Feasibility study for improved cellular sheet pile construction
Abstract
This thesis presents findings of a research project which identified problems with sheet pile cellular construction and proposed solutions. Sheet pile cellular structures are cylinders of sheet pile that are filled with soil. Several of these structures may be interconnected and arranged to form cofferdams and wharfs or an isolated cell may be used to moor barges and ships. It was found that the basic procedures for cell construction have remained unchanged since the concept was developed in the early part of this century. Cell construction is a hazardous undertaking because employees must perform work with heavy objects in exposed and awkward locations. A multitude of sheet piling is required to build a cell. This is undesirable because job efficiency and structural safety decrease when the number of sheet piles increase. The thesis also includes the development of new concepts for cellular construction and a systematic procedure by which improvements may be measured with regard to structural safety and economics. Wider sheet piles and rigid or semi-rigid or rigid hoop-like segments were identified as construction materials that would improve the present state-of-the-art. The structural safety baseline was developed by using first-order second-moment reliability theory. The economic baseline was developed with information obtained from contractors, owners, design engineers, suppliers and field observations made by the researcher. There were three major findings in the study: (1) bursting is the dominant failure mode for cellular structures; (2) a concept which would involve the use of wider sheet piles would increase structural safety and is economically feasible for an order that is large enough to justify retooling costs; (3) another concept, cell structures built from hoop-like segments, could be designed to a high target reliability. However, methods must be developed to drive the structure in the soil and further study should be conducted on failure modes other than bursting.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Hancher, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Civil engineering
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