Influence of soil type on static response of cantilever sheet pile walls under surcharge loading: a numerical study

Deep excavation is the need of present time due to increase in construction work in urban congested areas. This requires proper planning of support systems for the stability of retaining wall. Therefore, in the present study, influence of uniformsurcharge load on the ground surface at a distance from the wall is analyzed for bending moment, net earth pressure, deflection, and settlement behavior of cantilever sheet pile walls using finite difference-based computer program FLAC2D. The results indicate that the presence of the uniformsurcharge at the top of the wall influences the cantilever sheet pile wall significantly and as the distance of uniform surcharge increases, the influence gets reduced and beyond 2 times excavation depth, the influence is insignificant. Mobilization of earth pressure takes place up to a greater depth with excavation depth greater than 60% of the total length of the wall and causes more settlement and deflection. The present numerical model is validated with existing literature.