A Simplified Method for Seismic Design of Cantilever Sheet Pile Walls Under Infinite Uniform Surcharge Load

Cantilever sheet pile walls are generally designed assuming the rectilinear distribution of net earth pressure. In this paper, a new method is proposed in the framework of the limit equilibrium approach for the analysis of cantilever sheet pile walls with distanced infinite uniform surcharge load under the seismic condition in cohesionless soils. The sheet pile wall is assumed to be a rigid body to rotate about a pivot point near the toe of the wall and generates active and passive earth pressures. Horizontal force equilibrium and moment equilibrium are considered to determine the pivot point simultaneously. Closed form expressions for the bending moment and shear force at various depths of the sheet pile wall are proposed. It is observed that for a horizontal seismic acceleration coefficient of 0.3, and when the magnitude of surcharge increases from 0 to 100 kPa, the penetration depth increases by 103.75% and 64.7% when the surcharge is placed at the top and at 3.9 m away from the sheet pile wall, respectively. The requirement of the penetration depth and corresponding location of pivot point based on the magnitude and location of the surcharge is proposed through design charts in nondimensional form.