oriented. Then
manually input the pressure diagram data into the SHORING
program.

Note: Pressure diagrams imported from Epres are formed by numerical data
grouped in several small segments. When these data are transformed to graphs
in SHORING, the pressure diagrams may appear with many small zigzagged
teeth due to the numerical nature. Improvement on numerical calculation in
Epres is our goal for the future versions.

Figure 1-4 Integration between SHORING,

Epres, and Lpres

SHORING Suite 7
Method 1: Direct input to SHORING
In this method, you need to have a rough idea of how the pressure diagrams look before
you can manually input the data into the SHORING program. You can click the first
button on the vertical menu bar illustrated in Fig. 1-3 to open the SHORING program.

Earth Pressure Input

In most cases, geotechnical reports, bidding documents, or specifications should provide

the users with the data required for constructing pressure diagrams. Users could also
interpolate the soil diagrams from the results generated by Epres. Experienced engineers
can develop the pressure diagrams directly from the soil and water conditions using the
Coulomb or Rankine methods.

Surcharge Pressure Input

Manually input the pressures if you know their magnitudes and distributions, or 2.)
Directly import data from Lpres.

Method 2: Export Data from Epres to SHORING

This is the method for users who prefer to have Epres to generate the pressure diagrams
for them. However, a variety of soil parameters, such as c, φ, γ, and water tables, must
be known for Epres to do the computation.

Earth Pressure Input

First of all, input the soil parameters and other earth-related data into Epres and run the
program. After the computation, users can press the export button [SHORING] (circled
in Fig. 1-4) to transfer data to the SHORING program.

Surcharge Pressure Input

Users first input the earth pressures into Lpres and then run the program. After the
computation is finished, users should click on the button [SHORING] (circled in Fig. 1-
4), to export the data to SHORING. The pressures from Lpres will be automatically
added to the existing data in the SHORING program.

Important Notes
• Data imported from Epres will overwrite the existing data in the SHORING
program.

• Data imported from Lpres will be added onto the existing data in SHORING.

• According to the special situations mentioned above, it is important to input

earth pressures from Epres first, before adding the surcharge pressures from
Lpres to SHORING to avoid any undesirable loss of data. The input sequences
also effect the arrangeme nt of diagrams in the graphics output.

SHORING Suite 8
COMMON ELEMENTS
Pull Down Menu
In SHORING Suite Plus, all four programs share the same pull down menu,
but the menu will vary slightly in format depending on which program is
active. The menu is always placed at the upper left corner of the window.
When a program is active, the pull down menu is designated to work for that
program only. The following text describes the common purpose of the menu
item.

File Menu
The [File] menu located in the title bar at the very top of the window provides
easy data file handling functions.
New To clear all the old data from the screen and provide a blank work sheet for
user to begin a new job. Every time a program is opened, the program provides
the user with a new untitled file. If the file name is Untitled, user should name
the file when the file is saved (See Save below).

Open To open an existing file from a drive, a dialog box with a list of files will
appear on the screen. Select the file you want by double -clicking it. To quit
from opening a file, simply press Esc or click [Cancel].

Save Users should make a habit of saving the file occasionally while they are
working to avoid any accidental loss of data. To save the working file, users
can press the shortcut key F10 or click [File] and then select Save on the pull
down menu. If the file has not been saved before, the program will
automatically switch to Save As and require you to provide a file name for the
new file.

Save As If you want to save a new untitled file, or change the file name of an opened
file, or save the existing file to another directory, use the Save As command. A
dialog box will appear and require the user to name the untitled file. Do not
put period [.], pound sign [#], or an extension in the file name.
Shoring program remembers 5 most recent opened files. You can click one of
File History them to open it. It only is works with Shoring not others.

Close Program Closes an active program window. Please note that closing a screen takes an
active window temporarily off the screen. Data previously input in a
closed window will not be lost, unless the entire SHORING Suite Plus
program is shut down.

Exit Suite Exits the four SHORING Suite Plus programs. A dialog box will appear to
confirm the command. User should select [Yes] to quit the entire SHORING
Suite Plus or [No] to stay in the program.

Run Menu Runs the program.

Help Menu Provides help information for your convenience. You can also open a
Registration Panel from the Help Menu.

SHORING Suite 9
PREVIEW AND PRINT
In each program, after selecting the [Results] button, the program will present results on the Preview
and Print screen as shown below. The functions of all the buttons placed along the top of the screen
are listed below:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Button Function Description

1. Move Left Previous page (N/A in this software)

2. Move Right Next page (N/A in this software)
3. Page Height Zoom to the page height
4. Page Width Zoom to the page width
5. Zoom In Enlarge the image
6. Zoom Out Reduce the image
7. Printer Send to printer
8. Printer Setup Set up printer
9. Clipboard Copy the graphics to Windows Clipboard. Users can
paste the graphics to any Windows program such as
MS-Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
10. Save Save graphics to a Windows metafile, which can be
opened or inserted by other drawing programs for
editing.
11. Close Close Preview
12. Zoom Zoom to desired percentage

SHORING Suite 10
 ct-SHORING
Shoring Wall Calculation

CIVILTECH SOFTWARE
 SHORING FOR WINDOWS SOFTWARE MANUAL

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM............................ 1

DATA INPUT .................................................................................................... 1
Input Page 1.................................................................................................2
Anchor Size for Deadmen Option:.................................................................3
Anchor Size for Deadmen Option:.................................................................4
Input Page 2.................................................................................................7
Options........................................................................................................9
DATA OUTPUT ............................................................................................... 12
CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD ............................ 15
CANTILEVER WALLS.........................................................................................15
ANCHORED WALLS ..........................................................................................16
MULTI-BRACING WITHOUT EMBEDMENT ............................................................20
CHAPTER 3 DEFLECTION AND DIAGRAMS .................. 22
CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION & SPECIAL CONDITIONS .... 25

CivilTech Software SHORING i

CivilTech Software SHORING ii
CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM
To register and start the program, see the Introduction section of this manual.

Data Input
The data required for the wall calculations are input on three pages as shown below.

CivilTech Software SHORING 1

 A sample of the data to be input on Page 1 is provided in Figure 1-1.

Lateral Pressures
Depth

1.5

Brace or Anchor
.45 5

Pressure 2
.45
8
X Pressure 1
Dredge Line .35 10
.35
1 0.035
14
.27 1.4 1
Y 1
Active Pressure
Below Dredge Line
Passive Pressure
Below Dredge Line

Figure 1-1 General Page

Input Page 1
Wall Height (Excavation depth) Enter length from top of wall or ground surface to
excavation base.
Pile Spacing Spacing between soldier piles. (*If sheet pile is used, the spacing is
always equal to 1).
Brace , Tieback or Deadmen
No: No reinforcement.
Brace: Use internal bracing.
Tieback: Use tieback anchor.
Deadmen: Use deadmen anchor.
Spacing: Spacing between every two reinforcements.

Table:
X: Distance from the top of the wall (ground surface) to the level where the
reinforcement is installed. For cantilever walls, these cells are left blank.
Angle: Inclination of each tieback anchor. The angle, measured from the
horizontal line, is positive if it is above the horizontal line and negative
if it is below the line. For brace, inclination is equal to zero in most
cases, unless rakers are used.

CivilTech Software SHORING 2

 Tieback Anchor Option:

(These inputs are only required for tieback anchors) During the calculation of tieback
free length, a non-load zone must be defined before the free length of tieback anchor can
be calculated. The visual expressions of these inputs are shown in Figure 1-2.

V-Depth: The distance from the top of the wall to the level where
the theory of non-load zone becomes effective. In most cases,
V-Depth is equal to wall height, but they are not necessarily the
same, depending on the ground condition at the excavation base.
Angle 1 from H Line: This is the deflection angle of the non-load zone. 60o is
commonly used to define this angle.
H-Distance: This is the ratio of the horizontal distance (width of the
non-load zone at the excavation base) to the wall height. For
example, if the wall height is 10 feet and H-Distance is 0.25, the
horizontal distance will be 2.5 feet from the wall. Ratio
between 0.2 and 0.3 is recommended.
Anchor Diameter: The diameter of the anchor, unit is in feet or meter.
Anchor Adhesion: In the calculation of tieback strength, fixed length (grouted
length) of the anchor and adhesion between the grout and the
soil should be defined. The input units can be kip/ft2 (English)
or KN/m2 (metric). Since the calculated strength would be
allowable strength, users should include a Safety Factor in the
adhesion. The program itself does not apply any additional F.S.

Active
Zone

V-depth

L-free

Adhesion

Excavation Base

Angle1 Diameter
L-fixed

H-distance
(Input H/V ratio)

Tieback Anchor

Figure 1-2 Tieback Anchor

CivilTech Software SHORING 3

Anchor Size for Deadmen Option:

(These inputs are only required for deadmen anchor) During the calculation of
deadmen length, a active zone and passive zone are defined. The visual expressions of
these inputs are shown in Figure 1-3.

V-Depth: The distance from the top of the wall to the level where the
theory of active zone becomes effective. In most cases, V-Depth
is equal to wall height, but they are not necessarily the same,
depending on the ground condition at the excavation base.
Angle 1 from H: This is the angle to define the active zone. 60o is commonly
used to define this angle.
Angle 2 from H: This is the angle to define the passive zone. 30o is commonly
used to define this angle.
Deadmen Width: The horizontal width of the deadmen anchor. If sheet pile is
used, the width should be 1 foot.
Passive Slope: The slope (pressure change over depth change) of the pressure
diagram, also known as the equivalent fluid density, that is
applied on the passive side of the deadmen anchor. Units are in
kcf or kPa/m.

Angle2 Passive
Slope

1 Width
(Horizontal)
Active
Zone

V-depth Passive
Zone

Excavation Base

Angle1

Deadmen Anchor

Figure 1-3 Deadmen Anchor

CivilTech Software SHORING 4

 Lateral Pressures
The input data corresponding to Figure 1-1 are presented in the following table:
Xtop Top Pres Xbot Bot. Pres Spacing
0 0 10 0.35 1 Pressure 1
1.5 0 5 0.45 1 Pressure 2
5 0.45 8 0.45 1 Pressure 2
8 0.45 14 0 1 Pressure 2

Spacing: The width of pressure acting on the wall. In most cases, this is equal to
the Pile Spacing. If sheet pile is used, spacing is equal to 1. Units can be
feet or meters.
Xtop: The distance from the top of the wall to the top of the pressure diagram.
Xtop equals to zero when no surcharge is applied. Units can be feet or
meters.
Top Pres: The magnitude of pressure calculated along the upper edge of the active
pressure diagram. Units can be ksf or kPa.
Xbot: The distance from the top of wall to the bottom of the pressure diagram.
Bot. Pres: The magnitude of pressure calculated along the bottom edge of the
active pressure diagram, Xbot.
There are three major types of pressure applying on a shoring wall: soil pressure, water
pressure, and surcharge pressure. Trapezoidal pressure diagrams are commonly used to
represent pressure distribution. Triangular pressure diagrams can also be used if either
Top Pres. or Bot. Pres. is equal to zero. In general practice, complicated pressure
diagrams are often broken up into several smaller trapezoidal diagrams for simpler
calculation. Shoring can accept input from up to 100 pressure diagrams for each
analysis.
It should be noted active pressures below base can also be input in this table, though we
recommend to use the corresponding table on Input Page 2 to input such pressures as it is
more straight forward.

Figure 1-4 Input Page 1

CivilTech Software SHORING 5

⇒ FAST TRICK Double-clicking the left button of the mouse on any first or second cell, except
those in the first row, will initiate the special function that copies and pastes the data from the
third and fourth cells of the previous row. For example, double -clicking on either the first or
second cell in the third row will copy the data from the third and fourth cell in the second row
(see Fig. 1-4).
If Xbot is at the same depth as the tip of the pile, which is unknown to the user, “999” can be
input in the Xbot cell. Ct-SHORING will determine the tip elevation of the pile under the
assumption that Xbot is equal to the tip elevation. See Example 5 in the Example Section for
more details.
The user can identify the spacing of pressure in the Pile Spacing box at the top right corner of
the table. In normal cases, pressure should have a uniform spacing along the vertical length of
the pile. If a pressure has two different spacings, e.g., 8-foot spacing above the excavation base
and 2-foot spacing below the excavation base, two individual pressure diagrams, which are
separated at the dredge line, should be used to perform the pressure calculation. Although the
magnitudes of pressure for the two diagrams are both entered in the table on Input Page 1, their
spacings are input separately. The spacing of the upper diagram is entered in the Pile Spacing
box on Input Page 1, while the spacing of the lower diagram is entered in the Shaft Width box
on Input Page 2.

CivilTech Software SHORING 6

 Input Page 2

Figure 1-5 Input Page 2

Active Pressures (below excavation base/ dredge line)

These pressure inputs have the same function as the lateral pressure inputs on Input Page
1, except for the following differences:

• Depths (X top) on Input Page 1 are measured from the top of wall, but depths (Y
top) on Page 2 are measured from the dredge line as the pressures entered in Input
Page 2 are only valid below the excavation base.

• On Input Page 1, user is required to enter the pressure at both the top and the bottom
of the pressure diagram. On Input Page 2, only the top pressure is required as the
bottom pressure can be calculated if Pressure Slope, the slope of pressure change, is
entered. This type of entry allows the program to search for the required embedment
of the pile until pressure equilibrium between the active side and the passive side is
reached. The following is a sample input for active pressure below dredge line:

Shaft Width 1

Ytop Top Pres Slope

0 0.35 0.035

Ytop : The distance between the excavation base/dredge line and the top of the pressure
diagram. Units are in feet or meters.

