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School of Architecture, Building & Design

Bachelor of Quantity Surveying (Honours)

Construction Technology III (QSB2514 / BLD60304)

Assignment (Group Project)

Sheet Piles Wall & Precast Concrete Retaining Wall

Name Student Id No.

Kok Ka Shing 0323553

Lee Jia Kam 0320029

Leong Min Hui 0327596

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction 3

2. Sheet Pile wall 4

2.1 How Sheet Pile is manufactured 5

2.2 How to construct a Sheet Pile Wall 7

2.3 Advantages & Disadvantages 9

2.4 Case study 10

3. Precast Concrete Retaining Wall 12

3.1 How to install a Precast Concrete Retaining Wall 13

3.2 Advantages & Disadvantages 14

3.3 Cast Study 15

4. References

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INTRODUCTION

RETAINING WALL

An earth retaining wall or retaining wall is used to resist the lateral

pressure of the soil, when there is a desired change in ground elevation that

exceeds the angle of repose of the soil. Generally, retaining walls are built

vertical or nearly vertical supports of soil from another structure such as

buildings on top, and it may prevent slope instability or erosion from happening.

It can be classified to various types according to the height.

How do we classified whether a retaining wall is low or high?

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SHEET PILES WALL

Sheet piling are made of various materials, the most common material

used to make sheet would be steel and concrete. It depends on the

strength and environmental requirements to determine which kind of

sheet pile wall to construct. The designer must consider the possibility

of material deterioration which would affect the structural integrity of

the system. Information from research suggest, concrete sheet piles is

more capable than steel sheet piles in providing a long term service

but has relatively high initial costs. They are also more difficult to

install compared to steel sheet piling.

There are a lot of function and application of the sheet piling walls. It

can be used as a marine bulkhead and retaining wall and etc.

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How Sheet Piles is manufactured

Sheet piles are made from steels with some additional process in factory. First,

by using the sheet pilling roll forming machine, compress the roll of the smooth

steel into a particular degree, normally 40-80 degree. After that, interlocks are

welded to the right and left ends of the compressed or shaped steel.

MACHINERIES AND EQUIPMENTS

Roll of smooth steel

PILLING SHEET FARMING EQUIPMENT

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SHEET PILE ROLL FORMING MACHINE

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How to construct a sheet pile walls?

Basically, sheet pile walls are constructed by using a machine to push or drive a

steel sheet pile into the ground instead of pouring or injection. There are a few

ways to construct sheet pile walls, such as the vibration method, pressing

method and excavation method. Before construction can be commenced,

engineers would need to examine the condition of the soil in the construction

site to determine which construction methods are more suitable for this soil

condition.

Vibration method: This is the most common method used to construct it. The

first sheet pile of the wall is installed into the ground. A vibratory hammer with

clamp is attached to the top of the second sheet pile, which is then interlocked

with the first sheet pile and vibrated into the ground.

Pressing method: Sheet piles can also be pressed into the ground when noise

hindrance and vibration would otherwise cause problems. However it’s longer

and more expensive to construct. The sheet piles are pressed into the ground via

hydraulic machine.

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Excavation method: A long trench is excavated which is then filled with

cement bentonite (a thin concrete slurry) to prevent the walls from collapsing.

The sheet piles are then installed in the trench and the cement is allowed to set

The full wall is formed by connecting the joints of adjacent sheet pile sections

in sequential installation. Sheet pile walls provide structural resistance by

utilizing the full section.

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Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages:

1. Provides enough resistance to driving stresses.

2. Light weight but strong.

3. Can be reuse several times.

4. Long service life above or below water with modest

protection.

Disadvantages:

1. More suitable for temporary structure instead of permanent structure.

2. Installation of sheet piles is difficult in soils with boulders

or cobbles. In such cases, the desired wall depths may not be

reached.

3. Excavation shapes are dictated by the sheet pile section and

interlocking elements.

4. Sheet pile driving may cause neighbouring building’s to

crack.

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CASE STUDY :Underground car park : Sint-Martens-

Latem, Belgium

The project is in a Sint-Martens-Latem of 8.000 inhabitants situated in the

Belgian province of East Flanders, right next to Ghent. The contractor is

Wedam Bvba from Ghent.

In 2002, the Mercedes-Benz and Smart dealer built a new showroom. The outer

wall of the single level underground car park was designed as a steel sheet pile

retaining wall. These function as a permanent impervious excavation enclosure,

and are an essential part of the load bearing structure of above showroom.

ArcelorMittal’s in-house design department carried out a preliminary of the

sheet pile retaining wall, is based on the geometry defined by ELD Partnership

and on the bore logs from Bureau Geosonda who had done several cone

penetration tests (CPT) .

