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'= 0 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 = #ADDIN? 1 - sin[{ pϕ'} / 180]
== #ADDIN?

1 + sin[{pϕ'} / 180]
Passive earth pressure coefficient for soil 1
Kp = #ADDIN? 1 + sin[{ pϕ'} / 180]
== #ADDIN?

1 - sin[{pϕ'} / 180]
Active earth pressure coefficient for soil 2
Ka = #ADDIN? 1 - sin[{ p ϕ'} / 180]
== #ADDIN?

1 + sin[{pϕ'} / 180]
Passive earth pressure coefficient for soil 2
Kp = #ADDIN? 1 + sin[{ p ϕ'} / 180]
== #ADDIN?

1 - sin[{pϕ'} / 180]

Active Pressure
Soil Depth (m) Pressure
1 0 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= QKa
1 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= (KaQ) + (Kaγh1)
2 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= Ka(Q + [γh1]) - (2c' [Ka])
2 9 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= (Ka[Q + {γh1}]) - (2c' [Ka]) + (Kaγ'h2)

Passive Pressure
Soil Depth (m) Pressure
1 4.5 0 N/m²
1 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= Kpγh3
2 6 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= (Kpγh3) + (2c' [Kp])
2 9 #ADDIN? N/m² ###
= (Kpγh3) + (2c' [Kp]) + (K pγ'h2)

10
0 #ADDIN? 4.5 0
9 6 #ADDIN? 6.0 #ADDIN?
6 #ADDIN? 6.0 #ADDIN?
8
Depth (m)

9 #ADDIN? 9.0 #ADDIN?

7

5
Passive
Pressure
4 Active pressure

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Pressure (N/m²)
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Pressure (N/m²)
Table of compatible units
Length Area Volume
Fundamental m m² m³
SI m m² m³
SI (mm) mm mm² mm³
US Unit (ft) ft ft² ft³
US Unit (in) in in² in³
Time Angle Mass Velocity Acceleration Force Unit Weight LDForce Work Energy
s ° kg m/s m/s² kg.m/s² N/m³ kg/s² kg.m/s².m kg.m/s².m
s ° kg m/s m/s² N N/m³ N/m J J
s ° g mm/s mm/s² N N/mm³ N/mm mJ mJ
s ° slug ft/s ft/s² lbf lbf/ft³ lbf.ft ft.lb ft.lb
s ° lbf.s²/in in/s in/s² lbf lbf/in³ lbf.in in.lbf in.lbf
Power Density Stress
kg.m²/s³ kg/m³ kg/m.s²
W kg/m³ N/m²
mW g/mm³ MPa
ft.lb/s slug/ft³ lbf/ft²
in.lbf/s lbf.s²/in⁴ psi
x along length

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