CivilTech Software SHORING 7

 Top Pres: The magnitude of pressure at the top of the pressure diagram. Units are in ksf or
kPa.
Slope: The slope (pressure change over depth change) of the pressure diagram, also
known as the equivalent fluid density. Units are in kcf or kPa/m.
Shaft width: The effective width of active pressure. It is usually the same as the flange width
of the pile for driven piles, or the diameter of the pile shaft for drilled piles. If
sheet pile is used, then width must be equal to 1. Units are in feet or meters.
Note: Users should keep in mind that top pressure and pressure slope can be negative
in some circumstances. In those cases, a negative sign must be added to both the
pressure and the slope in the depths where active pressures become negative.
Please refer to Example 2 for detail.

Passive Pressures (below excavation base/ dredge line)

Passive pressure diagrams share the same inputs and format as the active pressure diagrams,
except that they are in the opposite direction. In other words, a positive active pressure is a
negative passive pressure and vice versa. If positive values are entered in here, a passive
pressure diagram will form on the inner side of the pile and underneath the dredge line, which
is like a converted active pressure diagram. A sample input for passive pressure is presented
below:

Shaft Width 1

Ytop Top Pres Slope

0 0 0.35

4 1.4 0.27

Arching Width: The effective width of passive pressure. Due to arching effect, the
effective width here is normally equal to 2 to 3 times the Shaft Width in
a conservative approach. If sheet pile is used, the width must equal 1.

Ytop : The distance between the excavation base/dredge line and the top of the
passive pressure diagram. Units are in feet or meters.

Top Pres: The magnitude of pressure at the top of the pressure diagram. Units are
in ksf or kPa.

Slope: The slope (pressure change/depth change) of the inclined line of the
pressure diagram, sometimes known as the equivalent fluid density.
Units are in kcf or kPa/m.

CivilTech Software SHORING 8

 Options
Entries in Input Pages 1 and 2 are for the purpose of identifying the soil and load
conditions. In the Definitions page, users are required to define the design parameters for
shoring, such as type, strength, and other mechanical properties of the piles. Entries in
this page have significant control of the shoring design as each design parameter has a
direct effect on the calculations.

Figure 1-6 Options Page

Pile Selection: There are four selections in this section: Soldier piles, Sheet
piles, No selection, and Specified. Shoring selects the smallest
pile size for the shoring wall based on the calculated moment
and capacity of pile. If Specified is selected, user should input
pile designation in the right box, i.e. W14X64.

Pile Strength (Fy): In this section, the user can select the grade of steel, from 36 ksi
to 100 ksi, for the piles. It should be noted that the strength of
the steel has a direct effect on the pile size selection.

Allowable Fb/Fy: The ratio of Fb/Fy is the Factor of Safety applied on pile
selection. Fb is the allowable strength in practice for the piles
selected, while Fy is the ultimate pile strength recommended by
manufacturers. The default ratio in this program is 0.66, which
is equivalent to Factor of Safety of 1.5 (1/0.66=1.5).

Show Top Deflection: If this box is checked, the program will calculate the deflection
at the top of the pile for every selected pile. The amount of top
deflection is presented in parentheses ( ) beside the selected
piles in the report.

CivilTech Software SHORING 9

 Show Deflection Diagram: If this box is checked, the deflection diagram is presented in
Diagram Report (After pressing Diagram button)

Materials Selection: This is a pull-down list for selecting pile materials. There are
four choices offered in this selection: Steel, Concrete, Timber,
and User. The two mechanical properties of pile listed below, E
and I, will vary according to the materials selected. If User is
chosen, the values of E and I will not change because User
represents a user-defined option. Users are responsible for
typing in the correct values for both mechanical properties.
(*NOTE: If a specific pile size is selected in Pile Selection, user
can ignore Material Selection as both E and I of any valid pile
size can be automatically recalled from the database.)

E: Elastic Modulus of the pile selected for deflection calculation.

Default values are already saved in the program for steel,
concrete, and timber piles, but users can overwrite the default
values by typing in the values of their choice.

I: Moment of Inertia of the pile selected for deflection calculation.

Default values are already saved in the program for steel,
concrete, and timber piles, but users can overwrite the default
values by typing in the values of their choice.

Point of Fixity The point of zero deflection in the calculation of pile deflection.
Refer to Figure 3-2 for the definition. The input should be a
ratio of Z/D as shown in Figure 3-2.

Top Brace Increasing: Checking this box will increase the applied load on the upper
brace by 15% of the computed value. This is a conservative
approach recommended by DM-7 (NAVFAC-7.1, page 7, 2-
103). Experience indicates that the load on the first brace
increases significantly when the trench is being excavated below
the second brace level and before the installation of the second
brace. There are also unexpected surcharge loads during
excavation that can increase the load on the first brace.

Unit: This is the selection of English or metric units. For English

units, kip and feet are used. For metric units, kN and meters are
used.

Embedment: Choose Yes, if the minimum embedment (penetration) is

determined by the program based on the Factor of Safety
specified in the FOS box. Choose No, if the wall does not have
an embedment, such as trench box or rat slab at the excavation
base (At least two braces are needed for wall with No
embedment; Slab at excavation base can be considered as a
brace). Choose Fixed, if user wants to evaluate the Factor of
Safety of an existing wall, or design a new wall with fixed
embedment due to hard rock in ground or limited pile length.
User should follow the procedures presented in the memo box.
CivilTech Software SHORING 10
 for FOS and input the fixed embedment in the corresponding box. The program will then
calculate the Factor of Safety based on the fixed embedment.

Note: At least two sufficient braces are required for the No

embedment option.

Factor of Safety (FOS): The passive pressures in Input Page 2 will be reduced by the
Factor of Safety entered by the user during computation. If
safety factor is already included in the passive pressures, then
FOS = 1 should be used.

Note: Data transferred directly from Epres has NOT been reduced by
any safety factor; therefore the user must input the appropriate
safety factor. FOS =1.5 is recommended.

Results Graphics Scale: User can adjust the scale of the output graphics to 1:1, 1:0.5, or
1:0.25, depending on the embedment of the shoring. In most
cases, the scale of 1:1 has the best effect in illustrating the
result. The scale of 1:0.5 should only be considered if the total
length of pile exceeds 50 feet.

CivilTech Software SHORING 11

Data Output
ct-SHORING has three ways to generate data and output results. The first output format
is Results, which is a brief summary of outputs that includes:
1. Embedment depth
2. Brace reaction
3. Maximum moment on the pile and its corresponding
location
4. Input information and units
This type of format gives you a quick review of the important results. It is ideal for
solving problems via trial and error as users can view the results immediately in a simple
format and adjust the inputs through a series of trials to search for the optimum solution.
To start Results, users can click on the Results icon, or click on Run in the menu bar and
choose <Results>, or press F5.

Figure 1-7 Results Page

The second choice of output is Report, which is a detailed summary of all results which
allows users to check the effectiveness and the performance of the design. If the shoring
design involves braces or tieback anchors, extra beam calculations will be made for each
span between two adjacent braces or tiebacks, except for the first and last cantilever
spans. Depending on the design and the user’s need, the format and the contents of
Report may vary somewhat in different cases. The following is a list of outputs that can
be presented in Report:
• Total driving force: Force exerted at the bottom of each span in a pressure diagram.

CivilTech Software SHORING 12

 • Cantilever moment: In most situations, top cantilever moment occurs at the first
brace level. For shoring with multiple braces but no embedment, there is a bottom
cantilever moment at the last brace level.
• Driving moment about bottom: This is the moment applied at the bottom of each
span in a pressure diagram.
• Reaction at top: This is the reaction force exerted on the brace that is placed at the
top of a beam span.
• Reaction at bottom: This is the reaction force exerted on the brace that is placed at
the bottom of a beam span.
• Brace reaction: This is the total reaction force applied on a brace. The force is a
combination of the Reaction at top of the current beam span and the Reaction at
bottom of the previous beam span.
• Maximum moment: The magnitude and the location of the greatest moment
generated within a span. At the point where moment is at maximum, shear force
must equal to zero.
• Overall maximum moment: This is the greatest moment exerted on the entire pile.
• Minimum embedment and Minimum pile length
• A list of piles selected by SHORING based on the user’s defined parameters and the
soil and load conditions.

To start Report, users can click on the Report icon, or select File and choose <Report>,
or press F6.

Note: Report is presented in Notepad, a common and easy-to-use word-processing

program that allows users to change the content, font, and format of the
data/result output. The other advantage of Notepad is that it can save the output
in a text file that is independent of the SHORING program, thereby allowing
users to retrieve the output without opening the program.

Figure 1-8 Report Page

presented in NotePad

CivilTech Software SHORING 13

 The third way to present data or results is via Diagram, which is a purely graphical
output format. Four diagrams are shown, which illustrate pressure, shear, moment, and
deflection respectively. Through these graphical illustrations, users will have a clear idea
of the deflection and the changes of forces and moment along the entire length of the
pile. The most critical values in each diagram, as well as the reaction force exerted on
each brace/tieback anchor, will be displayed for reference.

To start Diagram, users can click on the Diagram icon, or select Run and choose
<Diagram>, or press F7.

Warning Users should be careful with the scale used in each diagram because scales
of the diagrams are not fixed: they vary with the maximum value illustrated
in the diagram.

Figure 1-9 Diagram Page

CivilTech Software SHORING 14

CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD
The design of sheet/soldier pile retaining walls requires several operations:
a) Evaluate various forces and lateral pressures that apply on the wall.
b) Determine the minimum pile penetration/embedment.
c) Compute reaction force acting on each brace/tieback anchor and the
maximum bending moments encountered by the pile.
d) Compute the total stress against the wall and select the appropriate design
parameters for the pile.
e) Design the walling and anchorage systems with consideration of reaction
force in each tie rod.

There are two basic types of walls:

§ Cantilever walls
§ Braced walls

For braced walls, they can be further divided into the following classes:
a) Single-anchored walls
b) Multi-bracing walls with embedment in soil
c) Multi-bracing walls without embedment in soil

Cantilever Walls
For this type of wall, sheet piles are driven into the ground to a depth where sufficient
passive pressure can be generated in the buried part of the wall to resist against
overturning, sliding, and excessive deflection of the walls. For cantilever walls with no
bracing or tieback anchorage, they are like a wide cantilever beam above the dredge line.
It is fairly common to have embedment that is almost as deep as the height of the wall
above the excavation base. Due to this limitation, cantilever sheet pile walls are usually
recommended for walls with low to moderate heights up to 15 feet.

A typical earth pressure diagram for cantilevered walls is shown in Fig 2-1. For an easy
and efficient computation of total pressure, it is common to divide a pressure diagram
into several small trapezoidal or triangular components. It is more convenient to
calculate pressures of simply shaped components and then add them together at the end
for the final result.
The basic principles for estimating the net lateral pressure distribution on a cantilever
sheet pile wall can be illustrated using Figure 2-1, which shows the nature of lateral
yielding of a cantilever wall below the dredge line that penetrates into a sand layer. The
wall rotates about the point marked as “O” on Fig. 2-1, where lateral pressures are
balanced out and equal to zero. In Zone A, the only lateral pressure is the active pressure
acting behind the wall. In Zone B, due to the yielding of wall, there are both active
pressure acting behind the wall and passive pressure applying in front of the wall. Zone
C is located below the point of rotation “O” and is about 20% of the total embedment

CivilTech Software SHORING 15

 length. The passive pressure in this zone is actually behind the wall. In the program, a
concentrated force is used to simulate the sum of the passive pressure in this zone.

The computation method used by ct-SHORING is indicated as follows:

1. Use numerical calculations to determine the embedment of the pipe, B, where sum
of moments acting on the pile equals to zero.
2. Increase the embedment by 20% to generate an additional reversed pressure that
satisfies the force equilibrium. The extra embedment, C, combined with the initial
embedment, B, form the actual embedment that is 120% of B. Please note that the
additional 20% of embedment is not a Factor of Safety. The F.S. of this system
remains 1.

3. Find the maximum moment in the pile after the zero shear stress point is determined.

O
ΣM=0 C
ΣF=0

Figure 2-1 Typical Lateral Stress Distribution on a Cantilever Wall

Anchored Walls
Anchored pile walls are supported by two means: passive pressure acting on the front of the wall
below the dredge line and steel tie rods that anchor the shoring wall with the soil behind it. The
additional strength provided by the anchor tieback not only reduces the required embedment of
the piles, but also decreases the cross-section area and the weight of pile used in the wall
construction. It is common to use tieback rods and bracings to

CivilTech Software SHORING 16

 provide extra support for sheet or soldier pile walls in deep excavations. In cases where
excavation is very deep or soil is relative soft in providing sufficient passive pressure,
engineers can consider using high-strength steel piling, reinforced sheet piling, relieving
platforms, or additional tiers or tie rods to give additional support to the wall. A typical
pressure diagram of an anchored wall is shown in Fig 2-2.
The principle of embedment calculation used by this program is to determine the
required pile penetration and the anchor force when both moment and force are in
equilibrium (ΣM=0 and ΣF=0). Because the embedment for an anchored wall is smaller
than that of a cantilever wall in the same soil and excavation conditions, it is assumed
that the wall buried beneath the soil will not rotate and no pressure reverse will occur.

The calculation method is summarized below:

1. Take moment about point “O” where the tie rod is inserted. Increase the pile
embedment until the sum of the moment equals to zero (ΣF=0).

2. Assume the sum of horizontal forces (ΣF=0) equals to zero for calculating
tie rod reaction.

3. Find the maximum moment after choosing the point with zero shear stress.
ct-SHORING will compare the maximum moment with the cantilever moment at
point “O” and show whichever is largest.

ΣM=0 Tie Rod

O
ΣF=0

Figure 2-2 Anchored Wall

CivilTech Software SHORING 17

Multi-Bracing or Tieback with Embedment

When the pressure behind a wall is high, especially in deep excavations, it may be
necessary to increase the number of braces to provide sufficient support to the wall.
Unlike the single-anchored walls mentioned in the previous section, this type of wall is
supported by more than one brace or tieback.
A typical pressure diagram of multi-bracing wall is illustrated in Fig. 2-3. Due to the
effect of multi-bracing, soil diagrams of this type of wall are mostly rectangular or
trapezoidal, which can be easily divided into smaller components to simplify calculation.

