1.

INTRODUCTION
 Sheet pile walls are retaining walls constructed to retain earth, water or any other fill
material
 These walls are thinner in section as compared to masonry walls
 A sheet pile wall consist of a series of sheet piles driven side by side into the ground, thus
forming a continuous vertical wall for the purpose of retaining an earth bank
 Example Want to build a structure in the sea waterfront structures we can use sheet piles
to retain sea water from flowing to the required area, and then withdraw the water confined
between sheet piles and thereby build the required structures, finally remove sheet piles
because there functions were end

2. USES
 Water front structures, for example, in building wharfs, quays, and piers
 Building diversion dams, such as cofferdams
 River bank protection
 Retaining the sides of cuts made in earth
 Temporary construction
 Light weight construction where sub-soil is poor for supporting a retaining wall.

3. SHEET PILE CAN BE OF

Timber
•Timber sheet piling is used for short spans, light lateral loads, and commonly for temporary
structures in the form of braced sheeting.
•Wooden sheet piles may be considered permanent if they are permanently under water,or if they
are impregnated with preservatives.

Figure 1: Timber pile wall section

Reinforced concrete
•Concrete sheet piles are precast members, usually with a tongue and groove joint, designed to
with the permanent stresses during service and the handling stresses during construction.

•They are heavy and bulky, and require heavier equipment to drive and handle.

Steel
•Steel sheet piling is the most common type because it is resistant to high diving stresses, light
weight, can be used several times, long service, easier to increase the pile length.

Figure 2: Steel Sheet pile on basement and section of sheet pile

4 ADVANTAGES

1. Provides high resistance to driving stresses.

2. Light weight.
3. Can be reused on several projects.
4. Long service life above or below water with modest protection.
5. Easy to adapt the pile length by either welding or bolting.
6. Joints are less apt to deform during driving
5. SHEET PILE STRUCTURES
Steel sheet piles may conveniently be used in several civil engineering works. They may be used
as:
1. Cantilever sheet piles
2. Anchored bulkheads
3. Braced sheeting in cuts
4. Single cell cofferdams
5. Cellular cofferdams, circular type
6. Cellular cofferdams (diaphragm)
Anchored bulkheads Fig. 20.4 (b) serve the same purpose as retaining walls. However, in contrast
to retaining walls whose weight always represent an appreciable fraction of the weight of the
sliding wedge, bulkheads consist of a single row of relatively light sheet piles of which the lower
ends are driven into the earth and the upper ends are anchored by tie or anchor rods. The anchor
rods are held in place by anchors which are buried in the backfill at a considerable distance from
the bulkhead.
Anchored bulkheads are widely used for dock and harbor structures. This construction provides a
vertical wall so that ships may tie up alongside, or to serve as a pier structure, which may jet out
into the water. In these cases sheeting may be required to laterally support a fill on which railway
lines, roads or warehouses may be constructed so that ship cargoes may be transferred to other
areas. The use of an anchor rod tends to reduce the lateral deflection, the bending moment, and the
depth of the penetration of the pile.
Cantilever sheet piles depend for their stability on an adequate embedment into the soil below the
dredge line. Since the piles are fixed only at the bottom and are free at the top, they are called
cantilever sheet piles. These piles are economical only for moderate wall heights, since the
required section modulus increases rapidly with an increase in wall height, as the bending moment
increases with the cube of the cantilevered height of the wall. The lateral deflection of this type of
wall, because of the cantilever action, will be relatively large. Erosion and scour in front of the
wall, i.e., lowering the dredge line, should be controlled since stability of the wall depends
primarily on the developed passive pressure in front of the wall.

6. TYPES
 Cantilever sheet piling
 Anchored sheet piling

7. CANTILEVER SHEET PILES

 Cantilever sheet pile walls are usually used as floodwall or as earth retaining walls with
low wall heights 3 to 5 m or less)
 Because cantilever walls derive their support solely from the foundation soils they may be
installed in relatively close proximity to existing structure
 Cantilever sheet piles are further divided into two types
1 .Free cantilever sheet piles
2. Cantilever sheet piles

Free Cantilever Sheet Pile

 The Sheet pile subjected to concentrated horizontal load at its top
 No back fill above the dredge line
  It derives its stability from the lateral passive resistance of the soil below the dredge line
where it is driven
Cantilever sheet piles
 It retains backfill at a higher level on one side
 The stability is entirely from the lateral passive resistance of the soil where the sheet pile
is driven, like that of a free cantilever sheet pile

8. CONSTRUCTION METHODS OF SHEET PILES:

Sheet pile walls may be divided into two basic categories: (a) cantilever and (b) anchored.
In the construction of sheet pile walls, the sheet pile may be driven into the ground and then the
backfill placed on the land side, or the sheet pile may first be driven into the ground and the soil
in front of the sheet pile dredged. In either case, the soil used for back-fill behind the sheet pile
wall is usually granular. The soil below the dredge line may besandy or clayey. The surface of soil
on the water side is referred to as the mud line ordredge line.
Thus, construction methods generally can be divided into two categories (Tsinker, 1983):
1. Backfilled structure
2. Dredged structure

The sequence of construction for a backfilled structure is as follows (see Figure 3):
 Dredge the in situ soil in front and back of the proposed structure.
 Drive the sheet piles.
 Backfill up to the level of the anchor, and place the anchor system.
 Backfill up to the top of the wall.
For a cantilever type of wall, only Steps 1, 2, and 4 apply
 (a) (b)
Figure 3: Sequence of construction fora (a) backfilled structure (b) dredged structure

The sequence of construction for a dredged structure is as follows (see Figure 9.6):
 Drive the sheet piles.
 Backfill up to the anchor level, and place the anchor system.
 Backfill up to the top of the wall.
 Dredge the front side of the wall.
With cantilever sheet pile walls, Step 2 is not required.