Ground Settlement and Deflection Response of Cantilever Sheet Pile Wall Subjected to Surcharge Loading

Abstract

Sheet pile walls are used to support moderate height of excavation. If bracing system or anchors are not provided, it gets stability mainly from passive earth resistance below the dredge line. Non-availability of large open space in metro cities gives the perception to engineers to go deeper in the earth and use sheet pile walls for supporting various types of works like parking space and housing utilities. To avoid the damage to surrounding structure, proper analysis of settlement and deflection of the wall should be carried out. The deflection and settlement of wall depend on soil properties, depth of excavation and wall properties. In the present study, cantilever sheet pile walls are analyzed under surcharge loading for settlement and deflection through pseudo-static approach using finite difference-based program FLAC2D. A parametric study is carried out assuming an elastic–perfectly plastic Mohr–Coulomb model with non-associated flow rule by varying the seismic coefficients, embedded depth, soil–wall friction angle, type of soil, magnitude of surcharge and distance from the top of the wall. The results show that by increasing the coefficient of horizontal seismic acceleration, the deflection and settlement of cantilever sheet pile walls increase. It is also observed that with an increase in distance of surcharge from top of the wall, both settlement and deflection decrease.