Cantilever Span

Beam Span 1

Beam Span 2

Beam Span 3

Embedment Span

Figure 2-3 Multi-Bracing with Embedment

The “stage-by-stage” construction sequence and the interaction between the support
system of the multi-bracing wall make it impossible to calculate stresses or deformation
of wall using the Rankine Theory. When designing a multi-bracing wall, the pressure
diagram is divided into several spans. As shown in Figure 2-4, the multi-bracing wall is
broken down into three types of span:

a) Cantilever span (from top of wall to first brace).

b) Beam span (between two adjacent braces). The reaction force and
moment applied on each span are different and they needed to be
determined individually for each span. It should be noted that the last
beam span ends at the base of excavation, where it is assumed to be the
last hinge.

CivilTech Software SHORING 18

 c) Embedment span (from the last brace level to the tip of pile). Since the
penetration of the pile is unknown, the embedment, Y, will be
calculated.

The procedures for analyzing a multi-brace wall are:

1) Calculate the cantilever span and the cantilever moment.

2) Use the equilibrium method to calculate the driving (reaction) force of
each brace against the load applied from the two closest spans. As
illustrated in Figure 2-4, the total driving force of a brace is the sum of
R1 from the upper span (Beam Span 1) and R2 from the lower span
(Beam Span 2). Please note that both R1 and R2 will be calculated by ct-
SHORING and the results are given as Reaction at Top and Reaction at
Bottom, respectively.

3) Calculate zero shear position in each beam span to get maximum

moment.

4) Determine the embedment span by taking the moment about the last
brace level where the embedment span begins. Use numerical
calculations to get the embedment, Y, where moment becomes zero.

5) Calculate zero shear position in the embedment span to get maximum

moment.

6) Compare the moment in each span and find the maximum moment in
the entire system.

Ground

Beam Span 1
R1
Reaction Force
(R1 + R2)
R2
Beam Span 2

Excavation Base

Figure 2-4 Driving Force Applied on a Brace by

Two Closest Beam Spans

CivilTech Software SHORING 19

Multi-Bracing without Embedment
Passive resistance is not always necessary for a shoring system in which most lateral
loads are supported by bracing. Therefore, a shoring wall can have no embedment, as
long as the bracings can carry all the lateral pressures. This kind of shoring has the
following characteristics:

1. Plate supporting system. Since there is no embedment, no pile is required.

The shoring wall is basically formed by plates with multiple braces, which
carry all the lateral loads. The plates can be steel plates, plywood, or sheet
piles that do not penetrate the ground. Sometimes horizontal and vertical
framing or a wale system are required to improve the stability of the system.

2. Trench box excavation.

3. A seal or concrete slab poured at the dredge line, which acts as a brace at the
base of the excavation.
A typical pressure diagram with this kind of shoring wall is shown in Figure 2-5. Like
multi-bracing walls with embedment in soil, some reasonable assumptions are necessary
to break down the pressure diagram into different spans. The main differences between
multi-bracing walls with and without embedment are that there is no embedment span
and the excavation base does not act as an extra brace in the latter case. As a result, the
number of beam spans is equal to the number of braces minus 1, and there is another
cantilever span starting from the dredge line to the level of the final brace.

Cantilever Span

Beam Span 1

Beam Span 2

Cantilever Span

Figure 2-5 Multi-Bracing without Embedment

CivilTech Software SHORING 20

 The procedures to design this multi-brace wall are:
1. Calculate the cantilever spans and determine the cantilever moment. There
are two cantilever spans: one at the top of the wall, and one at the base of the
excavation.
2. Use the equilibrium method to calculate the driving (reaction) force of each
brace against the load applied from the two closest spans. As illustrated in
Figure 2-6, the total driving force of a brace is the sum of R1 from the upper
span (Beam Span 1) and R2 from the lower span (Beam Span 2). Please note
that both R1 and R2 will be calculated by ct-SHORING and the results are
given as Reaction at Top and Reaction at Bottom, respectively.
3. Determine the zero shear point in each span for calculating the maximum
moment.

4. Find maximum moment in the overall system.

Ground

Beam Span 1
R1
Reaction Force
(R1 + R2)
R2

Beam Span 2

Excavation Base

Fig. 2-6 Driving Force Applied on a Brace by Two Beam Spans

CivilTech Software SHORING 21

CHAPTER 3 DEFLECTION AND DIAGRAMS
In ct-SHORING Version 7, deflection and many other diagrams have been added to the
program as shown in Figure 3-1. The calculations required to produce each of these
diagrams are explained below.

EXAMPLE 1
CANTILEVER WALL FOR GRANULAR SOIL
Depth (ft)
0

10

15

20

1 ksf 0
25
Pressure Diagram

Top Deflection=0.586 in.

Depth (ft) Max. Shear=10.17 kip Max. Moment=17.08 kip-ft Max Deflection=0.586 in.
0

10

15

20

10.17 kip 0 17.08 kip-ft 0 0.586 in. 0

25

Shear Diagram Moment Diagram Deflection Diagram

PRESSURE, SHEAR, MOMENT, AND DEFLECTION DIAGRAMS

Based on one soldier pile or one foot spacing of sheet pile

Date: 11/8/00 File Name: C:\shoring\EXP01.SHO

Licensed to
<ct-Shoring> V 6.2 CIVILTECH SOFTWARE USA www.civiltech.com

Figure 3-1 Diagrams

CivilTech Software SHORING 22

 Pressure Diagram:

The pressure diagram is input by users or imported directly from Epres and Lpres.

Shear Diagram:

The shear diagram is an integration of the pressure diagram.

V = ∫ p dx
where,

V = Shear force at any point

p = Pressure at any point

dx = Length segment for integration

Moment Diagram:
The moment diagram is an integration of the shear diagram. The zero shear location is
where the peak moment occurs.

M = ∫ V dx
where,

M = Moment at any point.

Deflection Diagram:
The deflection diagram is a double integration of the moment diagram. The first
integration generates a slope diagram, which is not shown in the Report. The second
integration generates the deflection diagram using the following formulae:

θ = ∫ (M/EI) dx
y’ = ∫ θ dx
where,

θ = Slope angle of curve

E = Elastic modulus

I = Moment of inertia

y’ = Deflection at any point

Note: Both the maximum deflection and the top deflection are given in the deflection
diagram. For cantilever walls, the maximum deflection occurs at the top of the wall, and
thus equals the top deflection.

CivilTech Software SHORING 23

 Boundary conditions are required to define the deflection diagram. In ct-SHORING, it is
assumed that the deflection is zero where the braces or tiebacks are installed.

Point of Fixity:
The point of zero deflection is also called the point of fixity. A guideline is already set in
ct-SHORING for an automatic determination of the point of zero deflection. Users can
adjust the location of that point by changing the ratio of the point of zero deflection to
the total embedment of the wall manually. The ratio normally ranges from 0 to 0.5.
Figure 3-2 shows the definition of the ratio and the point of zero deflection.
For cantilever walls, the program’s default setting has the point of zero deflection occurs
at ¼ of the embedment depth from the surface. This assumption is valid for most stiff or
medium dense soils. For soft soils, the point of zero deflection may be deeper than the
setting in this program.
For stiff or dense soils, as the point of zero deflection is closer to the excavation base,
the amount of maximum deflection is much less.

Top Deflection

Pile after Pile before

Deflection Deflection

Dredge Line

Z
Point of Zero
Point of Zero
Deflection
Rotation
(Point of Fixity)

D
Input Ratio
of Z/D in the
program
(0<Z/D<0.75)

Figure 3-2 Point of Fixity

CivilTech Software SHORING 24

CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION & SPECIAL
CONDITIONS
The design procedure for a shoring wall can be divided into the following steps.

Information Gathering:

Before we start the design of shoring walls, we need to know several design conditions:

• Soil conditions: The magnitude of earth pressure depends upon the physical
properties of the soil, the interaction at the soil-structure interface, and the
magnitude and characteristics of the deformation in the soil-structure
system. Therefore, it is essential to have a good idea of the soil conditions
before the design process begins. The important soil conditions generally
include unit weight, soil friction angle, soil cohesion, and water table.

• Excavation profile: Besides the soil conditions, safety and construction-

related factors also have significant influence on the shoring design. The
following are some examples:

a) The depth of excavation

b) The type of pile wall (e.g., Sheet or soldier pile)

c) The water pressure

d) The surcharge condition

e) The type of support system (e.g. bracing or tieback)

f) If tie rod is required, what kind of system should be used (one or

multiple tie rods) (applied for cantilever walls only)

Pressure Diagram:
After we have gathered all the information listed above, we need to determine (1) active
pressure above the dredge line or excavation base, (2) surcharge pressure, (3) water
pressure, and (4) both active and passive pressures below the dredge line. These
pressures are important inputs to the design because ct-SHORING uses them to form
different kinds of soil pressure distributions.

TIP: Users can directly import the earth pressures and surcharge pressures
from Epres and Lpres. In order to transfer data from those two programs to ct-
SHORING, users need to first open the corresponding file in either Epres or
Lpres, then click “Run” on the menu bar at the top of the window. Data will be
exported to ct-SHORING after users have selected <To Shoring> on the pull-
down menu.

Unknown Depth of Pressure :

In cases where seepage occurs below the tip of the (sheet) pile due to the existence of
differential water pressure and permeable materials in the excavation (as shown in
Examples 8 and 9 in the Example Section), the net water pressure is considered to be

CivilTech Software SHORING 25

 “zero” at the tip of the pile. Since the embedment is unknown, users can input “999” in
the final Xbot of Input Page 1, which requests the program to find the minimum
embedment. Conversely, a constant net water pressure is assumed if there is differential
water pressure without seepage as shown in Example 10.

Factor of Safety:
The program sets F.S.=1 by default. Users may add their own F.S. in the following ways:

1) Reduce passive pressures as in Example 1.

P’p =P p /F.S.
Use P’p for program input. F.S.=1.5 is recommended for shoring design.
This will affect the results of maximum movement and embedment of pile.

2) Increase embedment of pile.

Y’=F.S. * Y
Y is the embedment calculated by the program. Y’ is the embedment used in
design. F.S.=1.2 is recommended. Please do not confuse this with the 20%
increase of embedment in the cantilever calculation. The 20% increase of
embedment is required for force equilibrium internally calculated by the
program. There is no F.S. involved in the calculation of Y. (See Chapter 2.)

Concrete Seal at the Base:

If a concrete seal or controlled density fill (CDF) is installed at the base after excavation,
an additional support is established. There are two ways to input this condition:
1) Input an additional brace above the base. The brace depth should be
equal to the excavation base. The ideal situation is to put the
additional brace at a distance equal to half of the thickness of the seal
above the base. Then uses no-embedment option. (See Example 17.)

2) Set the excavation depth (wall height) from the ground surface to the top
of the seal. Then, input an additional passive pressure zone, which
height is equal to the thickness of the seal. The passive pressure can be
set as a constant of 2-10 ksf. For more details, please refer to Examples
14.

Design of Wind Wall/Noise Wall:

ct-SHORING can be used to design wind walls for airports and noise walls for
highways. The only change required is to input wind pressure instead of soil pressure.

Bedrock on the Bottom:

If shallow bedrock is encountered during excavation, an extra support will be given to
the tip of the pile, which is anchored in rock instead of soil. Users can input a passive
pressure zone with high strength to represent the rock layer. It is recommended to use 2-
10 ksf as the passive constant pressure in the input process. The penetration in the rock
may vary from 0.1 foot to 1 foot, depending on the density and the strength of the
bedrock. (See Example 16 for details.)

CivilTech Software SHORING 26

 Weak Bedding Soils:
If soils below the excavation base are very soft or have low strength, the required
embedment will be fairly deep in order to generate more strength. Users need to make
sure the constant for passive pressure is always greater than the constant for active
pressure, or else the program will not be able to generate a result. ct-SHORING will
attempt to search for a minimum embedment that is within the range from 0 to 500 feet.
If no valid embedment can be found within this range, then the program will terminate
the embedment calculation.

Input Horizontal Force:

Sometimes users may want to apply some horizontal forces onto the wall. This can be
done by converting a point load to a widely-spread pressure. For example, a 5-kip force
can be converted into a 10 ksf pressure acting on 1-ft x 0.5-ft area. In this case, 1 foot of
spacing and 0.5 foot of width are used in the data input.

Wales and Struts for Sheet Pile :

If braces or anchors are used for sheet pile walls, the program output becomes “force per
linear foot” between wale and sheet pile (See Example 9). Units used to represent brace
load for sheet pile walls are kip/ft (English) or MPa/m (Metric). The struts’ force can be
calculated using the following formula:

F=S*T
F = axial force in struts (kip)
S = spacing of struts (ft)
T = horizontal brace force generated by the program (kip/ft)

Global Stability:
The program does not include any analysis of the global and local stability of the slope
and its associated structures. The design engineer should be responsible for the
evaluation of the global and local stability of the entire shoring system. In addition, for
excavations with high water pressure, the boiling condition should be evaluated. For
excavations in soft clay, the bottom heave condition should be checked. The HEAVE
program can provide useful assistance in heave analysis.

Parameter Limitations :
The ct-SHORING program is very powerful and can solve almost every problem related
to cantilever wall, one-anchored wall, and multiple -level bracing or tieback walls.
However, there are a few limitations in parameter input. They are:

• Maximum pile length = 500 ft

• Maximum excavation depth = Unlimited. However, we suggest 300 ft and

200 ft as the maximum depth for braced wall and cantilever wall,
respectively.

• Maximum number of active pressure diagrams = 100

• Maximum number of passive pressure diagrams (below dredge line) = 50

CivilTech Software SHORING 27
 • Maximum number of active pressure diagrams (below dredge line) = 10

• The distance between two adjacent braces cannot be less than one foot.
The limitations set in ct-SHORING should not cause any difficulty to most ordinary
design or analysis, but if some of the input data do exceed the limitations mentioned
above, users can attempt the following alternatives:

• If maximum pile length > 500 ft, use the ratio of 1 ft = 10 ft for input, and
then multiply the results by 10.

