Purpose of calculation:

The soil conditions adjacent to the sheet pile wall are given below, find the active pressure
behind the wall and passive pressure in front of the wall.
Calculation Reference
Craig Soil Mechanics. R.F. Craig

Calculation Validation
Check against a worked example in the reference above.

Calculation Units SI 2

Soil 1

h₁

h₃
W.T

Soil 2
h₂
h₂

Height above the water table

h1 = 6m
Height from water table to the base of the wall
h2 = 3m
Height of soil in front of the wall above the water table
h3 = 1.5 m
Unit weight of Water

γw = 9800 N/m³
Surface Load
Q= 50,000 N/m²
Characteristics of Soil 1
Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter
c'= 1000 N/m²
Unit weight of Soil 1
γ= 18,000 N/m³
Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter

ϕ' = 38 °
Characteristics of Soil 2
Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter

c' = 10,000 N/m²

Saturated Unit Weight of Soil 2

γsat = 20,000 N/m³

 Drained (effective stress) shear strength parameter

ϕ' = 28 °
Buoyant Unit Weight
γ'= 10,200 N/m³

Active earth pressure coefficient for soil 1

Ka = 0.24 #NAME?
== 1 - sin[{ pϕ'} / 180]
1 + sin[{pϕ'} / 180]
Passive earth pressure coefficient for soil 1

Kp = 4.20 #ADDIN? =
= 1 + sin[{ pϕ'} / 180]
1 - sin[{pϕ'} / 180]
Active earth pressure coefficient for soil 2
== 1 - sin[{ pϕ'} / 180]
Ka = 0.36 #ADDIN?
1 + sin[{pϕ'} / 180]
Passive earth pressure coefficient for soil 2
=
= 1 + sin[{ pϕ'} / 180]
Kp = 2.77 #ADDIN?
1 - sin[{pϕ'} / 180]

Active Pressure
Soil Depth (m) Pressure
1 0 11,894 N/m² ### = QKa
1 6 37,586 N/m² ### = (KaQ) + (Kaγh1)
2 6 45,026 N/m² ### = Ka(Q + [γh1]) - (2c' [Ka])
2 9 56,074 N/m² ### = (Ka[Q + {γh1}]) - (2c' [Ka]) + (Kaγ'h2

Passive Pressure
Soil Depth (m) Pressure
1 4.5 0 N/m²
1 6 113,501 N/m² ### = Kpγh3
2 6 108,071 N/m² ### = (Kpγh3) + (2c' [Kp])
2 9 192,828 N/m² ### = (Kpγh3) + (2c' [Kp]) + (Kpγ'h2)

10
0 11,894 4.5 0
6 37,586 6.0 -113,501 9
6 45,026 6.0 -108,071
9 56,074 9.0 -192,828 8
Depth (m)

5
Passive Pressure
Active pressure
4

0
-250000 -200000 -150000 -100000 -50000 0 50000 100000
Pressure (N/m²)
 0
-250000 -200000 -150000 -100000 -50000 0 50000 100000
Pressure (N/m²)
Table of compatible units
Length
Fundamental m
SI m
SI (mm) mm
US Unit (ft) ft
US Unit (in) in
c' [Ka]) + (Kaγ'h2)
Area Volume Time Angle Mass Velocity Acceleration Force Unit Weight LDForce
m² m³ s ° kg m/s m/s² kg.m/s² N/m³ kg/s²
m² m³ s ° kg m/s m/s² N N/m³ N/m
mm² mm³ s ° g mm/s mm/s² N N/mm³ N/mm
ft² ft³ s ° slug ft/s ft/s² lbf lbf/ft³ lbf.ft
in² in³ s ° lbf.s²/in in/s in/s² lbf lbf/in³ lbf.in
Work Energy Power Density Stress
kg.m/s².m kg.m/s².m kg.m²/s³ kg/m³ kg/m.s²
J J W kg/m³ N/m²
mJ mJ mW g/mm³ MPa
ft.lb ft.lb ft.lb/s slug/ft³ lbf/ft²
in.lbf in.lbf in.lbf/s lbf.s²/in⁴ psi
x along length

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