Improvement of Larsen sheet pile retaining wall structures with the use of coarse-porous concrete

Abstract

The construction of hydraulic structures is associated with a significant amount of construction and installation work. Reducing the cost of building such structures is a vital task. The solution to this problem is to improve the design of the retaining structure by means of combining the sheet pile (flexible structure) and the gravity wall (massive structure) into a single whole. In this case it is assumed that the sheet pile provides protection against negative atmospheric effects on the massive wall and ensures the stability of the structure against displacement. At the same time the gravity wall is made of “low” quality materials, e.g. using waste products - products of concrete crushing and / or coarse-porous concrete on crushed sedimentary rock. The gravity wall reduces the active pressure on the sheet pile wall from the backfill side, and this allows using composite and PVC based sheet piles. This article deals with the modeling of retaining walls with various types of composite sheet piles, types of soil, free height and thickness of the gravity element.