• If two braces are very close to each other, input just one brace rather than
both to simplify the calculation. However, the reaction force calculated for
the single brace must be divided by two, so that each of the two braces get
the same share of reaction force.

CivilTech Software SHORING 28

Chapter 5 Examples
In order to help users to quickly get used to the input process and allow them to explore the full
function of this program, several examples are presented in this chapter. All examples given are
practical and easy to understand. By following the instructions provided in the examples, users
should quickly gain a clear understanding of the concepts used in ct-SHORING and become
familiar with the input process.

The first four or five examples are intended to show new users how to build simple pressure
diagrams, which are required to run the program, using general soil information (e.g., friction
angle, cohesion, etc.). The rest of the examples are more complicated and specific, as they are
designed to help users who encounter different kinds of problems. For example:
• Problems related to water and/or seepage
• Different bracing cases: cantilever (no brace), one brace, and multi-bracing
• Support systems with or without embedment in ground
• Shoring designs in soft earth conditions or on concrete seal or bedrock

In some situations, problems can be solved by more than one method or approach. However, no
matter which method the user chooses, the final results generated by different valid approaches
should be very close, if not the same. On the other hand, users should utilize the powerful
functions provided by ct-SHORING to perform a quick check on the effectiveness and safety of
each suggestion, and thus look for the best available design.

Example 1 Example 9
Design of Cantilevered Wall, Granular Soil Design of Cofferdam with Two Braces
Example 2 Example 10
Design of Cofferdam with Three Braces
Alternative Input for Example 1
Example 11
Example 3 Design of Tieback Wall
Design of Sheet Pile Wall with Two Soil & Example 12
Surcharge Loads
Design of Anchored and Racking Braced
Example 4 Wall
Design of Sheet Pile Wall with Cohesive Example 13
Soil and Surcharge Load
Design of Braced Cut without Embedment
Example 5
Example 14
Design of Sheet Pile Wall with Differential
Water Levels Design of Sheet Pile Wall, Pour Seal at
Bottom
Example 6
Example 15
Design of Anchored Sheet Pile Wall with the
Same Water Level Design of Deep Excavation Using Multi-
Tieback Wall
Example 7
Example 16
Design of Anchored Soldier Pile Wall with
Lagging Bedrock on the Shallow Depth with Limited
Pile Penetration
Example 8
Example 17
Design of Sheet Pile Wall with Deadman
Anchor Design of Cofferdam with Concrete Seal at
Bottom. Three Constructions Stages.

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 1

EXAMPLE 1
DESIGN OF CANTILEVERED WALL, GRANULAR SOIL

Introduction:
A sheet pile wall is required to support a 12’ excavation. The soil is uniform as shown in the
figure. To take into account the friction between the wall and the soil, we use friction angle δ =
φ/2. Please note this value is applied only for passive pressure. Use factor of safety = 1.5 for
passive pressure.
Question:
What is the embedment and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
φ = 35°, Ka = 0.27, @ 12’, P1 = Kaγ(12’) = (0.27)(125)(12) = 0.405 ksf
Active pressure below cut:
Below the cut, use pressure slope input.
The pressure slope ∆Pa = Kaγ = (0.27)(125) = 0.034 kcf
Passive pressure below cut:
Soil friction φ = 35°, wall friction δ = φ/2, Kp = 6.74 (NAVFAC or Epres program)
The pressure slope ∆Pp = Kpγ/F.S. = (6.74)(125)/1.50 = 0.56 kcf
Running Program:
A short result for input and output is presented.
NOTE: 1’ spacing for the sheet pile
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 9.3’ and the pile length is 21.3’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 17.1 kip-ft /ft. The maximum moment is at 15.9’ from the
ground surface.

EXAMPLE 1

γ = 125 pcf
φ = 35o
δ = φ/2 (only for passive)
X

H = 12’ Dredge Line P1 = 0.405 ksf

0.034 kcf

0.56 kcf 1
1
Y

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 2

EXAMPLE 2
ALTERNATIVE INPUT FOR EXAMPLE 1

Introduction:
The conditions are the same as example 1. In example 2, we use an alternative input to check
the versatility of the program. Instead of inputting both active and passive pressures below the
cut, we input the net passive pressure below the cut. The net passive pressure is equal to Pp-
Pa.
Question:
What is the embedment and maximum bending moment in pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut: Same as Example 1.
Net pressure below cut:
Active pressure slope is
∆Pa = Kaγ = (0.27)(125) = 0.034 kcf
Passive pressure slope is
∆Pp = Kpγ/F.S. = (6.74)(125) /1.5 = 0.56 kcf
Net passive pressure slope is
∆Pn = ∆Pp - ∆Pa = 0.56 - 0.034 = 0.526 kcf
The point of zero pressure is
e = P1/∆Pn = 0.405/0.526 = 0.77’
Running Program:
Input two active pressures in driving pressure input:
One is from x = 0 to x = 12’. Another is from x = 12’ to x = 12’ + 0.77’
There is no active pressure input below dredge line.
The passive pressure starts Y = 0.77’, with a net slope = 0.526 kcf
Results:
Same result as Example 1.

Alternative:
Another alternative input is also presented in attached file, example 2A. In this input, the net
passive pressure slope, 0.526 kcf is directly inputted from Y = 0 with starting pressure of -0.405
ksf. In this way, the calculation of zero pressure point, e, can be omitted.

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 3

EXAMPLE 2

γ = 125 pcf
φ = 35o
δ = φ/2 (only for passive)
X

H = 12’ P1 = 0.405 ksf

e
Y = 0.77’

0.526 kcf
1
Y

SURCHARGE, Ps = 0.24
EXAMPLE 3

SOIL 1
γ1 = 125 pcf
0.041 φ1 = 30o
10’
1 δ = φ/2
H = 12’
P1 = 0.495
0.4
P4 = 1.2 1 P2 = 0.618
15’
0.58 P5 = 1.752 P3 = 0.526 SOIL 2
1 0.035 γ2 = 130 pcf
1 φ2 = 35o
δ = φ/2

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 4

EXAMPLE 3
DESIGN OF SHEET PILE WALL WITH TWO SOIL AND SURCHARGE
LOAD

Introduction:
A sheet pile wall is required to support 12’ excavation. F.S. = 1.5 is required for passive
pressure. Soil conditions are shown in the figure. The surcharge load will be in a separate
diagram.
Question: What is the embedment and maximum bending moment in pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
<soil 1> φ1=30°, Ka =0.33, P1 = Kaγ(12’) = (0.33)(125)(12) = 0.495 ksf
Active pressure below cut:
<soil 1> pressure slope, ∆Pa = Kaγ = (0.33)(125) = 0.041 kcf
P2 = Kaγ(15’) = (0.33)(125)(15) = 0.618 ksf
<soil 2> φ2= 35°, Ka = 0.27, pressure slope ∆Pa = Kaγ = (0.27)(130) = 0.035 kcf
P3 = Kaγ (15’) = (0.27)(130)(15) = 0.526 ksf
Passive pressure below cut:
<soil 1> φ1 = 30°, δ= φ1/2, Kp = 4.8 (NAVFAC or Epres program)
pressure slope, ∆Pp = Kpγ/F.S. = (4.8)(125) /1.5 = 0.4 kcf
P4 = ∆Pp(3’) = 0.4(3) = 1.2 ksf
<soil 2> φ2 = 35°, δ= φ2/2, Kp = 6.74 (NAVFAC or Epres program)
pressure slope, ∆Pp = Kpγ/F.S.= (6.74)(130) /1.5 = (6.74)(130) /1.5 = 0.584 kcf
P5 = ∆Pp(3’) = 0.584(3’) = 1.752 ksf
Running Program:
Use 1’ spacing for the sheet pile and 0.24 ksf for surcharge load.
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 13.3’ and the pile length is 25.3’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 53.3 K-ft/ft at 17.7’ from the ground surface.

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 5

EXAMPLE 4
DESIGN OF SHEET PILE WALL WITH COHESIVE SOIL AND
SURCHARGE LOAD

Introduction :
In this example, the surcharge load is merged with the active pressure. It also can be separated
as example 3. Soil 2 below cut line is a cohesive material with cohesion = 500 pcf (F.S.
included).
Question: What is the embedment and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
<soil 1> φ1=30°, Ka = 0.33, @ 0’, P1 = Ka q = (0.33)(300) = 0.1 ksf.
P2 = Ka (q + γH) = 0.33 (300 + 122.5 x 12) = 0.485 ksf
Passive pressure below cut:
<soil 2> φ2 = 0, Ka = 0, @ 12’, P3 = 4c - σv = 4(500) - (q + γ1H) = 2000 - [300 + 122.5(12)] = 0.23
ksf
Running Program:
For passive pressure input, use Top Pres.= 0.23 and Pres. Slope = 0
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 41.58’ and the pile length is 53.58’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 43.2 kip-ft/ft at 27.3’ from the ground surface.

q = 300psf

EXAMPLE 4
P1 = 0.1

SOIL 1 (LOOSE SAND)

γ1 = 122.5 pcf
φ1 = 30o
δ=0
Cu = 0
H = 12’ P2 = 0.485
P3 = 0.23

SOIL 2 (MED. CLAY)

γ2 = 110 pcf
φ2 = 0
Cu = 500 psf

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 6

EXAMPLE 5
DESIGN OF SHEET PILE WALL WITH DIFFERENTIAL WATER LEVELS

Introduction:
The water level is higher outside of the excavation base. Seepage is allowed to flow through the
bottom of the pile. The water pressures of both sides are equal, therefore, the net pressure is
zero at the bottom of the pile.
Question: What is the embedment and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
φ = 35°, Ka = 0.27, @ 5’, P1 = Kaγ(5’) = (0.27)(125)(5’) = 0.17 ksf
@ 12’, P2 = (0.27)(125 - 62.4)(12’ - 5’) + P1 = 0.287 ksf
Active pressure below cut:
∆Pa = Kaγ‘ = (0.27)(125 - 62.4) = 0.017 ksf
Passive pressure below cut:
φ= 35°, Kp = 6.74, @ δ = φ /2, P1 =0
∆Pp = Kpγ’/F.S. = (6.74)(62.6) /1.5 = 0.281 ksf
Running Program:
Due to seepage, the net water pressure = 0 at the embedment bottom. Because the
embedment depth is unknown, the value can be set “999” to let the program find embedment.
(See Chapter 5).
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 16.6’ and the pile length is 28.6’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 38.3 kip-ft/ ft at 19.9’ from the ground surface.

EXAMPLE 5

γ1 = 125 pcf
φ1 = 35o
H = 12’ δ = φ/2 (Only for passive)
Water @ 5’ P1 = 0.17
5’ Seepage @ bottom
F. S. = 1.5

Pw = 0.43
H = 12’
12’ P2 = 0.287

0.017
0.281
1 1 The depth is unknown,
input “999” in program

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 7

EXAMPLE 6
DESIGN OF ANCHORED SHEET PILE WALL WITH THE SAME WATER
LEVEL

Introduction:
This example has a 36’ deep excavation to which tieback anchors are applied. The water levels
are the same inside and outside of the excavation. Two layers of soil are presented in the
example.
Question: What is the embedment, anchor force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
<soil 1> φ 1= 34°, Ka = 0.28, @ 10’, P1 = Kaγ (10’) = 0.308 ksf
@ 36’, P2 = P1 + Kaγ‘(36-10) = P1 + (0.28)(60)(26) = 0.745 ksf
Active pressure below cut:
<soil 2> φ2 = 34.5°, Ka = 0.26, @ 36’, P3 = Ka[γ(10) + γ‘(26)] = 0.26 [110(10) + 60(26)]
= 0.692 ksf
Passive pressure below cut:
φ2= 34.5°, Kp = 6.63, ∆Pp = Kpγ
∆Pn = ∆Pp - ∆Pa = (6.63 - 0.26)(65) = 0.414 ksf
Running Program:
Try input anchor level at 9’ from the ground surface.
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 7.5’ and the pile length is 43.5’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 68.7 kip-ft/ ft at 26’ from the ground surface. The brace force =
8.8 kip/ ft.

EXAMPLE 6
T
9’ P1=0.308
10’
SAND BACK FILL
γ = 110 γ’ = 60 pcf
φ = 34 δ=0
o

Ka = 0.28
H = 36’ P2=0.745
P3=0.692

MEDIUM SAND
γ’ = 65 pcf
0.414 Kp = 6.63
1 φ = 34.5o δ/φ = 0.4
Ka = 0.26
Kp - Ka = 6.37

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 8

EXAMPLE 7
DESIGN OF ANCHORED SOLDIER PILE WALL WITH LAGGING

Introduction: A soldier pile wall is used in this example with one tieback anchor applied for each pile.
Question: What is the embedment, anchor force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
φ = 30°, Ka = 0.33, @ 12’, P1 = Kaγ(12’) = 0.485 ksf
Passive pressure below cut:
C = 700 psf, φ = 0, Ka = 0, @ 12’, P2 = 4c - σv = 4(700) - (122.5)(12’) = 1.33 ksf
Running Program:
Try an anchor level = 5’ from the pile top.
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 1.3’ and the pile length is 13.3’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 13.1 kip-ft/ft at 9.3’ from the ground surface. Horizontal tieback
force is 10.6 kips per pile.

