Permanent Sheet Pile Wall in Soft Sensitive Clay

Reports on the serviceability stage and long-term performance of embedded retaining structures are scarce, even more so in areas with background settlements. This paper presents a case study of an excavation with a permanent sheet pile wall in soft sensitive clay in Uppsala, Sweden. The monitoring data span the short-term and four years of the serviceability stage. The monitoring data are compared with finite element analyses using the rate-dependent Creep-SClay1S model. A historic groundwater drawdown is accounted for in the modeling and challenges with respect to the proper initialization of the in situ stress state, preconsolidation pressure, fabric, and bonding are discussed. The results show that even though the background settlements are somewhat underpredicted, the horizontal displacements as well as anchor forces were captured rather accurately. This valuable case study of the short- and long-term behavior of a permanent sheet pile wall in soft sensitive clay confirms the performance of using this cost-effective solution for a permanent construction. Furthermore, the paper highlights the challenges of an accurate description and modeling of the initial in situ state.