Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Behrouz Ahmadpour ¹
• Masoud Amelsakhi ²
• Mohsen Kamalian ³

¹ Master's degree Civil Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Qom University of Technology, Qom, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Qom University of Technology, Qom, Iran.

³ Professor of Geotechnical Dept., International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Steel sheet pile walls are extensively employed in civil engineering projects as primary excavation support systems. In practice, soil profiles often exhibit nonuniform stratification, and loose or soft layers may occur at various depths. The presence of such layers can substantially influence ground-surface displacements, as well as the internal forces and bending moments mobilized within sheet piles and struts during excavation operations, compared with conditions involving a fully uniform soil profile. These effects must therefore be taken into account in the design of sheet pile systems. In the present study, a deep excavation is analyzed using the finite element method. The soil profile is idealized as three clay layers, one of which consists of soft clay. The soft layer is assigned to three different positions within the profile—upper, middle, and lower—and the corresponding responses are compared with those from a reference case without a soft layer. In addition, a pseudo-static analysis is performed by applying a horizontal acceleration of 0.3g to simulate seismic loading. The results indicate that the presence of an upper soft clay layer exerts negligible influence on the vertical displacements of the ground surface and sheet pile wall. Conversely, when the soft clay layer is located beneath stiffer units, the shear forces, lateral deformations, and bending moments acting on the sheet pile wall increase markedly.

Keywords

• sheet piling
• excavation
• soft clayey layer
• hardening soil model
• strut

Main Subjects

• Geotechnics