EXAMPLE 7

T
5’ LOOSE SAND
γ1 = 122.5 pcf
φ1 = 30o
Lagging spacing = 6’ δ=0
Cu = 0
Ka = 0.33
H = 12’ P1 = 0.485
P2 = 1.33

MED. CLAY
γ2 = 110 pcf
φ2 = 0
Cu = 700 psf

Pile Dia. = 2’

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 9

EXAMPLE 8
DESIGN OF SHEET PILE WALL WITH DEADMEN ANCHOR

Introduction:
This example has a limited surcharge load. The surcharge pressure from the Lpres program is 0.42 ksf as
shown in the figure. The water pressure is similar to the condition in example 5.
Question: What is the embedment, anchor force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Surcharge:
Ps = 0.42 Ksf
Water pressure:
Pw = γw (16’ - 8’) = (62.4)(8) = 0.499 ksf
Active pressure:
P1 = Kaγ(8’) = (0.27)(125)(8) = 0.27 ksf
P2 = P1 +Kaγ= P1 + (0.27)(125 - 62.4)(7) = 0.388 ksf
∆Pa = Kpγ’ = (0.27)(125-62.4) = 0.017 kcf
Passive pressure: starting 2’ below dredge line
∆Pp = Kpγ /F.S.= (3.7)(125)/1.5.= 0.31 kcf
∆Pp’ = Kpγ’/F.S. = (3.7)(125 - 62.4)/1.5 = 0.15 kcf
P3 = ∆Pp (1)+∆Pp’ (1) = 0.31+0.15 = 0.48 ksf
Deadmen Anchor:
V-Depth=Wall Height, Deadmen Width = 2 ft, Angle 1 =600, Angle 2 = 300
∆Pp = Kpγ /F.S.= (3.7)(125)/1.5 = 0.31 kcf for Passive Slope
Running Program:
Use “999” for the unknown depth. (See Example 5)
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 10.25’ and the pile length is 25.25’. The maximum
moment in the pile is 26.72 kip-ft/ft at 13.85’ from the ground surface. T = 9.4 kips/ ft.

EXAMPLE 8 q

Ps = 0.42
T
5’
P1 = 0.27
8’
10’

H = 15’ P2 = 0.39
16’
17’ Pw = 0.499
0.017 18’
P3 =0.48 The depth is unknown,
0.15 input “999” in program
1
1
γ’ = 62.6 pcf
γ = 125 pcf
φ = 35o
δ=0

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 10

EXAMPLE 9
DESIGN OF COFFERDAM WITH TWO BRACES
Introduction : A cofferdam is designed for a bridge pier excavation. Two braces are used herein.
Question: What is the embedment, brace force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Surcharge:
Ps = 0.42 ksf
Water pressure:
Pw = γw (16’ - 8’) = (62.4)(8) = 0.499 ksf
Active pressure:
P1 = Kaγ(8’) = (0.27)(125)(8) = 0.27 ksf
P2 = P1 +Kaγ’ = P1 + (0.27)(125 - 62.4)(7) = 0.388 ksf
∆Pa= Kpγ ‘= (0.27)(125-62.4) = 0.017 kcf
Passive pressure: starting 2’ below dredge line
P3 = Kp[γ(1) + γ w (1)] =8.95 [125 + 62.4] = 1.26 ksf
∆Pp = Kpγ’ = (8.95)(125 - 62.4) = 0.56 kcf
Running Program:
The condition is the same as in example 8. The maximum movement is significantly reduced
due to two levels of bracing.
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 4.2’ and the pile length is 19.2’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 7.8 kip-ft/ft at 14.1’ from the ground surface. T1 = 6.1 kips/ ft
and T2 = 4.4 kips/ ft.

EXAMPLE 9 q

Ps = 0.42
T1
5’ γ’ = 62.6 pcf
P1 = 0.27 γ = 125 pcf
8’
T2 φ =35
o
10’ 10’ δ = φ/2

H = 15’ P2 = 0.39
16’ Pw = 0.499
16’
17 0.017 18’
P3 =1.26
0.56
1
1
The depth is unknown,
input “999” in program
Pw = 0

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 11

 EXAMPLE 10
DESIGN OF COFFERDAM WITH THREE BRACES
Introduction:
A cofferdam is designed to support an excavation for a bridge pier. Due to a railroad 6’ from the wall, surcharge pressure of
0.42 ksf is applied. No seepage is allowed below the pile bottom. The water pressures at both sides are not equal. The
outside pressure is higher than inside. After subtraction of the inside pressure, the net hydraulic pressure is constant below
36’.
Question: What is the embedment, brace force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above cut:
φ = 35°, Ka = 0.27, @ 8’, P1 = Kaγ(8’) = (0.27)(125)(8) = 0.27 ksf
@ 35’, P2 = Kaγ’(35 - 8) + P1 = (0.27)(62.6)(27) + 0.27 = 0.726 ksf
Water pressure:
@ 36’, Pw = (36 - 8)(62.4) = 1.747 ksf
Surcharge load: (from Lpres program)
from 0’ to 10’, Ps = 0.42 ksf
at 36’, Ps = 0
Active pressure below cut:
active pressure slope: ∆Pa = Kaγ‘ = (0.27)(62.6) = 0.017 kcf
Net water pressure:
Pw = 1.747 ksf constant
Passive pressure below cut:
φ = 35°, δ = φ/2, Kp = 8.95
@ 37’, P3 = Kpγ‘(2’) = 8.95(62.6)(2) = 1.12 ksf
passive pressure slope: ∆Pp = Kpγ’ = 8.95(62.6) = 0.56 kcf
Running Program:
The soil below the excavation base is disturbed. Therefore the passive pressure of the top 2’ soil below the dredge line is
ignored. The input pressure diagram is shown as follows.
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 8.74’ and the pile length is 43.74’. The maximum moment in the pile is
32.4 kip-ft/ft at 35.9’ from the ground surface. T1 = 15.7 kips/ ft, T2 = 12.6 kips/ ft, and T3 = 22.6 kips/ ft.

EXAMPLE 10 Surcharge q

Ps = 0.42
T1 P1 = 0.27
10’ 8’
10’
T2 γ’ = 62.6 pcf
19’
γ = 125 pcf
φ = 35
o

T3 δ = φ/2
31’
H = 35’
P2 = 0.726
36’ 36’
36’
37’ Pw = 1.747
0.017
P3 =1.12
0.56
1 1
Cancel out

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 12

EXAMPLE 11
DESIGN OF TIEBACK WALL

Introduction:
The tieback wall has an 8’ spacing of soldier pile supported by timber lagging (3” x 12”). The
active pressure diagram is a trapezoid. The surcharge load of 2’ of soil is added to the active
diagram. The soldier pile has a 2’ diameter shaft. Below the dredge line, the active pressure is
acting on one diameter. The passive pressure is acting on two diameters of pile due to the
arching effect.
Question: What is the embedment, tieback force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
The soil report of this project requires 20(H + 2’) for active pressure and ignoring the top 2’ of
passive pressure. The passive resistance is 400 pcf including F.S.
Above base 8’ spacing
Active pressure P2 = P3 = 20(H + 2) = 20(30 + 2) = 0.64 ksf
Below base
Active pressure P4 = 30(Z + 2) = 30(30 + 2) = 0.96 ksf
Active pressure slope ∆Pa = 0.03 kcf
Acting 1 diameter of pile. Diameter of pile = 2’.
Passive pressure slope ∆Pp = 0.4 kcf
Acting 2 diameter of pile. Diameter of pile = 2’.
Running Program:
Use 3 pressure programs to input the active pressure
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 6.17’ and the pile length is 36.17’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 62.71 kip-ft at 19’ from the ground surface. T1 = 51.4 kips, T2 =
51.0 kips, T3 = 46.2 kips.

Surcharge = 2’ (Height of Soil)

EXAMPLE 11
P1 = 0.04 0.2 H = 6’
5.5 P2 = 0.64

Lagging Spacing = 8’ 14’ T1

22’ T2
P3 = 0.64
H = 30’ T3 0.2 H = 6’
P4 = 0.96
32’
0.03
0.4 1
1
0.4.Y 0.03 ( X + 2 )
Acting 2 Dia. of Pile = 4’ Acting 1 Dia. Of Pile = 2’

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 13

EXAMPLE 12
DESIGN OF ANCHORED AND RACKING BRACED WALL

Introduction:
The original design using one level of tieback is not adequate to support the wall. An additional
raking brace is added to help the stability of the wall.
Question: What is the embedment, brace force, and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active pressure above exc. 20(H) = 20(30’) = 0.6 ksf Acting 8’
Active below exc. 30(Y) = 30(30’) = 0.6 ksf Acting 2’ (diameter of pile)
Passive below exc. 400Y Acting 4’ (2 diameter of pile)
Diameter of pile = 2’ Lagging spacing = 8’
Surcharge as shown Ps = 0.36
Running Program:
The program only calculates the horizontal bracing force. The user has to calculate the vertical
force and the total force based on the horizontal force calculations.
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 5.65’ and the pile length is 35.65’. The
maximum moment in the pile is 104.6 kip-ft at 25.7’ from the ground surface. T1 = 98 kips, T2 =
98.1 kips. The force is in brace = 50 /Sin 45° = 70.7 kips.

EXAMPLE 12 Surcharge

0.2 H = 6’ 4’
P1 = 0.6
7’ T1 Ps = 0.36

Lagging Spacing = 8’
20’
T2
P2 = 0.6
H = 30’ 45 o
0.2 H = 6’ 0.0675

P4 = 0.8 30’
P3 = 0.9
0.4 0.03
1 1
36’

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 14

EXAMPLE 13
DESIGN OF BRACED CUT WITHOUT EMBEDMENT

Introduction :
For trench excavation, sometimes the supporting system only uses steel plates, swale, and
braces. The steel plates do not penetrate into the ground. The program also can solve these
types of problems. The program also can be applied for trench box excavation for pipelines.
This example uses three level of braces for a 20’ cut. To check the stability problem, the heave
program can be used.
Question: What is the bracing force?
Calculation:
Active pressure: φ = 30° Ka = 0.33
P1 = 0.65 KaγH = (0.65)(0.33)(120) 20 = 0.51 ksf
Running Program:
In the program output on page 2, check the bottom which will indicate the shoring wall without
bracing.
Results:
Brace @ 3.7’ T1 = 3.0kip/ ft
Brace @ 10’ T2 = 2.9kip/ ft
Brace @ 16.3’ T3 = 2.6kip/ ft
Maximum moment in plate: 2.02 kip-ft/ft

EXAMPLE 13

0.2 H = 4’

P1= 0.51

γ = 120pcf
φ = 30o

H = 20’
0.2 H = 4’

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 15

EXAMPLE 14
DESIGN OF SHEET PILE WALL, POUR SEAL AT BOTTOM

Introduction:
Sometimes the bottom of the excavation is sealed to prevent water and heave. The strength
and the stiffness of concrete significantly increase the passive pressure at the base of the
excavation, and thus improve the both the stability of wall and excavation base. To
demonstrate the strength of concrete seal, a large value of Pres. Top and Pres. Slope will be
required in the input for passive pressure. However, if the value is too large, the program
cannot function. Trial and error is required.
Question: What is the embedment and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active: P1 = 650 psf
Water: Pw = γw (25’ - 10’) = 62.4 (15) = 936psf
Concrete seal was poured at bottom of excavation. Uses 5 ksf for the concrete is
enough.
Pp = 5 ksf
∆Pp = 0 kcf
Sheet pile spacing (width) = 1’
Running Program:
Results:
The program shows that the minimum embedment is 2’ and the pile length is 27’. The
maximum moment in pile is 29.17 kip-ft/ft at 19.25’ from the ground surface. T1 = 6.7 kips, and
T2 = 9.5 kips,

EXAMPLE 14
P1= 0.65
T1
4’
10’
12’
T2

25’
Pw = 0.936

CONCRETE SEAL

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 16

EXAMPLE 15
DESIGN OF DEEP EXCAVATION USING MULTI-TIEBACK WALL

Introduction:
This is a real project in Seattle area. The excavation is 60’ below ground. The lagging spacing is
6’. 7 levels of tiebacks are used. Vertical spacings of tiebacks need to be adjusted for a
minimum moment in piles and smaller reaction force in tieback. The program proves easy input
interface, so the user can change the depth of each tieback and run the program several times
to get an optimum result.
Question: What is the embedment, tieback force and maximum bending moment in the pile?
Calculation:
Active: Above Base P1 = 0.65 KaγH = (0.65)(0.28)(125)(60) = 1.365 ksf
Below Base P2 = KaγH = (0.28)(125)(60) = 2.1 ksf
∆Pa = Kaγ = (0.28)(125) = 0.035 kcf
Passive: Below Base ∆Pp = Kpγ = 6.74 (130) = 0.876 kcf

Surcharge: 0-30’: Ps1 = 0.64 ksf; >30’: Ps2 = 0.24 ksf

Running Program:
Results:
Min. Embedment = 5.24 feet; Pile Length = 65.24 feet;
Max. Moment = 128.55 kip-ft/ ft @ 56 feet below ground surface;
Tieback Force: @ 5.5’ = 137.8 kips; @ 13.3’ = 118.5 kips;
@ 20.6’ = 136.1 kips; @ 28.0’ = 129.0 kips;
@ 35.3’ = 109.2 kips; @ 42.6’ = 108.8 kips;
@ 50.0’ = 109.6 kips.

EXAMPLE 15
Surcharge
5.5’
12’
13.3’ P1= 1.365
γ = 125 pcf
20.6’ φ = 34o
ka = 0.28
28.0’

35.3’ Ps1= 0.64

42.6’
Lagging Spacing = 6’
50’ Ps2 = 0.24

H = 60’ 48’

2 P2 = 2.1 0.035
1
0.876 γ = 130 pcf
1 70’ φ = 35o
δ = φ/2
Acting 2 Dia. of pile = 4’. Acting 1 Dia. of pile = 2’ kp = 6.74

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 17

EXAMPLE 16
BEDROCK AT SHALLOW DEPTH, LIMITED PILE PENETRATION

Introduction:
If there is bedrock below the excavation base, the penetration of the pile is limited only a few
inches into the rock. The few inches of penetration provide enough passive resistance against
the tick out force. In this example, the shoring wall height is 30 feet. Two tieback are placed at
5.5 feet and 18 feet from surface. Bedrock is found about 4 feet underneath the excavation
base. This example uses 10 ksf for the passive pressure to simulate the strength of the rock.
Other data required for the calculation are given in the diagram below.
Question: What are the embedment and the maximum bending moment of the pile? What are
the tieback forces?
Results:
Embedment = 4.3 ft; Max. bending moment in pile = 106 kip-ft/ft;
Force on Tieback 1 (@ 5.5’) = 62 kips; Force on Tieback 2 (@ 18’) = 72.8 kips.

