FLOOD03439

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Design of Sheet Pile Walls
• Date: 3/31/1994
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

EM 111().2.2504
31 Mar 94

WALL

SOIL SURFACE

z

~

PA

FAILURE PLANE

Figure 4-4. Soli wedge. lor Coulomb earth pre..ure theory
values of active pressure given by

P" . yz K... - 2c IK...

(4-3)

and passive pressure given by
Pp . yz Xp + 2c Ixp

(4-4)

where KA and Kp are coefficienls of active and passive
earth pressures given by and

....2(+ _ 8)

_28_(8.6)[1. .ia(+.6).ia(+-p) r
....(6.+)001(11-+)

KA"

(4-5)

and

Kp"

_2(+ _ 8)

00128_(8.6)[' - .ia(+.6).ia(+.p) r
_(6 -+)OOI(P -+)

(4-6)

b. CoeJficielll me/hod lor soil pressures. The
Coulomb theory oul1ined in paragraph 4.3a, allhough
originally developed for homogeneous soils, is usumed

....

.

WALL

Pp

~

l W ~TAN.+CL

'/C
/""-N

V FAILURE PlANE
b. Passive state

10 apply 10 layered soil systems composed of horiwnlal.
homogeneous layers. The prodUCI yz in Equations 4-3
and 4-4 is Ihe geoslatic soil pressure al deplh z in Ihe
homogeneous sySIem. In a layered syslem this Ierm is
replaced by Ihe effective vertical soil pressure Pv 31
depth z including Ihe effecls of submergence and seep-
age on Ihe soil unil weight The active and passive
earth pressures 31 any painl are oblained from

e)

p" . Pv K... - 2c~

(4-7)

Pp . Pv K... + 2cIK...

(4-8)

where K A and X p are Ihe coefficienls of active and pas-
sive earth pressure from equations 4-5 and 4-6 wilh .
and c being Ihe "effective" (see subsequenl discussion of
soil faclor of safely) strenglh properties and Ii is Ihe
angle of wall friction at Ihe poinl of inleresl. This pr0-
cedure can result in large discontinuities in calcul3led
pressure disbibutions at soil layer boundaries.

e)