Reduced Modulus Action in U-Section Steel Sheet Pile Retaining Walls
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 3
Abstract
U-section steel sheet piles are used for constructing retaining walls and they are connected together to form continuous walls using sliding joints located along their centerlines. Interpile movement along these joints can, in theory, reduce strength by 55% and stiffness by 70%, in comparison with the performance of piles in which no slip occurs (full composite action). This problem of interlock slippage is known as reduced modulus action (RMA). Despite the potential for this problem, it is common practice in many countries to ignore RMA in design, although the exact conditions governing when it becomes a design issue are not fully understood. This paper presents results from an investigation into this problem using experimental tests carried out using miniature piles. Unlike previous studies these tests were carried out using a similar load arrangement to that found in practice. The investigation indicates that the loading configuration affects the development of RMA and that friction between pile interlocks has the potential to mitigate much of the effect of RMA. A numerical model simulating the tests was developed and it has been used to model full-scale piles. The study indicates that many commonly occurring forms of steel sheet pile walls are unlikely to exhibit significant problems from RMA and this is relevant to pile design using Eurocode 3: Part 5.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
British Standards Institute (BSI). (1994). BS 8002: Earth retaining structures, British Standards Institute, London.
Byfield, M. P., and Crawford, R. J. (2003). “Oblique bending in U-section steel sheet piles.” Proc., Inst. Civ. Eng., Struct, Build., 156(SB3), 255–261.
Byfield, M. P., and Mawer, R. (2004). “Analysis of reduced modulus action in U-section steel sheet piles.” J. Constr. Steel Res., 60(3–5), 401–410.
Crawford, R. J., and Byfield, M. P. (2002). “A numerical model for predicting the bending strength of Larssen steel sheet piles.” J. Constr. Steel Res., 58, 1361–1374.
Lohmeyer, E. (1934). “Discussion to ‘Analysis of steel pile bulkheads’ by P. Baumann.” Proc. Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 61(3), 347–355.
Mawer, R. W. (2005). “Analysis of reduced modulus action in U-section steel sheet piles.” Ph.D. thesis, University of Southampton.
Potts, D. M., and Fourie, A. B. (1985). “The effect of wall stiffness on the behaviour of propped retaining walls.” Geotechnique, 35(3), 347–352.
Vanden Berghe, J. -F., et al. (2001). “Interlock friction in a steel pile wall: Laboratory tests.” Proc., 15th Int. Conf. Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Balkema, Istanbul, Turkey, 1273–1279.
Williams, S. G. O., and Little, J. A. (1992). “Structural behaviour of steel piles interlocked at the centre of gravity of the combined section.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., Struct. Build., 94(2), 229–238.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 23, 2008
Accepted: Aug 25, 2009
Published online: Aug 26, 2009
Published in print: Mar 2010
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.