EXAMPLE 16

0.2H = 6’
P1 = 0.64
5.5’

Lagging Spacing = 8’
18’
P2 =
H = 30’ 0.2H = 6’
P3 =
0.4 0.03
1 1

Bedrock at 34’
Use Pp=10 ksf for the
passive pressure

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 18

EXAMPLE 17
DESIGN OF COFFERDAM WITH CONCRETE SEAL AT BOTTOM.

Introduction:
A 24 feet deep cofferdam is designed using sheet
pile shoring. Water table is at 17 feet deep. A 3
brace at 3 feet deep will be installed. Three
construction stages are considered in the design. 5
The three stages are presented in Example 17a,
17b, and 17c. 17

Stage 1 – Example 17a

Sheet piles are driven to the desire depth. Soils are
excavated to 2 feet below the brace, and the brace
is installed. The excavated base is at 3+2=5 feet. Stag 1

Stage 2 – Example 17b

Dewatering is conducted so the water table outside
the shoring is equal to the inside (24 feet) The 3
excavated base is also at 24 feet. The brace is in
function. 5

17
Stage 3 – Example 17c
After pouring the concrete seal, the outside water
table is back to 17 feet deep since dewatering stops. 24
The concrete seal works as a bottom brace. We
can use Non-embedment option in the program.
Stage 2

Results:
Stage 2 is controlling the design.
Embedment = 15.6 ft in Stage 2. Max.
Bending moment in pile = 66.92 kip- 3
ft/ft in Stage 2.
Brace Force = 6.5 kips/ft in Stage 2. 5

17

24

Stage 3

CivilTech Software SHORING EXAMPLES 19

 EPRES
Earth Pressure Analysis

CIVILTECH SOFTWARE
 EPRES FOR WINDOWS SOFTWARE MANUAL
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM...........................................................................1
ABOUT THE PROGRAM ............................................................................................................1
DATA INPUT ...........................................................................................................................2
GENERAL PAGE ......................................................................................................................2
SOILS-WATER PAGE ...............................................................................................................4
SURFACE-LOADS PAGE ...........................................................................................................7
SETTING PAGE ........................................................................................................................8
DATA OUTPUT ........................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD..........................................................................11
COULOMB'S ACTIVE EARTH PRESSURE ..................................................................................11
COULOMB'S PASSIVE EARTH PRESSURE .................................................................................13
TERMINOLOGY .....................................................................................................................14
PRESSURE DIAGRAMS ...........................................................................................................14
CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES....................................................................................................16
EXAMPLE1 SIMPLE CONDITION .............................................................................................16
EXAMPLE 2WATER TABLE WITHOUT SEEPAGE........................................................................16
EXAMPLE 3WATER TABLE WITH SEEPAGE ..............................................................................16
EXAMPLE 4MULTIPLE SOIL LAYERS .......................................................................................16
EXAMPLE 5COMPLICATED GROUND SURFACE ........................................................................16

CivilTech Software EPRES i

 1
CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM
About the Program

Epres for Windows has a user-friendly interface that makes the program easy to learn
and run. It has a simple pull-down menu bar at the top of the window and is very easy to
use. The commands on the menu are arranged in a standard Microsoft-style
configuration. Both the mouse and keyboard can be used for data input and retrieval,
while the short-cut keys are provided for quick operations.

The program can calculate active and passive earth pressures and their constants
(equivalent to fluid density) from complicated ground surfaces, multiple soil layers and
different water conditions.

After the program has executed the input data, the results will be shown both
numerically and graphically. The graphical output can act as a visual aid to confirm that
the data has been entered correctly. Users can decide to read the results on screen or
print them out as a hard copy. In addition, the output data from Epres can be exported to
the Shoring program included in the Shoring Suite Plus package for shoring wall design.

CivilTech Software EPRES 1

Data Input
The data needed for calculation are input on four separate pages. Graphical definition of
each input item is provided on the right side of each page to guide users through the
input process.

General Page

Figure 1-1 General Page

Wall Height (H) Vertical distance between the top of a wall and the excavation base.
Units are in feet or meters.
Estimated Vertical distance between the excavation base and the tip of pile. Epres
Embedment (Hemb) will generate pressure to the depth of the estimated embedment.
Note: Epres does not calculate the wall embedment (penetration). The
calculations for wall embedment are determined by the SHORING
program. After all parameters have been entered into Epres, the
information can be exported to SHORING for further analyses by
clicking on the Shoring button. User should select a larger Hemb value,
so the pressures calculated by Epres will extend to the depth more than
shoring program needed. Recommendations are:
Retaining Wall or Braced Wall Select 1H
Cantilever Wall with firm ground Select 2H
Cantilever Wall with soft ground Sets 3H to 4H

CivilTech Software EPRES 2

 Wall Angle 1 Inclination of the back of the wall (or the side in contact with the
retaining soil). Counterclockwise movement is positive (+). The default
value is zero, which means the wall is assumed to be vertical.
Wall Angle 2 Inclination of the front of the wall (or the side facing the excavation).
Clockwise movement is positive (+). The default value is zero, which
assumes the wall is vertical.
Pressure Output The active pressure diagram can be converted to different shapes. The
conversion is based the same total active force above the excavation
base. If you want to increase or reduce the total force during
conversion, you can do so by change the conversion factor in input page
4 (Setting).
Actual: Actual pressure diagram from numerical analysis results.
Triangle: A simplified diagram in triangular distribution. It is
recommended for cantilever or retaining wall.
Rectangular: A simplified diagram in rectangular distribution. It is
recommended for braced wall in sand.
Half Trapezoid: A simplified diagram in half trapezoid distribution. It is
recommended for braced wall in soft to medium clay.
Trapezoid: A simplified diagram in trapezoid distribution. It is
recommended for braced wall in stiff clay.

Units Your choice of English or Metric units.

English Units Force - kip
Pressure - ksf
Line Load - kip/ft
Unit Weight - kcf
Length - feet
Metric Units Force - kN
Pressure - kPa
Line Load - kN/m
Unit Weight - kN/m37
Length - m
Smoothing Curve Make the curve smoother but may give less accurate result.

CivilTech Software EPRES 3

Soils-Water Page

Figure 1-2 Soils - Water Page

Soil Conditions This table presents the soil conditions

Depth The depth at which the top of each soil layer begins. The first layer
starts from zero depth. Units are in feet or meters.
Density The total unit weight of soil. Units are in kcf or kN/m3. The program
will calculate the submerged weight based on the water table.
Friction The internal friction angle of the soil in degrees.

GWT (Active Side) The static ground water table at the active side.
GWT (Passive Side) The static ground water table at the passive side. This water table should
be lower than GWT at the active side.
Water Density The unit weight of water. Use 0.0624 for English units and 9.8 for
metric. For salt water, the value should be increased. Units are in ksf
and kN/m3.
Water Flow The water flow or seepage from active side to passive side as shown in
Figure 1-2.
No The soils are impermeable. There is no seepage from the active side to
the passive side. The water pressures at both sides are not balanced, and
therefore the net pressure is constant. Only the net water pressures are
present in the graphics.

At Wall Tip The water flow from the active side to the passive side through the wall
tip due to the water head. The soils are permeable at the wall tip (typical
for sheet pile wall). The water pressures at both sides are equal,

CivilTech Software EPRES 4

 therefore, the net pressure at the tip is zero. Because the required wall
tip is undetermined yet and will be calculated by the SHORING
program. This option will let the SHORING program define the actual
seepage depth as equal to the wall tip.
At Depth The same condition as At Wall Tip, but the seepage depth is defined by
the user at a specific depth measured from the top of the wall. For
example, the seepage may start from the bottom of lagging in the soldier
pile wall. In this case, the corresponding depth should be set at the
excavation base.
Sealed at Sometimes water tie materials such as Control Density Fill (CDF) or
concrete are used to seal the excavation base. In this way, the water
can’t flow out from the bottom of the excavation casing hydraulic
pressure to build up under the seal. Net pressure for this scenario is
shown in Figure 1-3. The user can define the depth of the seal. The
depth of the seal should be above the GWT at the passive side.

Important Note: The cohesion affects the results very significantly. The cohesion is not
reliable for long term projects. It is not recommended to use cohesion in Shoring and Retaining wall
design. Users should use low friction angles for clayey soils instead of using cohesion. Large cohesion
will cause incorrect results such as zero or negative earth pressure.

CivilTech Software EPRES 5

 Figure 1-3 Soils Water Pressures

CivilTech Software EPRES 6

Surface-Loads Page
Surface (Active Side) This page is for inputting the surface slope and surcharge load
conditions. Input x, y coordinates to define ground surface at the active
side. The start point always is at the top of the wall, which has x=0, y=0.
The start point (0,0) should be ignored in the input. User input should
start from Point 1.
X The horizontal coordinates from the top of the wall and in the right
direction is positive. An example is shown in Figure 1-5. Units are in
feet or meters.
Y The vertical coordinates from the top of the wall and in the up direction.
Units are in feet or meters.
Surface (Passive Side) Same as above except the x direction is defined in the left side as
positive (Figure 1-4). The excavation base is (0,0). The user does not
have to input the first point.
X The horizontal coordinate from the excavation base. The left direction is
positive. Units are in feet or meters.
Y The vertical coordinate from the excavation base. The up direction is
positive. Units are in feet or meters.

Figure 1-4 Ground Surface Page

CivilTech Software EPRES 7

 Figure 1-5 Surface Input Example

Note: The initial point (0,0) should be ignored. The last point should have a large
number for x (e.g., 100, y).

Setting Page
Ignore Passive from Depth Sometimes the passive pressure at the top few feet is ignored
due to the disturbance of the excavation. User can define the
depth where the passive pressure should be ignored. The depth
is measured from the excavation base.
Ratio of Wall Friction/ The ratio of wall friction to the internal friction of soils. For
Soil Friction example, if the wall friction factor is 0.50 and φ = 35°, the wall
friction δ = (0.50) 35° = 17.5°.
Note: The user inputs the ratio (0.50) not the friction (17.5°).
Wall Adhesion Factor The ratio of wall adhesion to the soil cohesion. For example, if
the factor is 0.25 and C=0.2 ksf, the adhesion is Ca=(0.25)0.2 =
0.05 ksf.
Note: The user inputs the ratio (0.25) instead of the adhesion
(0.05 ksf).
Pressure Convert Ratio For a braced wall, the pressure distribution is non-triangular.
However, the pressure calculated is triangular type. The
program converts the triangular shape to non-triangular shape
through the equivalent area and multiplies the factor:
A1 = A2 Factor
A1 - the area of non-triangular distribution
A2 - the calculated distribution
Factor - the pressure convert factor

CivilTech Software EPRES 8

 Figure 1-6 Setting Page

Trapezoid Top Factor This is where the pressure starts from slope to constant in a
trapezoid distribution as shown in Figure 1-6.
Trapezoid Bottom Factor This is where the pressure starts from constant to slope in a
trapezoid distribution as shown in Figure 1-6.
Report w/ Input Data Check the box if you want to have the report with input
information.
Report w/ Output Data Check the box if you want to have the pressure distribution data
printed.

Data Output
Epres provides both graphic and data output.
Total Active Force The total active force is the sum of the active pressure along the
wall height, H, which includes surcharge load but not water
pressure.
Depth The depth measured from the top of the wall.
Active Pressure The active pressure in ksf or kPa.
Active Slope The slope of the active pressure diagram. It is also called Active
Equivalent Fluid Density. Units are in kcf or kN/m3.
Passive Pressure The passive pressure in ksf or kPa.
Passive Slope The slope of the passive pressure diagram. It is also called the
Passive Equivalent Fluid Density. Units are in kcf or kN/m3.

CivilTech Software EPRES 9

 Water Pressure The distribution of water pressure.
Note: If the water flow is at the wall tip, because the wall tip is
to be calculated later by SHORING program, the depth is
defined as 999.

Important Note: For multiple layers or complex surface conditions, the output curve will be
jagged. The user should make his or her own engineering judgment to draw the approximate
envelope to determine the average pressure and pressure slope.

CivilTech Software EPRES 10

CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD
Earth pressure is the force per unit area exerted by the soil on retaining wall structures.
The magnitude of the earth pressure depends upon the physical properties of the soil, the
interaction at the soil-structure interface, and the magnitude and character of the
deformations in the soil-structure system. That is, earth pressure against a structure is
not a unique function for each soil, but rather a function of the soil-structure system.
Accordingly, movements of the retaining structure are a prime factor in developing earth
pressures.

Two kinds of stresses in the soil are of particular interest in the design of retaining
structures, namely the active and passive stresses. Generally speaking, if the wall moves
away from backfill, there is active stress acting on the wall by backfill soil; on the other
hand, if the wall moves towards the backfill by some force, there is passive stress acting
on the wall. There are two well-known classical earth pressure theories: the Rankine
Theory and the Coulomb Theory. Each furnishes expressions for active and passive
pressures for a soil mass at the state of failure.

The Rankine Theory is based on the assumption that the wall is frictionless which is not
suitable for many cases. In 1776, Coulomb proposed a theory to calculate the lateral
earth pressure on a retaining wall with granular soil backfill. This theory takes wall
friction into account. In this program, the Coulomb Theory is used to calculate the earth
pressure.

Coulomb's Active Earth Pressure

To apply Coulomb's active earth pressure theory, let us consider a retaining wall with its
back face inclined at an angle β with the vertical as shown in Figure 2-1. The backfill is
a granular soil that slopes at an angle α with the horizontal. Also, let δ (i.e., angle of
wall friction) be the angle of friction between the soil and the wall.

