Seismic design of sheet piles. Brochure | 2021

Innovative Seismic Design Solutions for Sustainable Sheet Piling Infrastructure

ArcelorMittal is the worldwide leader in sheet piling technology, and always ahead in offering most innovative foundation solutions. Our products are extensively used worldwide for the construction of quay walls, waterways, flood protection barriers, mobility infrastructure projects and containment structures.

Our values are sustainability, reliability and quality assurance, leading to highest levels of stakeholder value creation and customer satisfaction.

We offer complete package solutions, based on our comprehensive and wide range of products and services, expert technical support from the early design stages of a project to its completion, customized fabrication, just-in-time delivery and after-sales services.

ArcelorMittal, as the global leading steel producer, aims at reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 and steel sheet piles are a major contributor to the circular economy concept of “reduce-reuse-recycle”. 

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Introduction

Steel sheet piles are widely used for the construction of a variety of structures: quay walls and breakwaters in harbours, bank reinforcements on rivers and canals, urban infrastructures such as underpasses, as well as global hazard protection schemes. In each of these applications, sheet piles have proven their ability to effectively withstand the consequences of earthquakes in seismic areas.

SENER, an international maritime engineering group based in Spain, carried out a study to highlight the main features of advanced design of sheet pile walls in high seismic areas.

This study uses the dynamic design method based on Finite Element Modelling (FEM) and considering real acceleration-time history as seismic input.

Dynamic design

The most suitable design approach for sheet pile walls in seismic areas is using dynamic calculations in FEM. This type of calculations provides precise information about the internal forces, the deformations, the increase of pore water pressures and the expected mode of failure to be prevented.

Advanced dynamic design can allow up to 50 % cost savings compared to traditional pseudo-static design approaches.

The reference case considered to showcase the design method presents the following characteristics: 

  • Surface level at +3.0 m; 
  • Seabed level at -12.5 m; 
  • Water level at -1.0 m; 
  • Type of soil: medium dense sand; 
  • Characteristic live load on top of the surface: 20 kN/m2; 
  • Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA): 0.40 g; 
  • ArcelorMittal’s sheet pile system.

Comparison of design methods

The study covers 3 cases subdivided to 11 sub-cases. 

  • Case 1: dense sandy soil, low acceleration level (0.10 g) and two seabed levels; 
  • Case 2: dense sandy soil, two seismic action levels: medium (0.30 g) and high (0.40 g), and four seabed levels; 
  • Case 3: clayey silty soil, high acceleration level (0.50 g) and one seabed level.

The main aim of the study is to evaluate the seismic design when using either the FEM dynamic method or the pseudo-static method. For this reason, the study checks the structural resistance of the front sheet pile wall. The service requirements in terms of allowable displacements are outside the scope of the study.

Conclusion

The results of the studies carried out by SENER highlight the importance of developing more advanced methods for sheet pile design. Unfortunately, the current European standards provide overly conservative approaches when dealing with sheet piles’ seismic design, and the rules for using advanced design methods like Finite Element Modelling are not clearly defined. ArcelorMittal Sheet Piling and its partners are taking an active part in the upcoming update of the European standards to fill this gap.