Reliability Comparative Analysis of Codes for the Design of Cantilever Sheet Pile Walls: Basis for Studying the Principles of International Standards
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21, Issue 5
Abstract
In geotechnical engineering, the design of cantilever sheet pile walls is one of the most important and complex tasks due to the use of different limit equilibrium design methodologies to estimate the depth of embedment. In some countries, official codes do not fully cover cantilever sheet pile wall design, so designers tend to adopt foreign codes and manuals generally calibrated to the local conditions. In this paper, the performance of several combinations of limit equilibrium design methodologies from international codes and manuals are evaluated using a proposed multiphase Monte Carlo simulation-based probabilistic design procedure. The results show that the direct implication of the safety factors and soil/wall friction on D/H is related to a significant change of the relative degree of conservatism of codes and manual design methodologies from high to small probability levels. It is found that even when the results of several codes and manuals methodologies agree, their implementation does not produce a design with a low risk of failure, especially for those methodologies that involve the European limit state design (LSD) approach. It is evidenced that for methodologies with unfactored passive pressures, the uncertainty in the response may not be calculated in a mechanically consistent way through reliability analysis. Finally, it is determined that the effect of soil variability in the depth of embedment is not linear when an increment of uncertainty is incorporated into the design, especially for the design combination constituted by the Hansen method and the North American LSD approach.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author by request (i.e., MS Excel spreadsheet with deterministic model), while others may only be provided with restrictions (i.e., uncertainty model).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support to this research project, under the National Doctoral Grant Scheme No. 727 of 2015, provided by the Administrative Department of Science, Technology, and Innovation of Colombia – Colciencias. The authors are also grateful to Dr. Andrew Lochaden of Golder Associates and Mr. Ricardo A. Trujillo of Hatch for advising on the use and practicalities of the Australian and Canadian standards.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- A
- analytical solution based on CEN (2004) Annex C;
- C
- Coulomb;
- C&K
- Caquot & Kerisel;
- CLm
- minimum confidence level;
- CDF
- Cumulative Density Function;
- COV
- coefficient of variation;
- (D/H)m
- minimum normalized design depth of embedment;
- DA1C2
- Design Approach 1 Combination 2;
- DA2
- Design Approach 2;
- DoU
- Degree of Understanding;
- D/H
- final normalized depth of embedment;
- H
- free height of the wall;
- LEM
- Limit Equilibrium Method;
- LRFD
- Load and Resistance Factor Design;
- LSD
- Limit State Design;
- MCS
- Monte Carlo Simulation;
- Probability Density Function;
- R
- Rankine;
- TL
- tolerance level;
- δa
- angle of soil/wall friction at the active side;
- δp
- angle of soil/wall friction at the passive side;
- δmin
- minimum angle of soil/wall friction;
- δmax
- maximum angle of soil/wall friction; and
- ΔD
- safety factor on design depth of embedment.
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International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 21 • Issue 5 • May 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 31, 2020
Accepted: Dec 11, 2020
Published online: Mar 12, 2021
Published in print: May 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Aug 12, 2021
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