In an active pressure condition, the wall will move away from the soil mass (that is, to
the left in the figure. Coulomb assumed that, in such a case, the failure surface in the soil
mass would be a plane (such as BC1, BC2, etc.). So, to find the active force in our
example, consider a possible soil failure wedge ABC3. The forces acting on this wedge
ABC3 (per unit length at right angles to the cross section shown) are as follows:

1. Weight of the wedge, W, including surcharge load if any.

2. The resultant, R, of the normal and resisting shear forces along the
surface, BC3. The force R will be inclined at an angle φ to the normal
drawn to the surface BC3.

3. The active force per unit length of the wall, Pa. The force Pa will be
inclined at an angle δ to the normal drawn to the back face of the wall.

4. The cohesion, C, along the failure surface.

5. The adhesion, Ca, between soils and the wall.

For equilibrium purposes, a force triangle can be drawn. Note that αf is the angle that
BC3 makes with the horizontal. Because the magnitude of W as well as the directions of
all three forces are known, the value of Pa can now be determined. In a similar manner,

CivilTech Software EPRES 11

 one can determine the active forces of other trial wedges, such as ABC2., ABC1,..., then
pick up maximum Pa.
The maximum Pa is the active pressure against the wall. The αf at the maximum Pa is
the failure angle, which defines the failure surface BC.

Unfortunately, the classical Coulomb equation can only solve problems with simple
surface geometry. If the surface is complicated as shown in Example 5, the searching of
the maximum Pa will be quite complicated. This is a task for the computer. Epres is
developed to solve this problem; the program automatically searches the maximum Pa
and determines the failure surface.

C3
W C2
C1 Active Failure Line

A
α
C
Ca
φ
δ

Pa β

αf R
B

Figure 2-1 Coulomb’s Theory of Active Earth Pressure

CivilTech Software EPRES 12

 Coulomb's Passive Earth Pressure
To apply Coulomb's passive earth pressure theory, let us consider a retaining wall with
its back face inclined at an angle β with the vertical as shown in Figure 2-2. The backfill
is a granular soil that slopes at an angle α with the horizontal. Also, let δ (i.e. angle of
wall friction) be the angle of friction between the soil and the wall.

In a passive pressure condition, the wall will move into the soil mass (that is, to the right
in Figure 2-2). Coulomb assumed that, in such a case, the failure surface in the soil mass
would be a plane (such as BC1, BC2,..). So, to find the passive force in our example,
consider a possible soil failure wedge ABC3. The forces acting on this wedge, ABC3
(per unit length at right angles to the cross section shown), are as follows:

1. Weight of the wedge, W.

2. The resultant, R, of the normal and resisting shear forces along the
surface, BC3. The force R will be inclined at an angle φ to the normal
drawn to the surface BC3.
3. The passive force per unit length of the wall, Pp. The force Pp will be
inclined at an angle δ to the normal drawn to the back face of the wall.
4. The cohesion, C, along the failure surface.
5. The adhesion, Ca, between soils and wall.

C3
C2
C1
W Passive Failure
Line
A
α
R
Pp
Ca C φ

δ β
αf
B

Figure 2-2 Coulomb’s Theory of Passive Earth Pressure

CivilTech Software EPRES 13

 For equilibrium purposes, a force triangle can be drawn. Note that αf is the angle that
BC1 makes with the horizontal. Because the magnitude of W as well as the directions of
all three forces are known, the value of Pp can now be determined. In a similar manner,
one can determine the passive forces of other trial wedges, such as ABC2, ABC3,..., then
pick up minimum Pp.

Epres will automatically search the failure surface and find the minimum Pp based on
the concept.

Terminology
Pressure Slope The output value of pressure slope, also called Equivalent Fluid
Density is defined as:
Kcγ - active case
Kpγ - passive case
These values are useful to define an earth pressure diagram.
Earth Pressure Coefficient
Ka - active case
Kp - passive case
Relationship For a simple triangular pressure distribution, following
relationship exists:
• Earth Pressure Coefficient
Ka = tan2(45-φ/2)
Kp = tan2(45+φ/2)
• Equivalent Fluid Density:
Kaγ
Kpγ
• Earth Pressure:
pa = KaγH
pp = KpγH.
• Earth Force:
Pa = paH/2 = γH2Ka/2
Pp = ppH/2 = γH2Kp/2

For more complicated ground surface, multiple soil layers with water conditions, Epres
program should be used.

Pressure Diagrams
Apparent earth pressure diagrams suggested by Terzaghi and Peck (1968) for the design

CivilTech Software EPRES 14

 of braced walls are shown in Figure 2-3.
Triangular Distribution Suitable for cantilever wall in all soil types.
Rectangular Distribution Suitable for braced or tieback wall in sandy soils.
Half Trapezoid Suitable for braced or tieback wall in soft to medium
clays.
Trapezoid Distribution Suitable for braced or tieback wall in stiff clays.

Note: User can define the area convert factor in the Setting Page. The Trapezoid Top
and Bottom Factor also can be defined by the user in the same page.

Figure 2-3 Pressure Diagrams

CivilTech Software EPRES 15

CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES
This chapter presents a few examples with different soil and water conditions. These
examples are intended to show users how to use the program. The inputs and the
results of each example are saved in the program. Users can retrieve these
examples by clicking [File] on the toolbar and then select <Open>.

Example1 Simple Condition

Use the empirical calculations below to check with the output from the program.

γ = 120 pcf, φ = 30°, C = 0, H = 10’

ka = tan2(45-φ/2)=0.33
Kaγ =(0.35)(120) = 40 pcf = 0.04 kcf
pa = KaγH = (40)(10) = 400 psf = 0.4 ksf
pa is shown as active pressure
Kaγ is shown as active slope.

Example 2 Water table without seepage

Water table is 5’ at active side and 15’ at passive side. Because the soils are
impermeable, the net pressure is constant below the passive water table.

Example 3 Water table with seepage

Water tables are the same as Example 2. The soil below the wall tip is permeable, water
can flow from active side to passive side. The net pressure is zero at the wall tip. The
program sets depth = 999 in the water pressure output, thus, the SHORING program can
determine the actual depth of the wall tip.

Example 4 Multiple soil layers

Four soil layers are inputted in this example.

Example 5 Complicated ground surface

In this example, a retaining wall is on the top of a shoring wall, the ground surface is
input into the program by x, y coordinates. Because the weight of the retaining wall is
different from the soil, the different weight is simulated by the surcharge. The retaining
wall is 10 feet in height, 3 feet wide, and 5 feet away from the shoring wall.

CivilTech Software EPRES 16

 LPRES
LATERAL SURCHARGE PRESSURE

CIVILTECH SOFTWARE
 LPRES FOR WINDOWS SOFTWARE MANUAL
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM...................................................................................... 1

ABOUT THE PROGRAM....................................................................................................................... 1
DATA INPUT ...................................................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD ....................................................................................... 7
POINT LOAD ...................................................................................................................................... 7
LINE LOAD ........................................................................................................................................ 8
STRIP LOAD....................................................................................................................................... 9
AREA LOADS ................................................................................................................................... 10
CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES ............................................................................................................... 11

CivilTech Software LPRES i

CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM
About the Program
Lpres for Windows uses a user-friendly interface that makes the program easy to learn
and run. It has a simple pull-down menu bar at the top of the window which is very easy
to use. The commands on the menu are arranged in a standard Microsoft-style
configuration. Both the mouse and the keyboard can be used for data input and retrieval
with short-cut keys provided for quick operation.

The program calculates lateral earth pressures under different surcharge loads including
point leads, line loads, strip loads, and area loads.

After all required data has been inputted, the program can generate graphical output of
active and passive pressure diagrams, accompanied with detail printouts of input and
output data. All of the data can be printed out or exported to the SHORING program
included in the Shoring Suite Plus package for shoring wall design.

Data Input
The data required for analysis are input on five separate pages due to the complexity of
surcharge calculation, but it is not necessary to fill in all five pages for the computation to
be executed. A graphical representation of input parameters are demonstrated on the
right of each input page to make the input process simpler.

CivilTech Software LPRES 1

 General Page

Figure 1-1 General Page

Wall Height (H) Vertical distance between the top of a wall and the excavation base.
Units are in feet or meters.
Load Depth (D) Vertical distance between the top of a wall and the depth of surcharge
loading. Units are in feet or meters. D can be a positive or negative
value. Negative means the load is above the surface elevation.
Wall Condition Type of pressure diagram that will be shown in the graphical output.

Flexible Wall can rotate or slide, or the loads are applied before the wall is
Constructed. It is similar to active pressure condition. The pressure is
about 1/2 of the pressure in rigid condition.

Semi-flexible Wall can rotate or slide in limited degree. It is similar to active pressure
condition. The pressure is about 3/4 of the pressure in rigid condition.

Rigid Wall is rigid or fixed, or the loads are applied after the wall is
constructed. It is similar to at-rest condition. If you have railroad or
foundation behind the wall, you should use this condition for wall
design. The surcharge pressures of a rigid wall are twice that of a
flexible wall and 1.33 of semi-flexible wall condition. The calculated
results in rigid wall condition matches the results from elastic theory
(Boussinesq equations).

Units Selection of English units or metrics units. The units that are in use are
indicated on the top bar.

CivilTech Software LPRES 2

 Point Loads Page
X Horizontal distance from the wall to the point load (feet or meters)
Y Lateral distance from the point load to the section of wall, where the
pressure is calculated (feet or meters.)
Qpoint Point load in kip/ft or kN/m

Figure 1-2, Point Loads Page

CivilTech Software LPRES 3

 Line Loads Page
X Horizontal distance from line load to the wall (feet or meters).
Qline Line load in kip/ft or kN/m.

Figure 1-3 Line Loads Page

CivilTech Software LPRES 4

 Strip Loads Page
X Horizontal distance from the strip load to the wall (feet or meters).
Width Width of the load applied (feet or meters).
Qstrip Strip load in ksf or kPa

Figure 1-4 Strip Loads Page

CivilTech Software LPRES 5

 Area Loads Page
X Horizontal distance from the area load to the wall (feet or meters.)
Width Width of the area load (feet or meters.)
Length Length of the area load (feet or meters.)
Qarea Area load in ksf or kPa

Figure 1-5 Area Loads Page

CivilTech Software LPRES 6

CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD
The function of a retaining structure is to retain various surface loading as well as the soil
behind it. These surface loading, or surcharges, exerts lateral pressures on the wall, which
contribute as pressures tending to move the wall outward. Typical surcharge loading
come from railroads, highways, buildings, ore piles, cranes, etc.

Rigid Wall is rigid or fixed, or the loads are applied after the wall is
constructed. It is similar to at-rest condition. The calculated results in
rigid wall condition matches the results from elastic theory (Boussines
equations).
Flexible Wall can rotate or slide, or the loads are applied before the wall is
Constructed. It is similar to active pressure condition. The pressure is
about 1/2 of the pressure in rigid condition.
Semi-flexible Wall can rotate or slide in limited degree. It is similar to active pressure
condition. The pressure is about 3/4 of the pressure in rigid condition.

Note: For rigid wall options, elastic theory is used for the calculations the
output. For flexible wall, the output is reduced based on plastic theory.

Point Load
The lateral pressure distribution on a vertical wall due to a point load may be calculated
as shown in Figure 2-1.

Qp n2
σ H = 0.28 3 (for m ≤ 0.4)
H 2 ( 016
. + n2 )
Qp m2 n2
σ H = 1.77 3 (for m > 0.4)
H 2 ( m2 + n2 )

Figure 2-1 Point Load

CivilTech Software LPRES 7

Line Load
A continuous wall footing of narrow width or similar load parallel to the retaining
structure may be taken as a line load. In this case, the lateral pressure increases from zero
at the ground surface to a maximum value at a given depth and gradually diminishes at
greater depths. The lateral pressure distribution on a vertical plane parallel to a line load
may be calculated as shown in Figure 2-2.

Ql n
σ H = 0.20 (for m ≤ 0.4)
H (0.16 + n2 )2 0

Ql m2 n
σ H = 1.28 (for m > 0.4)
H ( m2 + n2 )2 0

Figure 2-2 Line load

CivilTech Software LPRES 8

Strip Load
Highways and railroads are examples of strip loads. When they are parallel to a sheet pile
wall, the lateral pressure distribution on the wall may be calculated as shown in Figure 2-
3.

2 Qs
σH = [ β - sin β cos 2α ]
π

Figure 2-3 Strip load

CivilTech Software LPRES 9

 7
Area Loads Calculat

Buildings and large equipment are typical area loads. When they are placed near a sheet
pile wall, the lateral pressure distribution on the wall may be calculated as shown in
Figure 2-4.

The lateral pressure due to an area load can be calculated by using integration of
Boussines equation (Reference: Poulos & Davis, “Elastic Solutions for Soil & Rock
Mechanics”, Page 54).

Figure 2-4 Area load

CivilTech Software LPRES 10

CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES
This chapter presents a few examples with different soil, water and load conditions.
These examples are similar to the circumstances that most engineers will face in their
daily work. They are intended to help users to get familiar with the input process of Lpres
and demonstrate what this program can do for them. The inputs and the results of each
example are saved in the program. Users can retrieve these examples by clicking
[File] on the toolbar and then select <Open>.

Example 1 - Point Load

Wall = 10 feet, A point load of 100 kip is 5 feet perpendicular from a flexible
wall. The load is also 5 feet away, parallel to the wall.

Example 2 - Line Load

A line load is 80 kip/ft, which is 2 feet from a rigid wall.

Example 3 - Strip Loads

A serious footing with different bearing pressures and distances from a retaining
wall.

Example 4 - Area Load

An area load, 20 feet wide and 20 feet long, is 5 feet away from the wall. The
pressure is 1,000 ksf. The wall is rigid.

Example 5 - Combination

Combination of all types of loading conditions.

