Model Test Study of the Synergistic Interaction between New and Existing Components of Sheet Pile Walls

Abstract

New and existing components of retaining structures are often combined in the width section. When combining the design and use requirements of the existing and new structures, the synergistic interactions between the existing and new structures and the design and working conditions require clarification. In conjunction with an actual project, a sheet pile wall consisting of existing and new components is proposed to retain an embankment. Indoor model tests were carried out to simulate the excavation and compaction and investigate changes in earth pressure, pile bending moment, shear force, and load-sharing ratio of the new and existing sheet pile walls at different stages. The results show that the earth pressure of the cantilever section of the existing and new piles increases with an increase in the fill volume or the upper uniform load. An inflection point is observed in the earth pressure curve halfway between the pile top and the ground due to sudden changes in the pile and soil stiffness. The bending moment of the new and existing piles increases and decreases with the distance from the top of the pile under different working conditions, and the maximum bending moment occurred at 0.485 and 0.9 m from the bottom of the existing pile and the bottom of the new pile, respectively. The lateral displacement of the new and existing piles decreases with the distance from the top of the pile. Due to the adjustment of the structural force in the cantilever section and the soil reaction force in front of the pile, the displacement curves of the new and existing piles are similar in the cantilever section. The displacement in the anchored section is initially larger for the existing pile than for the new pile but then becomes similar for both piles. In working condition 5, the top displacement of the existing pile was 6.531 mm, exceeding the control value (5.6 mm). The earth-pressure-sharing ratio of the existing pile decreases with an increase in the width of the filling material or the load. When the load was applied, the earth-pressure-sharing ratio of the existing pile was 0.451, indicating that the structural design of the combined sheet pile wall is reasonable.