4/7/2017

Need for Retaining Walls

Soil has high compressive strength but limited tensile and shear strengths
Can stand on its own only up to its own angle of repose
Steeper slopes require lateral support
Purpose of the retaining walls is to provide lateral support to the soil to make
it stand at steep angles

Types of Retaining Walls

Gravity Walls masonry, crib walls, gabion walls, etc.

Reinforced Concrete walls Cantilever, counterfort, buttressed walls
RC Walls with shear keys
Sheet Pile walls
Anchored Sheet Pile Walls
Braced sheet pile walls
Diaphragm walls
Reinforced Soil Retaining Walls
Anchored Reinforced Soil Walls
Soil Nailed walls driven nails, screw nails, prestressed nailed walls,
etc.

1
 4/7/2017

Gravity walls easy to construct, can be constructed even in remote areas

using low technology, not suitable for retaining soils higher than about 2 to
3 m.
Reinforced Concrete Walls can be used for moderate heights to about 6 to
10 m. Beyond that height, the size of the members increases rapidly.
The foundation pressures could be very high leading to expensive
foundation treatments.
During seismic events, large inertial forces are produced. Most RC
concrete structures fail during earthquakes due to lack of ductility or
rigidity.

Sheet Pile Walls

It is an earth and water retaining structure, made up of a series of sheet

piles driven to required depth in the ground
It behave as fixed vertical cantilevers in resisting lateral earth pressure,
thus called cantilever sheet pile walls (suitable for moderate heights upto
6m above dredge line)
If the wall height is large, support against lateral pressure is provided by
embedment in the ground as well as by the tie rods near the top of piling
called Anchored Bulkhead
Anchored bulkhead may be a dredged type or backfilled type

2
 4/7/2017

Advantages Sheet Pile Walls

Commonly used in water front retaining structures, as

they do not require dewatering of the site, whereas the
other types of retaining walls would require dewatering
Due to light weight construction, they are useful at
locations where the upper layers of subsoil are weak
and are inadequate for supporting gravity retaining
walls
Also handy for use in temporary construction on account
of high salvage value of sheet piles
More flexible and do not yield in the same manner as
the gravity walls
Due to elastic deflection of the walls, an anchored
bulkhead will bulge or yield at a point between anchor
rod and the dredge line

Sheet Pile Panels

Sheet Pile Wall

3
 4/7/2017

Anchored Sheet Pile Wall

Anchored Sheet Pile Wall

4
 4/7/2017

Braced Sheet Pile Wall

Dredged Bulkhead

In dredged bulkhead, the bulkhead is constructed in natural ground by

driving sheet piles and then the soil is removed from its front by dredging

5
 4/7/2017

Backfilled Bulkhead

In backfilled bulkhead, the soil at the back of the wall is filled up and
compacted

Cantilever Sheet Pile Walls

stability depends on passive resistance developed below the lower soil
surface
failure is by rotation about a point O near bottom of wall

Active E.P.

Depth of
embedment, d

d
O Passive E.P.
fixity

6
 4/7/2017

a fixing moment is provided by the extra depth below point O to prevent

rotation
Generally, design is based on a simplified but equivalent approach: the fixity
provided previously is replaced by a resisting force, R at point C which is
just below point O

Active E.P.
Passive E.P.

R
C

active
pressure from
the land side

active pressure from the

land side and passive
pressure from the water
side.

reversed
conditioned of zone
B
Cantilever sheet pile penetrating sand

7
 4/7/2017

Cantilever Sheet Piling Penetrating Sandy Soils

(a) variation of net pressure diagram (b) variation of moment

8
4/7/2017

9
 4/7/2017

Anchored Sheet Pile Walls

When the height of the backfill material behind a cantilever sheet-pile wall exceeds
about 6m, tying the wall near the top to anchor plates, anchor walls, or anchor piles
becomes more economical.

This type of construction is referred to as anchored sheet pile wall or an anchored

bulkhead.

Anchors minimize the depth of penetration required by the sheet piles and also
reduce the cross-sectional area and weight of the sheet piles needed for construction.

The two basic methods of designing anchored sheet-pile walls are

(a) the free earth support method and
(b) the fixed earth support method

10
 4/7/2017

Nature of variation of deflection and moment for anchored sheet piles: free earth support method

Nature of variation of deflection and moment for anchored sheet piles: fixed earth support method

11
 4/7/2017

Fixed Earth-Support Method for Penetration into Sandy Soil

We assume that the toe of the pile is restrained from rotating

In the fixed earth support solution, a simplified method called the equivalent beam
solution is generally used to calculate L3 and, thus, D.

12
4/7/2017

13