CivilTech Software LPRES 11

 HEAVE
VERTICAL CUT STABILITY

CIVILTECH SOFTWARE
 HEAVE FOR WINDOWS SOFTWARE MANUAL
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM...................................................................................... 1

ABOUT THE PROGRAM....................................................................................................................... 1
DATA INPUT ...................................................................................................................................... 1
DATA OUTPUT................................................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD ....................................................................................... 5
TERZAGHI’S METHOD ....................................................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES ................................................................................................................. 1

CivilTech Software HEAVE i

 1
CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM
About the Program
Heave for Windows uses a user-friendly interface that makes the program easy to learn
and operate. It has a simple pull-down menu bar at the top of window which is very easy
to use. The commands on the menu are arranged in a Microsoft-style configuration. Both
the mouse and the keyboard can be used for data input and retrieval, while short-cut keys
are provided for quick operation. The program also has an automatic error check that
detects the validity of the input. If there is input that is invalid or unreasonable, the
program will warn the user to make a correction.

The program can solve heave problems not only in homogeneous soil, which most
textbooks deal with, but also in heterogeneous stratigraphy with variable soil properties
(e.g. friction angle, cohesion, unit weight, etc.). The program also gives users an option to
include surcharge load and hydraulic pressure in the analysis.

After the program has executed the data, the results will be shown both numerically and
graphically. The graphical output can act as a visual aid to confirm that the data has been
entered correctly. Users can decide to read the results on screen or printed them out as a
hard copy.

Data Input
The data required for calculation are input on two separated pages. Graphical definitions
are given on the right side of each page to guide users through the input process.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 1

 Figure 1-1 Input Page 1

Input Page 1
Trench Depth Depth of excavation in feet or meters.
Width Width of trench or the shorter distance.
Length Length of trench or the longer distance. Length should always be longer
than width. Use “999” or a blank entry for infinite length.
Water Table Outside The depth of water table outside of the trench/excavation in feet or
meters.
Inside The depth of water table inside of the trench/excavation in feet or meters.
Surcharge Outside A uniform surcharge load on the ground surface beside the trench in psf
or kPa.
Inside Uniform load inside the trench acting on the excavation base. Units are
in psf or kPa. The inside load helps to stabilize the excavation.
Sometimes gravels or concrete are poured into the trench to increase the
stability of the excavation base. The weight of the gravels or concrete
can be considered as inside load.
Units Selection of English units or metric units.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 2

 Figure 1-2 Input Page 2

Input Page 2
Soil Layers
Depth The depth of each soil layer. The depth is measured from the surface to
the top of the soil layer. The top soil has a depth of zero.
Friction The friction angle of soil in degrees.
Cohesion The cohesion of soil in psf or kPa.
U. Weight The unit weight of soil in pcf or N/ m3.
Please note: Total weight should be used instead of buoyant weight
even below water table.
Bearing Soil The soil(s) deposit that occupies from the excavation base to the depth of
B (width of trench). If there are several soil types found within this
range, then an average value of the each soil property should be entered
in the respective input box.
Depth of
Hard Stratum Input the depth of hard stratum which provides support against heave. If
hard stratum is encountered within the possible failure zone, the failure
surface will be terminated on top of the hard stratum. The smaller the
failure zone, the higher the F.S (Please see Heave 6 for more
information).

CivilTech Software HEAVE 3

Data Output

Graphics Illustrate the possible failure surface which begins from the ground
surface beside the trench to the excavation base.

Resistance Force The sum of the following items: the bearing capacity of the soil right
below the excavation base, the surcharge load and water pressure (unit is
lb or N) inside of the trench, and the adhesion and friction of the soil
along the surface.

Driving Force The weight of the soil column and the surcharge load on the ground
surface (unit is lb or N).

F.S. The Factor of Safety against heave, which is the ratio of resistance force/
driving force.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 4

CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD
Most of the time, heave happens in clay or sandy clay soils. The calculation theories for
these two soil types are different. For clay, the method developed by Bjerrum and Eide
(1956) can be used; for sandy clay and clay with sand, Terzaghi’s method (1943) is
suitable.

Terzaghi’s method considers both friction and cohesion of the soils. Therefore, this
method produced a larger factor of safety.

Sometimes, the results of these two methods can be significantly different. Users should
use their own judgment to determine which method is more suitable for the field
situation. Only Terzaghi’s method is used in our Windows version.

Terzaghi’s Method
Figure 2-1 shows a heave problem using Terzaghi’s method. Both the friction angle and
cohesion of the soil are given. It can be seen that the proposed failure is defined by
sliding surface bce.

According to this theory, the factor of safety against heave is

Factor of Safety (FS) = Resistance Force / Driving Force

a) The driving force that pushes soil block abcd downward is the weight of this
block and surcharge. This is expressed as:

Fdrive = Wabcd + q B1

Where,

Wabcd is the total weight of abcd

q is the surcharge applying on the surrounding ground surface—ab.

B1 is the distance of ab.

B1 = B / √ 2

B is the width of excavation.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 5

 B B1

q
a b

F
W

c
e d

qu
Bearing Soil

Figure 2-1 Terzaghi’s Method

b) The resistance force is formed by the friction along the failure line and the
bearing capacity of the base soil under dc, which is calculated by Meyerhof’s
modified bearing equation (Das, 1990).

The resistance force R is calculated using the following formulae:

R = qu B1 + F
qu = (Cb Nc Fcs) + (γ'b B1 Ng Fgs /2)

where,

Cb and γ'b are the cohesion and the effective unit weight of base soil

Nc and Ng are the bearing capacity factors.

Fcs and F gs are the shape factors.

F is the friction force along the possible failure plane of bc, which can be
expressed as:

F = Σ(c dH) + Σ(Ka Pv tanφ dH)

CivilTech Software HEAVE 6

 Where,

Ka is the Rankin’s active coefficient.

Pv is the vertical earth pressure at the middle of each layer.

dH is the thickness of each soil layer.

c is the cohesion of soil.

φ is the friction angle of soil.

c) The Factor of Safety (F.S.) can be determined for the base soil of dc.

FS = R / Fdrive

Hard Stratum
If hard stratum is encountered within the possible failure zone, the failure surface will be
terminated at the top of the hard stratum where heave is unable to occur, and thus
increase the overall F.S. Figure 2-2 shows this situation for Terzaghi’s method.

Hard Stratum

Figure 2-2 Hard Stratum

CivilTech Software HEAVE 7

CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES
This chapter presents a few examples with different soil and water conditions. These
examples are similar to the circumstances that most engineers will face in their daily
work. They are intended to help users to get familiar with the input process of Heave and
demonstrate what this program can do for them. The input and the result of the
examples are save in the program. Users can retrieve these examples by clicking
[File] of the pull down menu and then select [Open].

Example 1 - No Hard Stratum

Example 2 - Hard Stratum

Example 3 - Two Different Water Tables

Example 4 - Two Different Surcharge Loads

Example 5 - Equal Water Table and Hard Stratum

CivilTech Software HEAVE 8

 HEAVE
VERTICAL CUT STABILITY

CIVILTECH SOFTWARE
 HEAVE FOR WINDOWS SOFTWARE MANUAL
Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM...................................................................................... 1

ABOUT THE PROGRAM....................................................................................................................... 1
DATA INPUT ...................................................................................................................................... 1
DATA OUTPUT................................................................................................................................... 3
CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD ....................................................................................... 4
TERZAGHI’S METHOD ....................................................................................................................... 4
CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES ................................................................................................................. 7

CivilTech Software HEAVE i

 1
CHAPTER 1 RUNNING THE PROGRAM
About the Program
Heave for Windows uses a user-friendly interface that makes the program easy to learn
and operate. It has a simple pull-down menu bar at the top of window which is very easy
to use. The commands on the menu are arranged in a Microsoft-style configuration. Both
the mouse and the keyboard can be used for data input and retrieval, while short-cut keys
are provided for quick operation. The program also has an automatic error check that
detects the validity of the input. If there is input that is invalid or unreasonable, the
program will warn the user to make a correction.

The program can solve heave problems not only in homogeneous soil, which most
textbooks deal with, but also in heterogeneous stratigraphy with variable soil properties
(e.g. friction angle, cohesion, unit weight, etc.). The program also gives users an option to
include surcharge load and hydraulic pressure in the analysis.

After the program has executed the data, the results will be shown both numerically and
graphically. The graphical output can act as a visual aid to confirm that the data has been
entered correctly. Users can decide to read the results on screen or printed them out as a
hard copy.

Data Input
The data required for calculation are input on two separated pages. Graphical definitions
are given on the right side of each page to guide users through the input process.

Input Page 1
Trench Depth Depth of excavation in feet or meters.
Width Width of trench or the shorter distance.
Length Length of trench or the longer distance. Length should always be longer
than width. Use “999” or a blank entry for infinite length.
Water Table Outside The depth of water table outside of the trench/excavation in feet or
meters.
Inside The depth of water table inside of the trench/excavation in feet or meters.
Surcharge Outside A uniform surcharge load on the ground surface beside the trench in psf
or kPa.
Inside Uniform load inside the trench acting on the excavation base. Units are
in psf or kPa. The inside load helps to stabilize the excavation.
Sometimes gravels or concrete are poured into the trench to increase the
stability of the excavation base. The weight of the gravels or concrete
can be considered as inside load.
Units Selection of English units or metric units.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 1

 Figure 1-1 Input Page 1

Input Page 2
Soil Layers
Depth The depth of each soil layer. The depth is measured from the surface to
the top of the soil layer. The top soil has a depth of zero.
Friction The friction angle of soil in degrees.
Cohesion The cohesion of soil in psf or kPa.
U. Weight The unit weight of soil in pcf or N/ m3. Please note, the total weight
should be used instead of buoyant weight even below water table.
Bearing Soil The soil(s) deposited from the excavation base to the depth of B (width
of trench). If there are several soil types found within this range, then an
average value of the each soil property should be entered in the
respective input box.
Depth of
Hard Stratum Input the depth of hard stratum which provides support against heave. If
hard stratum is encountered within the possible failure zone, the failure
surface will be terminated on top of the hard stratum. The smaller the
failure zone, the higher the F.S (Please see Heave 6 for more
information).

CivilTech Software HEAVE 2

 Figure 1-2 Input Page 2

Data Output

Graphics Illustrate the possible failure surface which begins from the ground
surface beside the trench to the excavation base.

Resistance Force The sum of the following items: the bearing capacity of the soil right
below the excavation base, the surcharge load and water pressure (unit is
lb or N) inside of the trench, and the adhesion and friction of the soil
along the surface.

Driving Force The weight of the soil column and the surcharge load on the ground
surface (unit is lb or N).

F.S. The Factor of Safety against heave, which is the ratio of resistance force/
driving force.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 3

CHAPTER 2 CALCULATION METHOD
Most of the time, heave happens in clay or sandy clay soils. The calculation theories for
these two soil types are different. For clay, the method developed by Bjerrum and Eide
(1956) can be used; for sandy clay and clay with sand, Terzaghi’s method (1943) is
suitable.

Terzaghi’s method considers both friction and cohesion of the soils. Therefore, this
method produced a larger factor of safety.

Sometimes, the results of these two methods can be significantly different. Users should
use their own judgment to determine which method is more suitable for the field
situation. Only Terzaghi’s method is used in our Windows version.

Terzaghi’s Method
Figure 2-1 shows a heave problem using Terzaghi’s method. Both the friction angle and
cohesion of the soil are given. It can be seen that the proposed failure is defined by
sliding surface bce.

According to this theory, the factor of safety against heave is

Factor of Safety (FS) = Resistance Force / Driving Force

a) The driving force that pushes soil block abcd downward is the weight of this
block and surcharge. This is expressed as:

Fdrive = Wabcd + q B1

Where,

Wabcd is the total weight of abcd

q is the surcharge applying on the surrounding ground surface—ab.

B1 is the distance of ab.

B1 = B / √ 2

B is the width of excavation.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 4

 B B1

q
a b

F
W

c
e d

qu
Bearing Soil

Figure 2-1 Terzaghi’s Method

b) The resistance force is formed by the friction along the failure line and the
bearing capacity of the base soil under dc, which is calculated by Meyerhof’s
modified bearing equation (Das, 1990).

The resistance force R is calculated using the following formulae:

R = qu B1 + F
qu = (Cb Nc Fcs) + (γ'b B1 Ng Fgs /2)

where,

Cb and γ'b are the cohesion and the effective unit weight of base soil

Nc and Ng are the bearing capacity factors.

Fcs and Fgs are the shape factors.

F is the friction force along the possible failure plane of bc, which can be
expressed as:

F = Σ(c dH) + Σ(Ka Pv tanφ dH)

CivilTech Software HEAVE 5

 Where,

Ka is the Rankin’s active coefficient.

Pv is the vertical earth pressure at the middle of each layer.

dH is the thickness of each soil layer.

c is the cohesion of soil.

φ is the friction angle of soil.

c) The Factor of Safety (F.S.) can be determined for the base soil of dc.

FS = R / Fdrive

Hard Stratum
If hard stratum is encountered within the possible failure zone, the failure surface will be
terminated at the top of the hard stratum where heave is unable to occur, and thus
increase the overall F.S. Figure 2-2 shows this situation for Terzaghi’s method.

Hard Stratum

Figure 2-2 Hard Stratum

CivilTech Software HEAVE 6

CHAPTER 3 EXAMPLES
This chapter presents a few examples with different soil and water conditions. The input
and the result of the examples are save in the program. Users can retrieve these examples
by clicking [File] of the pull down menu and then select [Open]. These examples are
similar to the circumstances that most engineers will face in their daily work. They are
intended to help users to get familiar with the input process of Heave and demonstrate
what this program can do for them.

Example 1 - No Hard Stratum

Example 2 - Hard Stratum

Example 3 - Two Different Water Tables

Example 4 - Two Different Surcharge Loads

Example 5 - Equal Water Table and Hard Stratum

All the example files are included in the distributed disk with the program.

CivilTech Software HEAVE 7