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After excavation and pouring of the concrete floor slab, the interlocks of the

sheet piles were seal-welded in order to achieve 100% water tightness of the

wall. A special connection with studs, injection tubes and water-stopping strips

assures complete imperviousness of the connection slab / sheet pile. Vertical

anchors at the bottom of the excavation prevent uplifting of the concrete base

slab.

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PRECAST CONCRETE RETAINING WALL

It is manufactured from high-grade precast concrete, usually up to

600mm wide module and is installed based on the cantilever principle.

They can be erected on a foundation as a permanent retaining wall, or

be free standing to act as a dividing wall between heaped materials

such as aggregates for concrete. In the latter situation they can be

increased by approximately three times the storage volume for any

given area. These units are reinforced on both faces to meet all form

of stem loading. Lifting holes are provided, which can be utilized as

strap-fixing holes if required. Specially designed units form internal

angles, external angles, junctions and curved walls are available to

provide flexible layout arrangements.

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How to install a precast concrete retaining wall ?

1. Excavate the foundation trenches as stated in drawings.

2. Pour a layer of concrete foundation strip, tamp to level of pegs and ensure

that is leveled both along foundation and across.

3. Set out string lines approx .10mm away from outside if the wall to avoid

being pushed out during installation.

4. Unload panels using suitable loader or crane.

5. Check type of panel used.

6. Set out cradles starting at a corner nearest to the highest point on the

foundation.

7. Position first panel using a suitable loader or crane and approved lifting gear

to lift the panels which is located in lifting holes of loops cast in panels.

8. Install remaining panels and ensure all panels are true and level and pack

under to achieve level top line.

9. Ensure all panels are level, check top heights as work goes on.

10. Pour foundation concrete following by floor slab concrete.

11. Seal joints, back out wide joints as stated and gun in sealant. Work into joint

and ensure that there are no bubbles are good contact is made to joint sides.

12. Fill lifting holes and any areas damaged during installation with a bonding

mortar using a suitable SBR.

13. Back fill is required.

14. Maintenance.

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Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

A reduction in time by eliminating the curing period that is required for in-

situ walls.

Eliminating the need for costly formwork with the time required to erect and

dismantle of temporary forms.

Better quality control over the production of concrete in the factory.

Labour required in the manufacturing process of the precast units can be

easily trained.

Disadvantages

Must be properly handled, if not precast units may be damaged during

transportation.

It becomes difficult to produce satisfactory connections between the precast

members.

Special equipment required for lifting and moving of the precast units.

Because of the panel size is limited, precast concrete cannot be used for a

two-way structure system.

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CASE STUDY: New Whitby Supermarket

ACP Concrete were initially approached by Longcross Construction Ltd in

December 2011, and subsequently by SP Fallon Civil Engineering Ltd, to design and supply precast concrete retaining walls and ground beams. ACP's contract was to design, supply and install a retaining wall to the site boundary as

part of the enabling works for the site. Although it was the first time ACP & Fallons worked together both have previously worked on many new

supermarket developments. The design used 280mm thick pre-stressed concrete panels to form retaining walls up to 4.1m in height. ACP fully installed 92

vertical cantilever panels (or 111metres) of retaining walls in only 8 days.

Following on from a successful completion of Phase 1, ACP won the contract

from Fallons for Phases 2 & 3 and returned to site in June & July. In a total of 5 days another 94 vertical retaining wall panels were installed adding another 121

metres to the previously constructed wall.

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REFERENCES

1. 123, D. (2017). article. [online] Acp-concrete.co.uk. Available at:

http://www.acp-concrete.co.uk/precast-concrete-products/precast-concrete-wall-panels/further-information/case-studies/article/?id=1 [Accessed 31 May

2017].

2. Chudley, R., Greeno, R., Mike Hurst, M. and Topliss, S. (2017). Construction Technology. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, United States: Pearson

Education, p.630.

3. Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: http://eprints.utm.my/10626/4/LohWeeLoonMFKA2010chap1.pdf [Accessed

31 May 2017].

4. Anon, (2017). [online] Available at:

http://www.firth.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Brochures/Rebuild-Right-Retaining-Walls-Systems-.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2017].

5. Anon, (2017). [online] Available at:

http://www.in.gov/indot/design_manual/files/Ch410_2013.pdf [Accessed 31 May 2017].

6. Deepexcavation.com. (2017). Sheet Pile Walls - Deep Excavation. [online]

Available at: http://www.deepexcavation.com/en/sheet-pile-walls [Accessed 31 May 2017].

7. Railsystem.net. (2017). Sheet Pile Wall Construction |. [online] Available at:

http://www.railsystem.net/sheet-pile-wall-construction/ [Accessed 31 May

2017].