Numerical analysis of sheet pile wall structure considering soil-structure interaction

In this paper, a numerical study using finite element method with considering soil-structure interaction was conducted to investigate the stress and deformation behavior of a sheet pile wall structure. In numerical model, one of the nonlinear elastic material constitutive models, Duncan-Chang E-v model, is used for describing soil behavior. The hard contact constitutive model is used for simulating the behavior of interface between the sheet pile wall and soil. The construction process of excavation and backfill is simulated by the way of step loading. We also compare the present numerical method with the in-situ test results for verifying the numerical methods. The numerical analysis showed that the soil excavation in the lock chamber has a huge effect on the wall deflection and stress, pile deflection, and anchor force. With the increase of distance between anchored bars, the maximum wall deflection and anchor force increase, while the maximum wall stress decreases. At a low elevation of anchored bar, the maximum wall bending moment decreases, but the maximum wall deflection, pile deflection, and anchor force both increase. The construction procedure with first excavation and then backfill is quite favorable for decreasing pile deflection, wall deflection and stress, and anchor forces.